New Mexico by the numbers
In New Mexico, the median worker earns $45,870 a year, the typical home is worth $232,200 and carries $1,669 of property tax, and the average household pays $98 a month for electricity at 14.12¢ per kilowatt-hour.
West Western Interconnection Regulated monopoly
Energy
New Mexico has an exceptional solar resource and has been building it at scale, together with wind in the east of the state. The Energy Transition Act set an accelerated schedule for retiring coal, and the replacement portfolios procured for the San Juan and Four Corners retirements came in at prices low enough that the transition reduced costs rather than raising them.
The Act also allowed the utility to securitise the undepreciated cost of retiring coal plants, refinancing that stranded cost with low-interest bonds rather than recovering it at a utility's higher cost of capital. That mechanism is a significant part of why New Mexico's rate went down while most states went up.
New Mexico still has a dispersed rural population and long distribution lines, which keeps it from being as cheap as its neighbours in the Mountain West.
Averaged across the twelve months to May 2026, New Mexico households used 642 kilowatt-hours a month and paid $98. At the state median wage that is about 4.4 hours of work a month to keep the lights on. For heating, gas is still cheaper to run than a heat pump here, by about $4.09 per million BTU.
Work and pay
The median New Mexico worker earned $45,870 in 2024, 7.3% below the national median. What distinguishes a state's labour market is rarely its biggest occupations, which are retail and food service everywhere, but what it has disproportionately.
| Occupation | Concentration | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Derrick Operators, Oil and Gas | 17.39× | $60,200 |
| Nuclear Engineers | 14.11× | $140,070 |
| Wellhead Pumpers | 13.62× | $68,220 |
| Roustabouts, Oil and Gas | 13.13× | $48,570 |
| Rotary Drill Operators, Oil and Gas | 8.86× | $85,540 |
Property tax
The median New Mexico homeowner pays $1,669 a year on a home worth $232,200, an effective rate of 0.72% against a national 0.98%. Nobody sets that rate. It is what falls out of county, city, school district and special district levies applied to an assessed value, so the state figure is a weighted average of 26 counties rather than a posted number.
Cost of living
Prices in New Mexico run at 92.2 where the national average is 100, ranking it #37 of 51. Goods sit at 96.1, which is close to national almost everywhere because most goods are shipped and priced nationally. Rents sit at 73.6, and that is where states actually separate from one another. A median wage of $45,870 therefore buys what $49,751 buys nationally.
Metro areas priced separately: Santa Fe (98.8) , Albuquerque (95.5) , Las Cruces (90.2) , Farmington (87.7) .
Housing
House prices in New Mexico fell 1.2% over the year to 2026 Q2, against a median across all states of +2.7%. Over ten years the index is +87.2%. They remain 1.2% below the peak set in 2025.
Metro areas tracked here: Albuquerque (-1.7%) .
Who supplies the power
19 utilities report residential service in New Mexico, together serving 888,233 customers. Regulated monopoly.
New Mexico: common questions
What does it cost to live in New Mexico?
Prices overall run at 92.2 against a national average of 100, with rents at 73.6. The typical home is worth $232,200 and carries $1,669 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 0.72% against a national 0.98%. Electricity averages $98 a month at 14.12¢ per kilowatt-hour. Against that, the median wage is $45,870.
What is the property tax rate in New Mexico?
The effective rate is 0.72% of home value, from a median bill of $1,669. It is set locally rather than by the state, so the figure is a weighted outcome across 26 counties. County by county rates.
Does a salary go further in New Mexico?
The median wage of $45,870 buys what $49,751 buys nationally, once local prices are taken out. A state paying above the national median while charging above it for housing can leave a household no better off, and this is the arithmetic that shows which side of that line New Mexico falls on.
Is New Mexico expensive for electricity?
It ranks #44 of 51 jurisdictions on price at 14.12¢ per kilowatt-hour, -23.4% against the U.S. average. On the actual bill it ranks 51 of 51, because households there use 642 kWh a month against a national 871.
What is the median salary in New Mexico?
$45,870 across all occupations, about $22.05 an hour, covering 860,880 wage and salary workers as of 2024.
Who supplies electricity in New Mexico?
19 utilities report residential service, the largest being Public Service Co of NM with 492,945 customers. Regulated monopoly.
Electricity May 2026, gas 2024, utilities 2024, wages 2024. All figures from federal statistical agencies. Methodology · Sources