Santa Fe Reporter

What Santa Fe Reporter does

Santa Fe Reporter is an independent, for-profit local alternative weekly newspaper founded in 1974 and based in Santa Fe, New Mexico (11-50 employees). The publication produces a weekly print edition distributed through pickup locations throughout the city, paired with continuous digital publishing on sfreporter.com built on the Metro Publisher CMS, and a dedicated community events calendar at calendar.sfreporter.com. It serves Santa Fe residents seeking coverage of local news, elections, civic affairs, arts and culture, dining, the cannabis industry, and community events, with vertical products including The Fork (food column), Best of Santa Fe (annual reader-voted guide generating 28,000+ votes), seasonal guides (Summer, Winter, Holiday Gift & Giving), Voter Guide, Cannabis Guide, and curated event listings under SFR Picks and Weekend Picks.

The company's revenue model is a two-stream local-media structure: advertising (display, classifieds, and digital, with advertising centralized via nm.news/advertising/) and recurring print and digital subscriptions, supplemented by reader-supported "Friends" donations and sponsored content columns. Distribution spans physical newsstand pickup, the owned website, an events calendar subdomain, RSS syndication, email newsletters (including a monthly cannabis newsletter), and social channels on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, and YouTube. The publication markets itself to SMB and individual consumers within a single Santa Fe metro geography, with no disclosed parent company, institutional funding, or external ownership.

Operationally, the publication is active and editorially diversified across news, arts, culture, food, and calendar verticals, with editorial coverage extending into emerging regulated sectors like New Mexico's cannabis and psilocybin policy. No AI/ML capabilities, integrations, or APIs are disclosed in the source data, and there are no recorded funding rounds, M&A transactions, regulatory actions, leadership changes, or partnership announcements in the available material.

Name

Santa Fe Reporter

Legal name

Santa Fe Reporter

Website

https://sfreporter.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1974

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Santa Fe Reporter is an independent alt-weekly newspaper founded in 1974 that covers Santa Fe, NM local news, arts, food, and civic affairs across print, web, and a dedicated events calendar, monetizing through subscriptions, advertising, and annual community guides.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Santa Fe

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Advertising: The newspaper generates revenue through display advertising, classified ads, and digital advertising on sfreporter.com. The site includes an advertising information page at nm.news/advertising/.
2. Subscriptions: Print and digital subscription revenue from readers, with subscription signup available at sfreporter.com/subscribe

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Santa Fe Reporter is a local alternative weekly newspaper and digital news publication based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It delivers coverage of local news, arts and culture, food and dining, columns, and community events through a weekly print edition, a website (sfreporter.com), and a dedicated events calendar platform. The publication also produces themed annual and seasonal guides such as Best of Santa Fe, Restaurant Guide, Summer Guide, Winter Guide, Cannabis Guide, and Holiday Gift & Giving Guide.

Product overview

Santa Fe Reporter is a local news publication built on Metro Publisher™ that delivers comprehensive coverage of Santa Fe, New Mexico through its flagship newspaper and multiple specialized products. The core publication encompasses news, arts & culture, food, columns, and calendar sections. The product portfolio includes themed guides (Best of Santa Fe, Summer Guide, Winter Guide, Restaurant Guide, Cannabis Guide, Holiday Gift & Giving Guide), a dedicated food vertical (The Fork with reader recommendations), and an event curation tool (SFR Picks). Together these products serve the Santa Fe community with local news, entertainment recommendations, dining coverage, and annual reference guides.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Santa Fe Reporter (flagship publication) The flagship local news publication covering Santa Fe, New Mexico, featuring sections for news, arts & culture, food, columns, calendar events, and special issues. Distributed weekly in print and continuously online for Santa Fe residents.
• Best of Santa Fe Annual reader-voted guide celebrating the best local businesses, services, people, and places in Santa Fe across categories including food & drink, arts & entertainment, shopping, and health services. Received more than 28,000 reader votes in 30 days.
• The Fork Food-focused column and newsletter featuring restaurant reviews, food news, reader correspondence, and culinary coverage specific to the Santa Fe dining scene.
• SFR Picks (Weekend Picks) Curated event calendar highlighting recommended music, theater, dance, art openings, books/lectures, film, food, and workshop events in Santa Fe.
• Summer Guide Seasonal guide covering outdoor activities, hiking trails, and summer events in the Santa Fe area.
• Winter Guide Seasonal guide covering winter activities and events in the Santa Fe area.
• Restaurant Guide Comprehensive directory of Santa Fe restaurants with reviews and listings.
• Cannabis Guide Special issue covering New Mexico's cannabis industry including local dispensaries, regulations, tax revenue, and product reviews.
• Voter Guide Election coverage featuring candidate profiles and information for Santa Fe School Board and local elections.
• Holiday Gift & Giving Guide Seasonal gift guide with holiday shopping recommendations and local business features.
• Restaurant & Bar Directory Annual comprehensive directory of Santa Fe restaurants and bars.

Quantifiable outcome

• Best of Santa Fe receives over 28,000 reader votes annually

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Austin Chronicle: Long-established independent alt-weekly in Austin, TX. Similar print + digital + events + Best-Of franchise mix, useful as a peer for editorial positioning and revenue model.
• Tucson Weekly: Independent alternative weekly in a comparable Southwestern city of similar size. Closely matches SFR's format, product mix (print + digital + events), and operating model.
• Santa Fe New Mexican: Daily newspaper serving the same Santa Fe, NM market. Direct competitor for local news, advertising, and subscription readers in the same geography, though SFR positions as an alternative weekly while the New Mexican is the established daily.
• Riverfront Times: St. Louis-based alternative weekly with a comparable mix of local news, dining, arts, and music coverage. Represents another surviving alt-weekly comparable for SFR.
• Willamette Week: Portland, OR-based independent alternative weekly. One of the more successful surviving alt-weeklies, offering a useful comparable for SFR's content, advertising, and events model.
• Phoenix New Times: Major alternative weekly in Phoenix, AZ. Operates the same alt-weekly format with deep vertical coverage (food, arts, news) and a similar Best-Of-style franchise in a larger Southwestern market.
• Boise Weekly: Independent alternative weekly covering Boise, ID — a similarly-sized mid-sized metro. Comparable print-plus-digital local news product serving a single regional market.
• Weekly Alibi: Long-running alternative weekly newspaper covering Albuquerque, NM. Same format (alt-weekly), same regional market (New Mexico), and comparable editorial mix of news, arts, food, and listings — making it the closest direct competitor in the same state.

Broad incumbents

• Albuquerque Journal: Dominant daily newspaper in the broader New Mexico market. A larger incumbent with overlapping local coverage and advertising inventory that competes for Santa Fe-area readers and regional advertisers.
• Village Voice Media Holdings: Network of historic alt-weekly publications including the Village Voice. A broader incumbent in the alternative-weekly category whose network scale provides a comparison point for SFR's standalone single-market model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/santafereporter
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCe8tis_ntIEdDbdwT_3A0GQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/SFReporter
• Instagraminstagram.com/sfreporter
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/santa-fe-reporter

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Santa Fe Reporter