Both violent and property crime rates have fallen since a recent peak in 2018, but they remain above the national average and persistently high.

Almost three-quarters of funding in programs surveyed for the 2025 inventory of evidence-based programs was targeted at evidence- or research-based approaches, up from 2024.

New Mexico’s public school capital outlay funding formula is more fair than the funding mechanisms in many states, but a growing number of requests for exceptions to the rules suggest the need for changes.

New Mexico juvenile justice reforms to divert low-risk offenders from confinement has led to far fewer youth in secure facilities, but the state lacks the prevention and treatment services to keep low-risk juveniles from returning to the justice system.

New Mexico has one of the highest poverty rates in the nation, but a shrinking but still generous benefits packages theoretically allows many families to meet their needs.

County revenues grew by 91 percent between FY18 and FY24 to $3.1 billion, while expenditures increased by nearly 60 ercent to roughly $2.5 billion, contributing to surpluse revenues were 21 times larger than in FY18.

The number of nonrecurring appropriations made by the Legislature to local governments has jumped from one for $250 thousand in FY18 to 33 for $232 million in FY26. At the same time, state capital outlay appropriations to local governments increased by 431 percent.

Despite spending more to provide healthcare to fewer New Mexicans, quality and access in the Medicaid program have changed little.