Insecurity, informal employment, wage inequality, and a drop in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) are the main factors limiting regional development in Mexico , according to the 2026 Regional Competitiveness Index (ICR) , prepared by the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO) .
The study, which measures the capacity of regions to attract and retain investment and talent , pointed out that competitiveness should be understood as a regional phenomenon, in which the advances or setbacks of one state directly impact its neighbors, which it called the “neighborhood effect”.
The 2026 Regional Competitiveness Index (ICR) divided the country into six regions and includes data up to the end of 2024. The Northeast —Coahuila, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, and Tamaulipas— consolidated its position as the leader in attracting businesses and skilled labor . Furthermore, it registered one of the highest rates of perceived safety, with 32% of the population over 18 years of age reporting feeling safe.
This region, along with the Northwest—Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Durango, Sinaloa, Sonora, and Zacatecas— allocated the largest share of business spending on security . However, the Northwest faces the highest homicide rate in the country, with 33.74 per 100,000 inhabitants.
The Bajío region —Colima, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michoacán, Nayarit, Querétaro, and Aguascalientes—stood out for innovation and patents, but showed low levels of skilled labor, with only 22.22% of the population over 15 years of age. The central region —Mexico City, Tlaxcala, State of Mexico, Hidalgo, Puebla, and Morelos— presented high school enrollment and a skilled workforce , at 98.42% and 30.68%, respectively, although it struggled to retain talent. Furthermore, high housing prices prevented it from absorbing new residents.
The Maya (Campeche, Chiapas, Quintana Roo, Tabasco and Yucatán) and Isthmus (Guerrero, Oaxaca and Veracruz) regions showed shortcomings in logistics and energy infrastructure , in addition to low foreign investment and high levels of informality.
In the Isthmus, informality reached 73.08%, while FDI remained at 7.87%. In the Maya region, the figure for Foreign Direct Investment was only 10.32%, while informality was 63.81%, reflecting a gap in the capacity to attract foreign capital.
The IMCO suggested several proposals to advance a regional cooperation strategy . In the case of businesses, it indicated that talent retention should be strengthened by creating training hubs that allow for cost sharing and standardization of job profiles.
For the states, the organization proposed aligning agendas to compete as a region and not in isolation ; in addition to consolidating common priorities such as reducing informality and improving access to services.
For the federal government, he suggested directing nearshoring (relocation of production lines) and logistics support to projects that connect leading regions with lagging entities , conditioning the incentives on the generation of formal employment.
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