Albuquerque serves as the largest city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. The county seat of Bernalillo County, Albuquerque lies in the central part of the state and straddles the Rio Grande. The Rio Grande flows from north to south through the city, and the Sandia Mountains run along Albuquerque’s eastern side.
The 34th-largest city in the United States, Albuquerque boasts a population of 518,271. Within this population, 71.59% of residents are white, 3.09% are African American, 3.89% are Native American, 2.24% are Asian, 0.1% are Pacific Islander, 14.78% from other races, and 4.31% Multiracial. Any race of Hispanic or Latino takes up 39.92% of the population.
A household’s median income in Albuquerque is $38,272 while the median income for an Albuquerque family is $46, 979. Albuquerque’s per capita income is $20,884. In Albuquerque, 13.5% of the population, and 10% of families, live below the poverty line.
A concentration of high-tech private companies and government institutions along the Rio Grande, the New Mexico Technology Corridor hosts Albuquerque in the center. Members of the New Mexico Technology Corridor include Sandia National Laboritories, Kirtland Air Force Base, and a large semiconductor factory operated by Intel. Other companies based in Albuquerque include Northrop Grumman, Zomeworks, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and TempurPedic. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory also began in Albuquerque, starting with the Manhattan Project. Albuquerque is the best city in America for business and careers in 2006, and the 13th best for jobs in 2008, according to Forbes Magazine.