Querétaro
Querétaro is second in competitiveness (IMCO 2026).
Capital: Querétaro · Area: 11,691 km² · Checked 3 Nov 2026
Querétaro 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 Querétaro
Querétaro made cloth and tobacco long before aircraft parts. It was the first major producer of wool cloth in New Spain, its Real Fábrica de Tabaco was established at the close of the 18th century, and by the late 19th century El Hércules had become the largest textile factory in the country. Manufacturing took off from 2000 and aerospace from 2005, when Bombardier opened a plant that builds fuselages and electrical systems; auto parts maker Tremec is among the largest employers. Otomí communities live in Amealco and Pame communities in Jalpan de Serra and Arroyo Seco. The Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro traces its roots to Jesuit colleges, the first founded in 1625, and Tequisquiapan hosts the National Cheese and Wine Fair at the turn of May and June. 18
Who it suits
Querétaro suits a supplier that wants a deep engineering base and the calmest large city of the 4 Bajío states at the highest wage, but not a very large electrical load until the substations arrive. 5
The Bajío suits a supplier to automotive and aerospace makers already in Mexico, a company that sells to the Mexican and American markets, and a plant with moderate load that values a deep supply base and a choice of mid-sized labor markets. Guanajuato offers the most room to hire and the lowest formal wages of the 4 Bajío states; Querétaro offers a deep engineering base, the calmest large city of the four, and the highest wage; Aguascalientes offers the lowest payroll tax and the least standing space. It suits less well a company whose only customer is across the border and whose freight is time-sensitive, which Chapters 13 and 14 serve better, and a very large electrical load in Querétaro until the substations arrive. A company that will run trucks on the MEX-45D and MEX-57D, or place people in León, should budget for security as a line, not a contingency.
From Where to Go in Mexico (Connected Continents Press, 2026), chapter 15.
What to check first
- Start with power, in writing: which substation serves the lot, how many megawatts are available today, and when the next block arrives, above all in Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, and Guanajuato.
- Then the route: the corridor sections the plant’s trucks will use, with tracking-firm or insurer data for each, and the hours they will run.
- Then the labor market of the specific city, not the state: this year’s turnover from the plants nearest the site, formal job growth, and whether the anchor customers nearby are expanding or leaving, as Aguascalientes showed.
- Then vacancy, from 2 or 3 brokers, since the sources disagree.
- Chapter 23 takes those checks from shortlist to site.
Weighing Querétaro for a plant, a warehouse or an office? Work with us.
Industry and plants
Aerospace employed more than 12,000 people (Aerocluster, April 2024). It held about 72% of national data-center capacity in May 2026 (MEXDC). 5
Unemployment stood at 2.3% in the second quarter of 2026 (INEGI), against 2.7 nationally, with informality at 39.2% against 55.1. Lokus Data’s IMSS series showed 720,087 formal jobs in July 2026, up 1.0% in a 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
- 49.5%Services +1.0% real, 2024
- 40.5%Industry: manufacturing, construction, energy, mining +1.2% real, 2024
- 2.8%Agriculture, livestock, fishing +13.3% real, 2024
- 7.2%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; Querétaro is the bright one with the white edge. 1 2 3 7 6
Beside its neighbours in the Bajío and Center-North
Share of Mexico’s output, 2024
Exports, 2025
Formal private jobs, July 2026
Informal work, Q2 2026
Querétaro against Mexico
Coloured: the state. Grey: the whole country.
Safety, taxes and incentives
INEGI counted 3,462 businesses victimized per 10,000 in 2023, the third-highest rate, compared with 2,722 nationally, yet only 36.1% of city adults felt unsafe in June 2026. The Mexico Peace Index 2026 ranks it 16th; the May 29, 2026, USA advisory sets it at Level 2. 5
IMCO ranked Querétaro second in competitiveness in September 2026. The 2026 payroll tax is 3.0% (BHR). A governor is elected June 6, 2027. 5
Cities, ports, airports, crossings, power and water
Querétaro
The capital: 794,789 people (2020) 17
San Juan del Río
City: 177,719 people (2020) 17
Querétaro Intercontinental Airport
International airport (QRO) · 2,409,429 passengers in 2025 17
Power and water
A former energy regulator said in September 2026 that data centers had waited about 2 years for missing substations. Oxfam México’s 2026 report argues that the data centers in Colón and El Marqués are taking water from local residents. 5
Logistics and crossings
The capital sits about 2 hours by road from Mexico City (broker, August 2025), and the Querétaro-San Luis Potosí highway was a cargo-theft hotspot in 2025 (Overhaul). 5
Development pole
No federal development pole has been declared here. 5
The recent arrivals
- Jan 2025Amazon Web Services, Google, MicrosoftMicrosoft opened a cloud region there in May 2024, Google in December 2024, and Amazon Web Services in January 2025, with a stated investment of more than $5,000 million. 8
- Apr 2024Phoenix ContactPhoenix Contact, the German maker of industrial connectors, announced in April 2024 a new plant in Querétaro for connectors, cables, and sensors, an investment of about 50 million euros through 2032 with about 700 jobs by 2032 and local design and development work, according to the company. 8
The average daily IMSS contribution wage was 733.53 pesos in July 2026, the fourth-highest in Mexico, compared with a national average of 673.9. 5
Our landed-cost model:
- The model priced 3 Mexican places in full: Monterrey, Querétaro, and Mérida. 19
- In the model, an operator in an export plant in 2026 costs the employer about $1,398 a month in Monterrey, 1,387 in Querétaro, and 1,069 in Mérida, with every legal charge included: the year-end bonus and vacation premium, social security, the housing fund, the state payroll tax, and profit sharing at its cap. 19
- Per hour worked, the operator costs about $6.72 in Monterrey, 6.67 in Querétaro, and 5.14 in Mérida. 19
- The model uses the July 2026 averages from IMSS open data that Chapter 4 gives: 739.87 pesos for Nuevo León, 733.53 for Querétaro, and 561.80 for Yucatán; each technician is paid the state average, and each operator 70% of it. 19
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 15, The Bajío and Center-North, with the sources listed there, Nov 2026 · link
- INEGI, quarterly state exports, bulletin 609/26, 30 Sep 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
- 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
- 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: Querétaro (English Wikipedia) (en); Querétaro (Wikipedia en español) (es), 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
- Panorámica Jardín Zenea: Microstar, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Vista de SJR: Gabriel monarca, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons