Chihuahua
Chihuahua is Mexico's eighth-largest economy, its largest exporter and the second-lowest informal work in the country.
Capital: Chihuahua · Area: 247,413 km² · Checked 3 Nov 2026
Chihuahua at a glance
INEGI publishes IMMEX export-plant counts by state only in its database, not in the monthly bulletin we could read, so no count is shown here rather than an estimate; where our regional analysis gives a share, it is in the text below.
This is Chihuahua
Silver built Chihuahua: Juan Rangel de Biezma's 1631 strike founded Parral, which in 1640 was the world's largest silver producer, and Antonio de Deza y Ulloa founded Chihuahua City in 1709. Under the Porfiriato ranching and mining defined the economy, and by 1881 the Central Mexican Railroad linked Mexico City to Ciudad Juárez. In 1922 some 3,000 Mennonites arrived from Manitoba, Canada; their cheese is known nationwide as queso Chihuahua. Cuauhtémoc is an internationally recognised centre of apple production, and Chihuahua beef is famous across the country. The Rarámuri are the main Indigenous people. Electronics and transport equipment lead today's manufacturing. The 2020 census counted 3,741,869 residents. The Autonomous University of Chihuahua was created on 8 December 1954. 18
Who it suits
Juárez suits an electronics or medical-device maker wanting the experienced workers released by the 2023 to 2025 contraction, not a large water user. 5
The Texas-facing North suits a manufacturer that ships heavy or time-sensitive goods to the United States, needs a deep supplier base in automotive, appliances, or electronics, and can pay the region’s wages for experienced people. It suits a supplier following a customer already there. Monterrey suits a company that needs engineers, flights, and a large stock of industrial buildings; Saltillo, an automotive supplier willing to compete for scarce Class A space; Juárez, an electronics or medical-device maker that wants the experienced workforce released by the 2023 to 2025 contraction. It suits less well a company that needs much water, since the main aquifers have none to grant; a large new electrical load that can’t wait 1 to 2 years for a substation; a labor-intensive plant whose margin depends on low wages; and a product sold mainly in central or southern Mexico, which gains nothing from Laredo. Chapter 21 weighs this corridor against the Bajío and the south.
From Where to Go in Mexico (Connected Continents Press, 2026), chapter 13.
What to check first
- Get the substation answer in writing, from CFE and from the park, with a date.
- Get the water answer next: whether the site’s water comes from a title, the park, or treated supply, and what happened to the site in 2022.
- Ask the park and 2 neighboring plants for their monthly turnover and starting wage, and price housing and commuting for the people you’ll hire.
- Get crossing times by hour from your carrier and customs broker for the bridge you’ll use.
- And read every state figure for investment and jobs against the official table and the 5-year window in which announced jobs arrive.
Weighing Chihuahua for a plant, a warehouse or an office? Work with us.
Industry and plants
INEGI reported that the state accounted for 12.0% of export-plant employment in July 2026, second only to Nuevo León. Dallas Fed economists counted about 57,500 Juárez maquila jobs lost from August 2023 to August 2025. 5
INEGI counted 3,741,869 people in 2020 and put unemployment at 2.7% in the second quarter of 2026, the national rate; informality, 35.1% against 55.1, was second-lowest. Lokus Data’s IMSS count showed 962,791 formal jobs in July 2026, down 0.7% year over year. 5
From Where to Go in Mexico (Connected Continents Press, 2026), Part V.
Output by sector, 2024
Share of the state’s output, current prices 16
- 43.7%Services +1.1% real, 2024
- 43.6%Industry: manufacturing, construction, energy, mining −2.9% real, 2024
- 6.5%Agriculture, livestock, fishing −5.1% real, 2024
- 6.2%Taxes on products, net
Among the 32, measure by measure
Each bar is one state, largest on the left, in the colour of its corridor; Chihuahua is the bright one with the white edge. 1 2 3 7 6
Beside its neighbours in the Texas-Facing North
Share of Mexico’s output, 2024
Exports, 2025
Formal private jobs, July 2026
Informal work, Q2 2026
Chihuahua against Mexico
Coloured: the state. Grey: the whole country.
