Within the State of New Mexico, Albuquerque is the largest city, located in the central area of the state. Albuquerque straddles the Rio Grande and is the county seat of Bernalillo County. According to the 2010 Census, the population was around 545,800, ranking it the 32nd largest city in the US. The city was the 6th fastest growing in America as of June 2007. The metropolitan population in 2011 reached 907,775 making it the 57th biggest US metropolitan area. Rio Rancho City is included within the Albuquerque MSA population.
Located within the city of Albuquerque is the University of New Mexico or likewise called UNM and many other popular institutions such as the Kirtland Air Force Base, the Petroglyph National Monument and the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute. Sandia National Laboratories are also based within the city as well. The Rio Grande River flows through the city of Albuquerque from north to south and the Sandia Mountains exist along the eastern region of the city.
The city of Albuquerque was founded as the Spanish colonial outpost of Ranchos de Albuquerque during the year 1706. During that time, 18 families resided in the area. There is an abundance of the historical Spanish cultural tradition in present day Albuquerque.
At first, the region was a farming village along the Camino Real. As time went by, it also became home to a strategically located military outpost. The city of Albuquerque was also the sheep-herding capital of the West. In the year 1706, Spain established a military garrison or a "presidio" in the community. Mexico likewise had a military garrison located there after the year 1821. The township was initially built in the conventional pattern of a Spanish community: government buildings, a church and houses all surrounded a central plaza.
Presently, Albuquerque is situated at the middle of the New Mexico Technology Corridor. This is a group of government institutions and high-tech private companies which run along the Rio Grande. There are several huge businesses who contribute to the population with their numerous staff like Kirtland Air Force Base and Sandia National Laboratories.
A lot of highly skilled personnel are brought into this fairly isolated area by the attendant contracting businesses. Like for example, in suburban Rio Rancho, Intel operates a large semi-conductor factory, also known as a "fab," and its attendant huge capital investment is found within nearby Sandoval County. Tempur-Pedic is located nearby I-40 on the West Mesa and Northrop Grumman is located in northeast Albuquerque along I-25.
Steve Baer, a solar energy guru and an architectural design innovator of Zomeworks, located his company within the region in the latter part of the 1960s. The Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Sandia Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory cooperate here in a venture that originated with the Manhattan Project.
In January the year 2007, Tempur-Pedic opened up an 800,000 square foot mattress factory within northwest Albuquerque. During 2008, Schott Solar Inc. announced they would open up a 200,000 square foot facility that specializes in making receivers for CSPs or also known as concentrated solar thermal power plants, along with 64MW of photovoltaic or also referred to as PV modules.
The University of New Mexico calls the city of Albuquerque home. This is the biggest public flagship university in the whole state. UNM has a School of Medicine which placed in the top 50 primary care oriented medical schools in the United States. The University of St. Francis College of Nursing, Trinity Southwest University and Allied Health Department of Physician Assistant Studies as well as the National American University are all located here too.