Kirtland Air Force Base pumps $7.5 billion into local economy in FY 2024, report says

Kirtland Air Force Base contributed $7.5 billion to the local economy in fiscal year 2024, a more than 50% increase from the amount reported two years ago, according to the base’s biannual economic impact report released Wednesday.

Kirtland employs 5% of the greater Albuquerque area, and its contributions account for 12% of the metro’s total economic activity, the report said.

The numbers show a growing impact of the base’s operations, which officials say is economically healthy. In fiscal year 2022, for which a report was last published, the base had a total local economic impact of $4.88 billion.

“We’re on a trajectory right now where there’s not really any scenario where we couldn’t see it getting bigger,” said Col. Justin Secrest, base commander of the 377th Air Base Wing at Kirtland.

The base, aside from military operations, also houses Sandia National Laboratories, one of Albuquerque’s largest employers. In June, Sandia announced plans to cut up to 3% of its workforce by early fall, eliminating between 170 and 510 workers, though that is far more modest than the 75% reduction in the federal workforce envisioned by the Department of Government Efficiency.

Secrest said Sandia will continue business as usual despite the layoffs.

“I think that you’re going to see the workforce just transform a little bit,” he said. “Maybe we have some contracts where we had government service at one point, and maybe contracts change a bit. But the work is getting done — the mission isn’t changed.”

The layoffs at Sandia this year will not factor into last year’s economic impact report at Kirtland. Data from fiscal year 2024, which covers Oct. 1, 2023 through Sept. 30, 2024, shows the base’s household and economic spending supported an additional 34,205 jobs locally and contributed $2.1 billion toward job creation across the state. KAFB itself is home to more than 20,000 military and civilian personnel.

“It’s a major driver of the economy,” said New Mexico economist Kelly O’Donnell.

Innovation is one of Kirtland’s most important contributions to the economy, O’Donnell said, in the form of scientific developments at both the Air Force Research Laboratory and Sandia.

“When that innovation is commercialized out of the lab, that’s really foundational for our economy, because that’s not just jobs today, that’s jobs tomorrow, and the future of the New Mexico economy,” O’Donnell said.

Future expansion at Kirtland is dependent on how successful the base is in securing infrastructure funding from the federal government, according to Sherman McCorkle, chairman of Sandia Science & Technology Park and board member of the Kirtland Partnership Committee.

Funding for the Department of Defense will be decided by Congress by the end of the year.

Kirtland’s national security entities make it a unique driver of “outstanding growth,” McCorkle added. The base was tapped for potential closure 30 years ago, but officials ultimately decided against it.

“I cannot imagine what Albuquerque would be today if they had done away with Kirtland in 1995,” McCorkle said. “It would be unimaginable.”