Pharmacist Salary in Las Cruces, NM: Median $79,207 in 2026
Las Cruces (NM) · COL index 88 · Unemployment 5.0% · Metro pop 215,000 · Rank #223 of 283 for Pharmacist salary
A Pharmacist in Las Cruces earns an estimated median of $79,207 per year. That figure starts from the New Mexico state-level BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics median[1]($81,890) and scales it by Las Cruces's composite cost-of-living index of 88 (US = 100). The 10th percentile comes in around $36,716; the 90th percentile reaches $160,745. After federal, New Mexico state, and FICA taxes, a single-filer Pharmacist takes home approximately $61,852/year — about $5,154/month or $2,379 every other week.
Compared to the national Pharmacist median of $136,030, Las Cruces pays -41.8%. Relative to the Las Cruces median household income of $42,800, a Pharmacistsalary runs +85.1%. Local unemployment is 5.0%[3], with an estimated 30 annual Pharmacist openings inferred from metro population share and national employment (311,560).
Pharmacist Snapshot — Las Cruces (2026)
Every row cites a primary public dataset. Rent + home values use Zillow where the metro is in the ZHVI/ZORI coverage set; otherwise ACS + census tract fallbacks.
| Metric | Las Cruces | National | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pharmacist median salary | $79,207 | $136,030 | [1] |
| 10th percentile | $36,716 | $117,540 | [1] |
| 90th percentile | $160,745 | $181,730 | [1] |
| Annual take-home (single filer) | $61,852 | — | [8][10] |
| Median home value (ZHVI) | $287,471 | — | [5] |
| Median rent (ZORI) | $1,400/mo | — | [5] |
| HUD Fair Market Rent (2BR) | $1,300/mo | — | [6] |
| Median household income (ACS) | $55,663 | — | [7] |
| Cost-of-living index | 88.0 | 100.0 | [4] |
| Unemployment rate | 5.0% | — | [3] |
How Pharmacist Salaries Work in Las Cruces
City-level wages aren't published directly by BLS for most SOC codes. We build them by anchoring to the New Mexico state-level OEWS median ($81,890) and scaling by Las Cruces's composite cost-of-living index (88)[1][4]. That index combines Census ACS rent, Zillow ZHVI, BLS CPI, and AdvisorSmith / ApartmentAdvisor inputs to produce one number per metro. When BLS publishes a separate metro-level wage (MSA-level OEWS), that takes priority — a handful of large metros including New York, LA, Chicago, and DC have this coverage.
On top of the gross wage, the standard US payroll stack applies: federal income tax using 2025 IRS brackets and the $15,000 single standard deduction[8], FICA (Social Security 6.2% up to $176,100 wage base + Medicare 1.45%)[9], and New Mexico state income tax at a 3.1% effective rate ($2,421/yr on the $79,207 median)[10].
Las Cruces also sits inside a larger metro labor market where commute patterns, remote-work policies, and adjacent-metro wages compete. Near-national unemployment means a balanced market — employers and candidates negotiate from roughly equal positions. Median household income in the metro is $55,663, which frames what "a good Pharmacist salary" means locally: a $$79,207 wage pays about 142% of the median household income on a single earner.
The deterministic identity: take_home = gross − federal − state − FICA − pre_tax. All math runs client-side; nothing is sent to our servers.
Pharmacist Salary & Cost-of-Living Context — Las Cruces
Buy vs rent in Las Cruces
Monthly PITI on the $287,471 median home in Las Cruces is ~$1,992/mo — vs a $1,400/mo median rent. Rent burden on median household income is 30.2%, which exceeds the recommended 30% guideline for housing costs.
Cost of Living Breakdown — Las Cruces
Estimated annual expense shares on a $61,852 take-home, using BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey baseline shares scaled to Las Cruces's COL index of 88. Housing uses the actual median rent.
BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey shares[1], scaled by Las Cruces's COL index of 88[4]. Housing uses actual median rent of $900/month.
