LOS ALAMOS, N.M. — A new report explains why it takes more than a village to keep Los Alamos National Laboratory up and running.

According to a 2023 economic report, LANL employed close to 16,000 workers. The report shows more than 1,400 union employees make up 9% of the laboratory workforce. Those positions include plumbers, electricians, painters, and others.

“With an annual budget of four billion dollars, Los Alamos National Laboratory is a major economic driver in New Mexico,” said Kathy Keith, LANL’s director of Community Partnerships.

The 2023 report shows the annual salary total of $1.8 billion went to lab employees, but also into New Mexico communities.

More than 200 LANL projects served about 212 small businesses, and the lab spent about $930 million on goods and services from New Mexico-based businesses.

“These services included things like building supplies from Hacienda Home Centers, who has locations across the state, computers from Wildflower International, one of the state’s largest women-owned businesses, and from the Pueblo Alliance who supplied the laboratory with construction and transportation services,” Keith said.

The total budget for LANL in 2023 sits above $4 billion.