It has a traditional economy based on agriculture, livestock and forestry but it is also one of the poorest in Mexico, with high rates of emigration, especially sending migrant workers to the United States.

This land was sea bed 100 million years ago, which formed ancient sedimentary rock, mostly limestone, which easily erodes.

This makes the area part of the Huasteca Karst[3] Arroyo Seco is completely within the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve of Querétaro, which was established in 1997.

The Sótano del Barro is one of the largest cavities of the world by volume, measuring 15 million cubic metres, surpassed only the Sima Mayor de Sarisariñama in Venezuela.

Despite its depth, the bottom of the pit cave receives an abundance of sunlight allowing for the growth of trees and other vegetation, making it an isolated mini forest.

The Santa María enters the municipality from San Luis Potosí and flows along a 400 meter deep canyon until it merges with the Ayutla River.

In the lowest elevations there are tropical hardwoods such as red cedar, Montezuma cypress and a tree called the “parota.” Wildlife mostly consists of birds and mammals such as doves, quails, chachalacas, eagles, roadrunners, and some waterfowl.

Mammals include squirrels, rabbits, armadillos, white-tailed deer, foxes, coyotes, wild boar, pumas, raccoons, skunks, and opossums.

The missions were the last in a long line of evangelization efforts in the Sierra Gorda, which were resisted by the indigenous peoples, especially the Chichimeca Jonaz for about two centuries.

To consolidate Spanish dominance, the Franciscans under Serra had these churches with elaborate Baroque facades built in the heart of the Sierra Gorda.

[7][16] Also prominent are the coat of arms of the Franciscan order, grapevines, two headed eagles, with the Virgin of Guadalupe and Our Lady of the Pillar, the patronesses of Mexico and Spain respectively.

[3] In the late pre Hispanic period, the Sierra Gorda had incursions from both the Purépecha and Aztecs from as early as 1400, attracted by the area's mineral deposits, but neither had true dominance as the Chichimecas fiercely opposed them.

[1] The Spanish made incursions into the Sierra Gorda early in the colonial period, but the Chichimeca, especially the Jonaz just to the south, put up fierce resistance to their intrusions.

In 1609, viceroy Luis de Velasco ordered that the Franciscans leave missionary work to the Augustinians, including the Arroyo Seco area.

[1] The Spanish would break Chichimeca resistance in the Sierra Gorda in the 1740s, with the expeditions of José de Escandón, culminating in the Battle of Media Luna.

In retaliation, forces loyal to Venustiano Carranza recruited soldiers from Arroyo Seco and defeated Cedillo at the Laguna de Concá.

[1] In 1994, the municipality decided to build a garbage dump near the archeological zone of San Rafael without informing the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH).

[10] In 2009, the municipality had number of cases of cattle dying due to bites from “vampire” bats which were transmitting a type of paralytic rabies.

[24] From the latter 2000s to the present, Arroyo Seco and the rest of the Sierra Gorda in Querétaro have been experiencing numerous small earthquakes, with most registering from 2.5 to 3.5 on the Richter scale, generally imperceptible to humans.

[25] The municipality's recent history also includes the mass migration out by many of its working aged people due to lack of economic opportunity.

It is not known exactly how many have left or how many come back at the end of the year to visit family, but Arroyo Seco estimates that about forty percent of its population is living somewhere in the United States.

[26][27] The amount sent back in remittances is also not known, but it has been estimated at between 50,000 and US$100,000 per day or about US$18 million per year to the Sierra Gorda alone, based on money exchanges made in the main city of Jalpan de Serra.

[28] These migrants not only provide remittances directly to their families, they have also formed clubs with the purpose of promoting infrastructure projects in their home communities.

[31] Many businesses in the municipality and the rest of the Sierra Gorda take the dollar as currency, especially at the end of the year when many come to the area to visit family.

[26] Arroyo Seco is one of the sponsors of the Día del Paisano to honor returning migrant workers in Jalpan de Serra.

Logging is limited because of the tropical hardwoods here and conservation efforts related to the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, but it still makes up over 15% of the state's total.

Fish farming is a growing segment of the economy, especially in communities near rivers such as Río del Carrizal, Concá, Vegas Cuatas and Ayutla.

Tourism is a small percentage of the economy, mostly based on the mission church at Concá and some resort hotels opened in recent years.

[17] Its trunk has the second largest diameter in Mexico after the Tule tree in Oaxaca, requiring twenty two children linking hands to surround it.

The main house has been converted into a hotel, conserving part of the original structure made of adobe, with rustic stairs, wooden roof beams and gardens.