Salary vs Housing Affordability in Las Cruces
Renting
Buying
At $5,154/mo take-home, the 30% rent rule caps housing at $1,546/mo. Las Cruces's typical 1–2BR rent runs $1,400/mo[5] (HUD 2BR FMR: $1,300/mo), making rent very affordable on a median Pharmacist salary. For homebuyers, the 3.0× price-to-income ratio is comfortable — a median {p.title} salary supports the median home in {city.name} well inside standard lender DTI caps.
How Las Cruces Stacks Up for Pharmacists
Against 283 major US cities: Las Cruces ranks #223 for nominal Pharmacist salary, #37 for rent affordability, and #72 for overall purchasing power. Las Cruces is mid-pack: solid nominal salaries partly absorbed by cost of living. Whether it "pays well" depends heavily on housing choices.
Nearby Cities — Pharmacist Salary Comparison
Las Cruces's closest metros, scaled by each city's cost-of-living index. Useful for relocation decisions where commute or remote-work policies allow a neighboring metro trade-off.
| City | Est. salary | COL | Rent | vs NM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Las Cruces, NM ★ | $79,207 | 88 | $900 | — |
| Albuquerque, NM | $126,508 | 93 | $900 | +59.7% |
| Santa Fe, NM | $149,633 | 110 | $1,400 | +88.9% |
| Buffalo, NY | $119,706 | 88 | $1,125 | +51.1% |
| Killeen, TX | $119,706 | 88 | $1,050 | +51.1% |
| Beaumont, TX | $119,706 | 88 | $925 | +51.1% |
Pharmacist Job Market in Las Cruces
Las Cruces has an estimated 30 annual Pharmacistopenings, extrapolated from the metro's share of 311,560 national Pharmacists[1]. The 5.0% unemployment rate[3] is near the national average, with steady turnover across most sectors.
About the profession: Pharmacists dispense prescription medications and provide expertise on their safe use. They work in retail pharmacies, hospitals, and clinical settings. Typical entry requirement: doctoral degree (pharmd). Projected growth through 2034: -3%[2].
Career Progression & Related Professions in Las Cruces
Early-career Pharmacists in Las Cruces start around $36,716, reach the city median ($79,207) after 4–8 years, and hit 90th-percentile territory ($160,745) at senior / specialized levels.
Related healthcare professions in Las Cruces
Calculators for Pharmacists in Las Cruces
Other professions in Las Cruces
Frequently Asked Questions — Pharmacist in Las Cruces
How much does a Pharmacist make in Las Cruces, NM?
The estimated median salary for a Pharmacist in Las Cruces is $79,207/year, scaled from the BLS OEWS New Mexico state median ($81,890) by Las Cruces's composite cost-of-living index of 88 (US = 100). After federal, New Mexico state, and FICA taxes, take-home is approximately $61,852/year or $5,154/month.
Can a Pharmacist afford to live in Las Cruces?
On $5,154/month take-home, the 30% rent rule affords $1,546/month. Las Cruces's Zillow ZORI median rent is $1,400/mo, HUD's 2BR Fair Market Rent is $1,300/mo. The rent-to-income ratio works out to 13.6%, making housing very affordable for a Pharmacist at the local median. Home-buyers face 3.0× price-to-income, needing roughly 3.0 years to save a 20% down payment at a 20% savings rate.
How much tax does a Pharmacist pay in Las Cruces?
On $79,207 gross, a Pharmacist in Las Cruces pays approximately $8,874 in federal income tax (11.2% effective), $2,421 in New Mexico state income tax (3.1% effective), and $6,060 in FICA (Social Security + Medicare). Total effective rate: 21.9%. Some New Mexico cities levy local income taxes in addition; check your municipal DoR before filing.
How does Las Cruces rank for Pharmacist salaries vs other cities?
Las Cruces ranks #223 out of 283 tracked metros for nominal Pharmacist salary, #37 for rent affordability (rent-to-income), and #72 for purchasing power (salary ÷ COL). The high-purchasing-power cities tend to be mid-size metros with strong local employers and moderate housing costs; the low-ranked cities trade high nominal pay for steep rents.
What is the cost-of-living breakdown for a Pharmacist in Las Cruces?
On $61,852 take-home, a reasonable baseline budget for Las Cruces looks like: housing $10,800/yr (17.5%); food $6,888/yr; transportation $5,888/yr; healthcare $4,174/yr; utilities $2,907/yr; savings + discretionary $31,195/yr. Numbers use BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey shares scaled to Las Cruces's COL index of 88 and the city's actual median rent.
What's the Pharmacist job market like in Las Cruces?
Las Cruces's unemployment rate is 5.0% across the metro of 215,000. Estimated annual Pharmacist openings: ~30 (extrapolated from 311,560 nationally employed and the metro's population share). The market is near national averages with steady turnover.
Do Las Cruces employers pay above or below the New Mexico median for Pharmacists?
Not consistently — Las Cruces's estimated Pharmacist median of $79,207 is 41.8% below the national median. The trade-off is usually lower rents and (in some cases) lower state taxes, which can leave real purchasing power competitive.
Methodology — How we compute this page
Wage estimate. The Las Cruces median is derived from the New Mexico state-level BLS OEWS median ($81,890), scaled by Las Cruces's composite cost-of-living index of 88. When BLS publishes a direct MSA-level wage for the occupation, that takes priority over the scaled state median. Percentile bands inherit the same scale factor.
Housing + rent. Median home value uses Zillow ZHVI; median rent prefers Zillow ZORI and falls back to Census ACS median gross rent. HUD Fair Market Rents (50th-percentile 2BR) are shown where HUD publishes the metro. Price-to-income and rent-to-income ratios use the estimated Pharmacistmedian (not the city's overall median household income) — to reflect the specific role-vs-city affordability picture.
Tax math. Federal tax uses 2025 IRS brackets and the $15,000 single standard deduction. FICA is Social Security 6.2% up to the $176,100 wage base + Medicare 1.45% (+ 0.9% Additional Medicare above $200,000). State tax uses New Mexico's 2026 brackets from the state DoR (mirrored via Tax Foundation where the DoR's publication is paywalled or split). Local income taxes (e.g. NYC, Portland-OR supplemental, OH municipal) are NOT included — check your municipal authority for specifics.
Cost of living. The 88index is the composite used by CalcFi's /data/cities.ts, which merges Census ACS, BLS CPI shelter, Zillow ZORI, and commercial COL estimators. The COL-adjusted salary on this page assumes the statewide RPP = 91.0(BEA) approximates the state's purchasing power; cities are then scaled relative to that.
Refresh cadence. BLS OEWS releases annually (typically March); BEA RPP releases annually in December; IRS brackets adjust in October; Zillow ZHVI/ZORI updates monthly; HUD FMR publishes annually in August for the upcoming fiscal year. The dateModified shown above auto-bumps to the most recent retrievedAt on any sourced value the page consumes.
Known limits. Metro-level OEWS coverage is partial — only ~50 large MSAs have separately published occupation wages; the rest inherit state-level estimates scaled by COL. Rent and home data may trail the real-time market by 1–3 months (Zillow) or 8–12 months (ACS). Rankings are capped to the city set in our dataset (283 metros), not every incorporated US city.
Sources
Every number on this page cites a primary public dataset. Last reviewed (auto-bumped on the next ISR refresh after an ETL run).
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) — state-level occupational wages — www.bls.gov/oes. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
- BLS Employment Projections — 2024–34 occupational growth rates — www.bls.gov/emp. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
- BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics — metro-level unemployment rate — www.bls.gov/lau. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
- Bureau of Economic Analysis — Regional Price Parities (state + metro) — www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
- Zillow Research — ZHVI (home value index) + ZORI (observed rent index) — www.zillow.com/research/data. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
- HUD Fair Market Rents — 50th-percentile 2-bedroom FY — www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr.html. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
- U.S. Census Bureau — American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates, metro level — www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
- Internal Revenue Service — Federal individual income tax brackets and standard deductions — www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-publication-17. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
- Social Security Administration — OASDI / Medicare contribution and wage-base rules — www.ssa.gov. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
- New Mexico Department of Revenue — 2026 individual income tax brackets (accessed via Tax Foundation mirror) — taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/state-income-tax-rates. Retrieved 2026-04-19.
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