The decade of 2010-20 is poised to become the slowest for population growth in 107 years of state history, and the impact of that dubious milestone is felt in a broad swath of economic, social and political outcomes.

The latest stats from the US Census Bureau show that from April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2018 the Land of Enchantment has grown its population a mere 1.8 percent, from 2.059 million to 2.095 million.

According to Wikipedia, only the decade of the 60's has seen slower state population growth. Back then it was still much higher at 6.9 percent and that was seen as a crash.

No one wants to Californicate New Mexico. Part of its charm is its uncrowded conditions but the state is not growing for the many menacing reasons your blog has outlined during the course of this decade--the lack of good-paying jobs; a slowing of federal funding for the national security and defense apparatus; an under educated work force; educated students fleeing the state for greener pastures and a horrific crime wave featuring record murder rates and rampant child abuse caused in large part by a drug epidemic spurred by growing poverty.

While the state grapples with a social conditions crisis that was mostly its own making but also attributable to global economic changes, one state official tried to spin the historic stagnation:

"I would say the state of New Mexico growing at a slower rate than other Western states is not necessarily a bad thing,” said Ryan Eustice, an economist at the New Mexico Economic Development Department. “This allows cities, counties and states to better plan for infrastructure, housing, job creation and education.”

Well, this trend is nearly a decade old so we've already had plenty of time to "better plan."

BIG BERNCO

Big BernCo County did not live up to that nickname in the latest Census numbers. Only 15 more people--that's right 15--lived in the county in July of '18 than July of '17. Maybe they should all be honored at one of those Chamber of Commerce dinners.

The state's fastest growing county in the Census year measured was Sandoval which is attracting neighboring ABQ residents to Rio Rancho where housing prices are more friendly.

LOSS EQUALS CHANGE

The state's lost decade coincides with a rise in progressive/liberal politics in the  muscular cities of ABQ, Santa Fe and Las Cruces where more growth has taken place than the rural counties which have been hit hardest economically.

The state went from a swing state in federal elections in 2008 to nearly a "Safe Blue" state with Dems in 2018 taking all five slots in the NM congressional delegation.

The economy of the state this decade has been downsized as seen in the ABQ metro where payday loan stores have sprouted like dandelions after a good rain and where the low-paying service sector is becoming more economically dominant.

Some smaller impacts of the Great Stagnation are interesting to note. The restaurant scene has changed dramatically with white table cloth places nearly extinct (except in tourist heavy Santa Fe) and an explosion in pizza and hamburger joints has occurred and dot nearly every street corner in ABQ and elsewhere.

Upscale men's and women's clothing stores have mostly gone the way of the Dodo bird. Sure, folks dress up less than in the past but it is also a sure fire sign of the decimation of the well-paid professional classes here.

On the upside of the stagnation, traffic remains tame compared to most other western cities; the ABQ airport is almost never crowded; reservations are easy to get at restaurants that take them; visiting the great outdoors, including the national parks, is still a way to escape the masses, not join them and with the rise of Amazon the lack of retail growth and availability of products in a small city or state is  no big deal. Anything can be shipped anywhere.

But the rub is that so much of the population that has stuck around is disenfranchised economically and educationally. The powers-that-be started to tackle that in the recent legislative session, but it will take years for any significant strides to register. Meantime, the state has grown more polarized, with the small wealthy population occupying shrinking patches of gated communities and utilizing private schools to avoid the hazards of  public schools. New Mexicans don't mix as much as they once did.

After the Great Recession started to take hold here we often wrote that "you were going to see things that you never thought could happen."  Together we have and now we have seen another--a once booming Sunbelt state experiencing an historic decade of going nowhere fast. With apologies to the state's official slogan, "It goes, but it does not grow."

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2019