Santa Fe, NM
Santa Fe, NM Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Santa Fe, NM Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Santa Fe ranks 55th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 64th for income. A household earns $88,719 a year while median rent runs $1,586/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 1% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is education (19th of 300), while home prices is the soft spot (254th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 231st and home prices 254th 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 Santa Fe, your take-home is worth about $59,674 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
- 64th of 300↑44.7%$88,719
- 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.
- 206th of 30099 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $89,827
- Per-capita income
- $56,971
- Full-time pay
- $47,633
Housing
- Median rent
- 231st of 300↑54%$1,586/mo
- Home value
- 254th of 300↑50.6%$473,800
- Property tax
- $2,167/yr · 0.5%
- Sales tax
- 7.63%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 63rd of 3003.5%
- Bachelor's+
- 19th of 30049.4%
- Avg commute
- 199th of 30025.5 min
People
- Population
- 157,765
- Population change
- +4.9%
- Median age
- 49.3 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 11.7%
- Broadband
- 92.3%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 141st of 30045
- Natural-hazard loss
- 132nd of 300$11/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 147th of 30018.4%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 14%
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
- + Affordability
- + Household income
- + Job market
- + Education
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Home prices
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — santa fe co muni ap.
What jobs pay in Santa Fe
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $345,070
- Pharmacists
- $150,580
- IT managers
- $136,130
- Financial managers
- $126,380
- Lawyers
- $122,430
- Software developers
- $112,380
- Civil engineers
- $110,470
- General & operations managers
- $106,770
- Registered nurses
- $100,790
- Secondary school teachers
- $77,260
- Police officers
- $74,640
- Elementary school teachers
- $73,750
- Accountants & auditors
- $72,780
- Carpenters
- $59,420
- Electricians
- $57,250
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $51,120
- Plumbers
- $50,180
- Waiters & waitresses
- $46,640
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $43,850
- Construction laborers
- $41,980
- Customer service reps
- $41,000
- Janitors
- $36,760
- Retail salespersons
- $35,960
- Cashiers
- $34,900
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 Santa Fe 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.
- California977
- Texas899
- Colorado488
- New York366
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Santa Fe
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Santa Fe metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Santa Fe metro?
- Median gross rent across the Santa Fe, NM Metro Area is $1,586 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Santa Fe.
- What is the median household income in the Santa Fe metro?
- A typical household in the Santa Fe, NM Metro Area earns $88,719 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Santa Fe expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Santa Fe, NM Metro Area runs about 1% 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 Santa Fe metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $89,827 (versus its face value of $88,719). CityLedger rates the Santa Fe, NM Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Santa Fe metro?
- The median home value across the Santa Fe, NM Metro Area is $473,800 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Santa Fe metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Santa Fe, NM Metro Area is 3.5% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).