Safety, taxes and incentives
INEGI found 2,839 businesses per 10,000 victimized in 2023, compared with 2,722 nationally. The Mexico Peace Index 2026 ranks it 26th of 32; the USA State Department’s May 29, 2026, advisory puts it at Level 3, reconsider travel. 5
The state’s own 2026 guide sets payroll tax at 4% plus surcharges. IMCO’s 2026 index dropped it 7 places to 15th. 5
Cities, ports, airports, crossings, power and water
Chihuahua
The capital: 925,762 people (2020) 17
Ciudad Juárez
City: 1,501,551 people (2020) 17
Cuauhtémoc
City: 114,007 people (2010) 17
General Roberto Fierro Villalobos International Airport
International airport (CUU) · 1,956,431 passengers in 2025 17
Abraham González International Airport
International airport (CJS) · 2,130,551 passengers in 2025 17
Ciudad Juárez-El Paso (Ysleta-Zaragoza)
Border crossing: Ciudad Juárez, facing El Paso (Ysleta-Zaragoza) · commercial trucks 17
San Jerónimo (Ciudad Juárez area)-Santa Teresa, New Mexico
Border crossing: San Jerónimo (Ciudad Juárez area), facing Santa Teresa, New Mexico · commercial trucks 17
Ojinaga-Presidio, Texas
Border crossing: Ojinaga, facing Presidio, Texas 17
Ferromex (with Ferrosur; 12,100 km combined)
Rail line serving the state 17
Power and water
CFE’s September 2026 peak charge at Ciudad Juárez was 1.8372 pesos per kilowatt-hour. CONAGUA’s 2024 sheets show the two Juárez aquifers short about 73.3 and 90.4 million cubic meters a year. 5
Logistics and crossings
Ysleta and the El Paso bridge carried 641,729 and 164,255 northbound trucks in 2025, according to USA transportation statistics. 5
Development pole
San Jerónimo, announced as the Juárez pole, was declared in the Diario Oficial on June 30, 2025. 5
The recent arrivals
- Jun 2026InventecInventec shows what the city can still win. Mexico Industry reported in June 2026 that the company announced a $450 million expansion of its artificial-intelligence server manufacturing in Ciudad Juárez, with more than 6,000 jobs, citing legal certainty, labor stability, and technical talent. 8
- Mar 2026First Brands GroupSubensambles Internacionales belongs to First Brands Group, whose bankruptcy closed the company’s plant in Ciudad Juárez on March 25, 2026, as Chapters 3 and 4 record. 8
At 699.06 pesos in July 2026, Lokus Data’s average daily contribution wage was the seventh-highest; the national average for all IMSS-insured workers was 673.9. 5
Our cost model prices only Monterrey, Querétaro and Mérida in full.
Rent per square metre, freight to your customers and the fully loaded cost of your own workforce are figures we prepare for each client, not numbers to publish: work with us.
Sources, each with its date
- INEGI, Encuesta Intercensal 2025 (people in private dwellings; median age from the tabulates), 22 Sep 2026 · link
- INEGI, PIB por Entidad Federativa 2024, current prices; share our arithmetic over the national 33,506,847 million pesos, 5 Dec 2025 · link
- INEGI, Exportaciones Trimestrales por Entidad Federativa, the four quarters of 2025 summed (our arithmetic), preliminary, 31 Mar 2026 · link
- Wikipedia, List of states of Mexico, citing INEGI (continental area, 2016), 22 Oct 2026 · link
- Where to Go in Mexico (Connected Continents Press, 2026), Part V, with the sources listed there, Nov 2026 · link
- INEGI, ENOE second quarter 2026, bulletin 503/26, 25 Aug 2026 · link
- IMSS open data as processed by Lokus Data (private formal jobs and average daily contribution wage; the national wage of 673.9 pesos covers all IMSS-insured workers), Jul 2026 · link
- Where to Go in Mexico (Connected Continents Press, 2026), chapter 13, The Texas-Facing North, with the sources listed there, Nov 2026 · link
- INEGI, quarterly state exports, bulletin 609/26, 30 Sep 2026 · link
- IMCO, Índice de Competitividad Estatal 2026, 21 Sep 2026 · link
- BHR, bulletin on state payroll-tax rates for 2026, Jan 2026 · link
- Institute for Economics and Peace, Mexico Peace Index 2026; USA Department of State travel advisory of 29 May 2026, 29 May 2026 · link
- INEGI, ENVE 2024 (businesses victimized in 2023, per 10,000), 10 Dec 2024 · link
- INEGI, ITAEE first quarter 2026 (change on a year), Nov 2026 · link
- Secretaría de Economía, foreign direct investment by state of destination, as reproduced by the Chamber of Deputies, Gaceta Parlamentaria, 14 Apr 2026 · link
- INEGI, PIB por Entidad Federativa 2024, the state's press release (shares at current prices, growth at constant prices; taxes on products are 100 less the three activities, our arithmetic), 5 Dec 2025 · link
- Wikipedia, the city, airport, port and crossing pages (EN and ES), read 3 November 2026, 3 Nov 2026 · link
- Wikipedia and the pages listed: Chihuahua (state) (en); Chihuahua (es); Ciudad Juárez (en); Autonomous University of Chihuahua (en), 3 Nov 2026 · link
- Where to Go in Mexico (Connected Continents Press, 2026), chapter 12, The Landed Cost and Time to Production, State by State, Nov 2026 · link
Pictures
- Ciudad Juárez, skyline: Alejandro Rosales, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Chihuahua montage: El Sombrerero, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons