Las Cruces, NM

Across all occupations in the Las Cruces, NM metropolitan area, the median wage is $42,070 a year ($20.23 an hour) and the mean $54,880, May 2025. That median is −17% against the US median of $50,980 and −11% against New Mexico's $47,210. BLS counts 80,000 jobs in the area. The highest-paying occupation is physicians, all other; the largest is home health and personal care aides.

All occupations: Las Cruces, NM vs New Mexico and the United States

All occupations: wage percentiles, mean and employment in the Las Cruces, NM area, New Mexico and nationally, May 2025
Area	Basis	Percentile wage					Mean	Employment
Area	Basis	10th	25th	Median	75th	90th	Mean	Employment
Las Cruces, NM	Hourly	$13.20	$15.03	$20.23	$30.92	$46.64	$26.39	80,000
Las Cruces, NM	Annual	$27,450	$31,260	$42,070	$64,320	$97,010	$54,880	80,000
New Mexico	Hourly	$13.83	$16.95	$22.70	$36.07	$52.92	$29.96	870,970
New Mexico	Annual	$28,760	$35,260	$47,210	$75,030	$110,070	$62,330	870,970
United States	Hourly	$15.00	$18.07	$24.51	$38.71	$61.81	$33.54	155,495,730
United States	Annual	$31,200	$37,590	$50,980	$80,520	$128,560	$69,770	155,495,730

Annual wage at the 10th, 25th, 50th (median), 75th and 90th percentiles across all occupations in the metro; the line marks the US median. The same numbers are in the table above.

274 detailed occupations publish a median in this area. State profile: New Mexico. Compare any occupation across every area in the wage explorer.

20 highest-paying occupations in Las Cruces, NM

Rank	Occupation	Median annual	Median hourly	Employment
1	Physicians, All Other	$387,450	$186.27	170
2	Family Medicine Physicians	$228,040	$109.64	100
3	Dentists, General	$207,000	$99.52	80
4	Architectural and Engineering Managers	$170,990	$82.21	40
5	Physician Assistants	$141,350	$67.96	100
6	Aerospace Engineers	$136,860	$65.80	70
7	Pharmacists	$135,900	$65.34	120
8	Nurse Practitioners	$131,990	$63.46	210
9	Computer and Information Systems Managers in New Mexico	$128,360	$61.71	100
10	Veterinarians	$124,640	$59.92	40
11	Engineers, All Other	$121,510	$58.42	220
12	Physical Therapists	$120,350	$57.86	200
13	Natural Sciences Managers	$119,430	$57.42	30
14	Financial Managers in New Mexico	$117,540	$56.51	160
15	Computer Hardware Engineers	$117,150	$56.32	90
16	Managers, All Other in New Mexico	$115,920	$55.73	310
17	Computer and Information Research Scientists	$115,610	$55.58	80
18	Electronics Engineers, Except Computer	$114,590	$55.09	210
19	Operations Research Analysts	$114,150	$54.88	130
20	Information Security Analysts	$113,550	$54.59	70

Ranked by median; an occupation whose median BLS withholds or top-codes in this area cannot appear here, however well it pays.

20 largest occupations in Las Cruces, NM

Rank	Occupation	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient	Median annual
1	Home Health and Personal Care Aides in New Mexico	6,430	80.42	2.90	$27,840
2	Fast Food and Counter Workers in New Mexico	2,870	35.88	1.45	$27,560
3	Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive in New Mexico	2,360	29.52	2.69	$41,030
4	Retail Salespersons in New Mexico	2,110	26.39	1.05	$30,460
5	Cashiers in New Mexico	1,630	20.32	1.02	$28,710
6	Customer Service Representatives in New Mexico	1,480	18.53	1.11	$36,080
7	Stockers and Order Fillers in New Mexico	1,370	17.09	0.94	$32,290
8	Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in New Mexico	1,340	16.73	1.18	$35,410
9	Registered Nurses in New Mexico	1,280	15.98	0.74	$83,310
10	General and Operations Managers in New Mexico	1,260	15.72	0.70	$85,770
11	Waiters and Waitresses in New Mexico	1,190	14.86	1.02	$38,670
12	Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary in New Mexico	1,020	12.70	1.39	$40,930
13	Office Clerks, General in New Mexico	1,000	12.46	0.79	$36,810
14	Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education in New Mexico	890	11.17	1.25	$74,100
15	Construction Laborers in New Mexico	860	10.73	1.52	$39,460
16	Food Preparation Workers in New Mexico	830	10.41	1.81	$32,360
17	Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in New Mexico	810	10.09	0.76	$48,400
18	Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in New Mexico	780	9.77	0.52	$33,350
19	Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education in New Mexico	760	9.50	1.39	$75,250
20	Cooks, Restaurant in New Mexico	730	9.11	1.00	$30,980

Most concentrated occupations in Las Cruces, NM

The 10 occupations with the highest location quotient among those employing at least 100 people in the area. A quotient of 2.00 means the occupation's share of local jobs is twice its national share.

Rank	Occupation	Location quotient	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Median annual
1	Detectives and Criminal Investigators	9.57	560	7.04	$106,330
2	Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators	4.69	100	1.26	$45,450
3	Electronics Engineers, Except Computer	4.30	210	2.68	$114,590
4	Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse	4.18	570	7.13	$26,480
5	Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technologists and Technicians	3.76	180	2.30	$85,780
6	First-Line Supervisors of Correctional Officers	3.52	100	1.21	$72,880
7	Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators	3.08	200	2.55	$47,350
8	Home Health and Personal Care Aides in New Mexico	2.90	6,430	80.42	$27,840
9	Special Education Teachers, Secondary School	2.87	240	3.03	$75,570
10	Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education	2.86	160	2.00	$74,400

Occupation groups in Las Cruces, NM

Group	Median annual	Mean annual	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient
Management	$99,910	$110,430	3,860	48.19	0.67
Architecture and Engineering	$95,370	$99,170	1,590	19.83	1.18
Computer and Mathematical	$92,140	$95,120	1,570	19.67	0.58
Life, Physical, and Social Science	$81,070	$85,260	810	10.09	1.06
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical	$80,410	$100,650	4,810	60.14	0.95
Legal	$74,900	$100,320	400	4.97	0.59
Business and Financial Operations	$67,860	$75,300	3,400	42.44	0.63
Educational Instruction and Library	$61,380	$63,180	6,690	83.61	1.43
Protective Service	$57,510	$63,120	2,760	34.48	1.42
Community and Social Service	$56,280	$62,510	1,840	22.96	1.34
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair	$48,300	$52,830	2,960	37.00	0.95
Construction and Extraction	$47,060	$51,040	4,020	50.29	1.22
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media	$46,530	$59,390	590	7.37	0.56
Office and Administrative Support	$40,110	$43,240	9,840	123.05	1.08
Production	$36,810	$41,960	3,020	37.77	0.69
Transportation and Material Moving	$36,500	$42,020	5,160	64.51	0.73
Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance	$35,350	$35,430	2,300	28.75	0.98
Personal Care and Service	$32,910	$35,410	1,390	17.42	0.83
Sales and Related	$32,100	$41,100	5,910	73.89	0.86
Food Preparation and Serving Related	$29,490	$33,900	8,050	100.69	1.14
Healthcare Support	$27,970	$31,290	8,200	102.44	2.02
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry	$27,230	$33,960	840	10.46	3.74

Every occupation in New Mexico, and the area's place among the state's metros, is on the state profile. All 274 published occupations for this area are in the wage explorer; other metros are on the metros hub.

Source and notes

Data: BLS OEWS May 2025, released 2026-05-15. Cross-industry estimates, all ownerships. BLS page: OEWS Las Cruces, NM estimates (area 29740).

*: Wage estimate not available.

Annual wages assume 2,080 hours a year at the hourly rate; occupations BLS publishes on one basis only show an en dash (–) on the other.
Employment is rounded to the nearest 10 by BLS. Where BLS withholds a cell, nothing is estimated in its place.
Jobs per 1,000 is the occupation's employment per 1,000 jobs in the Las Cruces, NM area; the location quotient is that share divided by the national share.
The concentration table keeps only occupations with employment of 100 or more in the area, so a quotient built on a handful of rounded jobs cannot top it.