State profile
New Mexico Cost of Living Comparison
New Mexico's 2024 price level is 92.212, 7.79% below the national level, and its state government collects the fourth-most per resident in the country, mostly from oil and gas severance and sales taxes rather than from households' incomes.
Updated
92.212New Mexico all-items price level, U.S. = 100 · rank 15 of 51, lowest first
| Measure | New Mexico | Tennessee | First − second |
|---|---|---|---|
| All-items price level | 92.212 | 91.870 | +0.342 points |
| Rent price level | 73.611 | 79.070 | −5.459 points |
| Home value | $248,100±$1,957 | $286,700±$1,492 | −$38,600 |
| Two-bedroom gross rent | $1,062±$17 | $1,143±$10 | −$81 |
| Household income | $64,059±$808 | $69,595±$429 | −$5,536 |
| Real estate taxes paid | $1,731±$19 | $1,442±$8 | +$289 |
$4,000 of monthly spending in New Mexico scales to $3,985 in Tennessee at the 2024 all-items price ratio.
BEA 2024 and ACS 2020–2024; ± marks the Census 90% margin. How to read a gap
New Mexico: low household costs, a resource-funded state budget
The tax table is New Mexico's surprise. State collections reached $7,028 per resident in fiscal 2025, rank 4, yet individual income tax supplied only 16.9%. Severance taxes on resource production supplied 31.2%, or $2,192 per resident, the third-largest severance share of any state, and general sales and gross receipts 30.3%. The Census Bureau warns that per-resident collections are not a household burden, and New Mexico shows why: a large share is paid by producers, not by residents' paychecks.
Household costs are low. Rents (73.611) and goods (96.144) rank 15th and 17th lowest, utilities (77.895) tenth. The typical property-tax bill, $1,731 a year, is lower than in Arizona, Colorado or Texas; among the neighbours only Oklahoma's is smaller.
Incomes are lower still: after adjusting for New Mexico's prices, income per person is $51,121, a figure only two jurisdictions undercut. Renters spend 30.1% of income on gross rent, rank 19, despite a two-bedroom median of only $1,062.
Prices dipped and recovered. The all-items parity fell from 91.805 in 2020 to 89.735 in 2021, then rose to 92.212 by 2024, a net gain of 0.407 points.
New Mexico sits between very different neighbours. Colorado (103.052) and Arizona (100.677) are pricier, with two-bedroom medians of $1,782 and $1,541; Texas is at 97.057; Oklahoma, at 87.843, is cheaper. Tennessee (91.870) is the nearest price level nationally.
Category price levels in New Mexico
| Category | Parity | Rank, low first | vs U.S. |
|---|---|---|---|
| All items | 92.212 | 15 | 7.79% below |
| Goods | 96.144 | 17 | 3.86% below |
| Housing (rents) | 73.611 | 15 | 26.39% below |
| Utilities | 77.895 | 10 | 22.11% below |
| Other services | 98.540 | 18 | 1.46% below |
| Real income per person, 2017 $ | $51,121 | 49 | U.S. $59,195 |
All items by year: 2020 91.805 · 2021 89.735 · 2022 90.929 · 2023 90.981 · 2024 92.212 (+0.407 since 2020). How to read categories and trends
Monthly housing costs
- Owners with a mortgage
- $1,564±$11 · rank 40, high first
- Owners without a mortgage
- $451±$4 · rank 45
- Renters: gross rent / income
- 30.1%±0.5 · rank 19
New Mexico state tax collections, FY2025
$14.94 billion in total, $7,028 per resident. Scope of these figures
| Tax | FY2025 | Share | Per resident |
|---|---|---|---|
| Individual income | $2.52 billion | 16.9% | $1,185 |
| General sales | $4.53 billion | 30.3% | $2,133 |
| Property | $125.9 million | 0.8% | $59 |
| Motor fuel | $331.7 million | 2.2% | $156 |
| Other selective sales | $1.31 billion | 8.8% | $615 |
| Corporate income | $782.0 million | 5.2% | $368 |
| Licenses | $455.3 million | 3.0% | $214 |
| Severance | $4.66 billion | 31.2% | $2,192 |
| Other taxes | $224.8 million | 1.5% | $106 |
New Mexico beside its neighbours
Before you budget a move
For New Mexico, compare the specific annual job offer and housing contract before using a statewide price ratio. A role with employer accommodation or a changed travel schedule has a different household budget from a self-funded rental move. Those arrangements are not represented by median household income.
For Albuquerque-area, Santa Fe-area or another destination, record utility responsibilities and the actual commute. Owner-occupied values are historical population medians, while a lender requires the property’s purchase price and financing terms. Do not turn the home-value row into a monthly payment without those inputs.
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