In prehistoric times, New Mexico was home to Ancestral Puebloans, the Mogollon culture, and the ancestors of the Ute people. The state hosted several key facilities of the Manhattan Project, which developed the world's first atomic bomb, and was the site of the first nuclear test, Trinity. military presence, including White Sands Missile Range, and strategically valuable federal research centers, such as the Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories. Due to its large area and economic climate, New Mexico has a significant U.S. State tax policy is characterized by low to moderate taxation of resident personal income by national standards, with tax credits, exemptions, and special considerations for military personnel and favorable industries. Its total gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020 was $95.73 billion, with a GDP per capita of roughly $46,300. Major sectors include mining, oil and gas, aerospace, media, and film. New Mexico's economy is highly diversified, including cattle ranching, agriculture, lumber, scientific and technological research, tourism, and the arts, especially textiles and visual arts.

One–third of New Mexico's land is federally owned, and the state hosts many protected wilderness areas and national monuments, including three UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the most of any U.S. The Rio Grande and its fertile valley runs from north-to-south, creating a riparian climate through the center of the state that supports a bosque habitat and distinct Albuquerque Basin climate. Its climate and geography are highly varied, ranging from forested mountains to sparse deserts the northern and eastern regions exhibit a colder alpine climate, while the west and south are warmer and more arid. New Mexico is the fifth largest by area of the fifty states, but with just over 2.1 million residents, ranks 36th in population and 46th in population density. New Mexico's largest city is Albuquerque, and its state capital is Santa Fe, the oldest state capital in the U.S., founded in 1610 as the government seat of Nuevo México in New Spain. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona, and bordering Texas to the east and southeast, Oklahoma to the northeast, and the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora to the south. New Mexico ( Spanish: Nuevo México ⓘ Navajo: Yootó Hahoodzo Navajo pronunciation: ) is a state in the Southwestern United States.

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