Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States

🇺🇸 Albuquerque, abbreviated as ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. The city's nicknames are The Duke City and Burque, both of which reference its 1706 founding by Nuevo México governor Francisco Cuervo y Valdés as La Villa de Alburquerque. Named in honour of then Viceroy the 10th Duke of Alburquerque, the Villa was an outpost on El Camino Real for the Tiquex and Hispano towns in the area. Since the city's founding, it has continued to be included on travel and trade routes including Santa Fe Railway, Route 66, Interstate 25, Interstate 40, and the Albuquerque International Sunport.

Economy Albuquerque lies at the centre of the New Mexico Technology Corridor, a concentration of high-tech private companies and government institutions along the Rio Grande. Larger institutions whose employees contribute to the population are numerous and include Sandia National Laboratories, Kirtland Air Force Base, and the attendant contracting companies which bring highly educated workers to a somewhat isolated region. Intel operates a large semiconductor factory or "fab" in suburban Rio Rancho, in neighbouring Sandoval County, with its attendant large capital investment. Northrop Grumman is located along I-25 in north-east Albuquerque, and Tempur-Pedic is located on the West Mesa next to I-40.

The solar energy and architectural-design innovator Steve Baer located his company, Zomeworks, to the region in the late 1960s; and Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory co-operate here in an enterprise that began with the Manhattan Project. In January 2007, Tempur-Pedic opened an 800,000-square-foot (74,000 m²) mattress factory in north-west Albuquerque.

Forbes magazine rated Albuquerque as the best city in America for business and careers in 2006. The city was rated seventh among America's Engineering Capitals in 2014 by Forbes magazine. Albuquerque ranked among the Top 10 Best Cities to Live by U.S. News & World Report in 2009 and was recognised as the fourth best place to live for families by the TLC network. It was ranked among the Top Best Cities for Jobs in 2007 and among the Top 50 Best Places to Live and Play by National Geographic Adventure.

Largest employers in Albuquerque include: 1 Kirtland Air Force Base; 2 University of New Mexico; 3 Sandia National Laboratories; 4 Albuquerque Public Schools; 5 Presbyterian Healthcare Services; 6 City government; 7 Lovelace–Sandia Health System; 8 Presbyterian Medical Services; 9 Intel Corporation; 10 State of New Mexico; 11 Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.