Zacatecas is of ancient mining tradition; it is the principal silver producer in the world and the main zinc provider in all Latin America. The counties where most of this activity is concentrated are Fresnillo, and Sombrerete. However, a grave problem that affects this activity is that the added value is added outside the entity, mainly in the northeast area of the country, which reduces the activity to mere extraction, and whose PIB contribution is only 5%.

Another activity which lots of history is agricultural production, mainly beans, dry chile, and oatmeal in which it is first place in production on a national level. It is also an important producer of peaches, tuna, guayaba, garlic, onion, carrots, and tomatoes. As for farming, it depends bovine. Despite the adverse climate conditions that the semi arid climate offers, the farming industry contributes 14% of state PIB.

The poverty conditions we find in the state are alarming for 34% of its population lives in extreme poverty conditions- in reference mainly to nutritional poverty. It is among the five states with less income per capita in all of Mexico, due in part to the low occupational capacity that the week economic structure offers its residents.

Some of the other problems Zacatecas faced in the beginnings of the XX century is migration of its population. According to state government reports, in 2003 the Zacatecas population residents in Zacatecas was over 1,413, 115; while the population of Zacatecas people residents in the USA was 1, 468,747, so 50% of the Zacatecas people live in the neighboring country; without forgetting the amount of Zacatecas people that have migrated mainly through Jalisco, Nuevo Leon, Chihuahua, Coahuila and Aguas Calientes.