Las Cruces, NM
Las Cruces, NM Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Las Cruces, NM Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Las Cruces ranks 273rd for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 270th for income. A household earns $61,154 a year while median rent runs $1,031/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 10% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is rent (55th of 300), while air quality is the soft spot (288th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 55th and home prices 98th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Las Cruces, your take-home is worth about $65,332 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 270th of 300↑42.1%$61,154
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 59th of 30090 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $67,789
- Per-capita income
- $33,412
- Full-time pay
- $32,165
Housing
- Median rent
- 55th of 300↑37.1%$1,031/mo
- Home value
- 98th of 300↑64.7%$259,000
- Property tax
- $1,523/yr · 0.6%
- Sales tax
- 7.63%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 258th of 3006%
- Bachelor's+
- 176th of 30031.6%
- Avg commute
- 80th of 30022.3 min
People
- Population
- 229,366
- Population change
- +5.1%
- Median age
- 35.0 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 13.3%
- Broadband
- 92.9%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 288th of 30062
- Natural-hazard loss
- 175th of 300$14/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 287th of 30026%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 20.1%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Cost of living
- + Rent
- + Home prices
- + Commute
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
- – Job market
- – Air quality
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — las cruces 20 n.
What jobs pay in Las Cruces
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $228,040
- Pharmacists
- $135,900
- IT managers
- $128,360
- Financial managers
- $117,540
- Lawyers
- $110,140
- Software developers
- $107,300
- Civil engineers
- $87,600
- General & operations managers
- $85,770
- Registered nurses
- $83,310
- Secondary school teachers
- $75,250
- Elementary school teachers
- $74,100
- Accountants & auditors
- $67,470
- Police officers
- $60,720
- Carpenters
- $57,030
- Plumbers
- $54,560
- Electricians
- $53,980
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $48,400
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $42,340
- Construction laborers
- $39,460
- Waiters & waitresses
- $38,670
- Customer service reps
- $36,080
- Janitors
- $35,410
- Retail salespersons
- $30,460
- Cashiers
- $28,710
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Las Cruces metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in New Mexico are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Texas2,848
- Arizona963
- Colorado900
- California887
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Las Cruces
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Las Cruces metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Las Cruces metro?
- Median gross rent across the Las Cruces, NM Metro Area is $1,031 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Las Cruces.
- What is the median household income in the Las Cruces metro?
- A typical household in the Las Cruces, NM Metro Area earns $61,154 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Las Cruces expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Las Cruces, NM Metro Area runs about 10% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Las Cruces metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $67,789 (versus its face value of $61,154). CityLedger rates the Las Cruces, NM Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Las Cruces metro?
- The median home value across the Las Cruces, NM Metro Area is $259,000 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Las Cruces metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Las Cruces, NM Metro Area is 6% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).