Real Estate Agent Salary in Las Cruces, NM: Median $27,489 in 2026
Las Cruces (NM) · COL index 88 · Unemployment 5.0% · Metro pop 215,000 · Rank #223 of 283 for Real Estate Agent salary
A Real Estate Agent in Las Cruces earns an estimated median of $27,489 per year. That figure starts from the New Mexico state-level BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics median[1]($28,420) and scales it by Las Cruces's composite cost-of-living index of 88 (US = 100). The 10th percentile comes in around $24,142; the 90th percentile reaches $41,881. After federal, New Mexico state, and FICA taxes, a single-filer Real Estate Agent takes home approximately $24,034/year — about $2,003/month or $924 every other week.
Compared to the national Real Estate Agent median of $54,300, Las Cruces pays -49.4%. Relative to the Las Cruces median household income of $42,800, a Real Estate Agentsalary runs -35.8%. Local unemployment is 5.0%[3], with an estimated 45 annual Real Estate Agent openings inferred from metro population share and national employment (467,200).
Real Estate Agent 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real Estate Agent median salary | $27,489 | $54,300 | [1] |
| 10th percentile | $24,142 | $32,080 | [1] |
| 90th percentile | $41,881 | $159,220 | [1] |
| Annual take-home (single filer) | $24,034 | — | [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 Real Estate Agent 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 ($28,420) 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 0.6% effective rate ($178/yr on the $27,489 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 Real Estate Agent salary" means locally: a $$27,489 wage pays about 49% 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.
Real Estate Agent 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 $24,034 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 $2,003/mo take-home, the 30% rent rule caps housing at $601/mo. Las Cruces's typical 1–2BR rent runs $1,400/mo[5] (HUD 2BR FMR: $1,300/mo), making rent cost-burdened on a median Real Estate Agent salary. For homebuyers, the 8.5× price-to-income ratio is stretched — expect DTI friction on FHA / conventional underwriting without a co-borrower.
How Las Cruces Stacks Up for Real Estate Agents
Against 283 major US cities: Las Cruces ranks #223 for nominal Real Estate Agent 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 — Real Estate Agent 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 ★ | $27,489 | 88 | $900 | — |
| Albuquerque, NM | $50,499 | 93 | $900 | +83.7% |
| Santa Fe, NM | $59,730 | 110 | $1,400 | +117.3% |
| Buffalo, NY | $47,784 | 88 | $1,125 | +73.8% |
| Killeen, TX | $47,784 | 88 | $1,050 | +73.8% |
| Beaumont, TX | $47,784 | 88 | $925 | +73.8% |
Real Estate Agent Job Market in Las Cruces
Las Cruces has an estimated 45 annual Real Estate Agentopenings, extrapolated from the metro's share of 467,200 national Real Estate Agents[1]. The 5.0% unemployment rate[3] is near the national average, with steady turnover across most sectors.
About the profession: Real estate agents help clients buy, sell, and rent properties. Most are self-employed and earn commission-based income, making tax planning and deductions critical. Typical entry requirement: high school diploma plus license. Projected growth through 2034: 3%[2].
Career Progression & Related Professions in Las Cruces
Early-career Real Estate Agents in Las Cruces start around $24,142, reach the city median ($27,489) after 4–8 years, and hit 90th-percentile territory ($41,881) at senior / specialized levels.
Related service professions in Las Cruces
Calculators for Real Estate Agents in Las Cruces
Other professions in Las Cruces
Frequently Asked Questions — Real Estate Agent in Las Cruces
How much does a Real Estate Agent make in Las Cruces, NM?
The estimated median salary for a Real Estate Agent in Las Cruces is $27,489/year, scaled from the BLS OEWS New Mexico state median ($28,420) 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 $24,034/year or $2,003/month.
Can a Real Estate Agent afford to live in Las Cruces?
On $2,003/month take-home, the 30% rent rule affords $601/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 39.3%, making housing cost-burdened for a Real Estate Agent at the local median. Home-buyers face 8.5× price-to-income, needing roughly 8.5 years to save a 20% down payment at a 20% savings rate.
How much tax does a Real Estate Agent pay in Las Cruces?
On $27,489 gross, a Real Estate Agent in Las Cruces pays approximately $1,174 in federal income tax (4.3% effective), $178 in New Mexico state income tax (0.6% effective), and $2,103 in FICA (Social Security + Medicare). Total effective rate: 12.6%. Some New Mexico cities levy local income taxes in addition; check your municipal DoR before filing.
How does Las Cruces rank for Real Estate Agent salaries vs other cities?
Las Cruces ranks #223 out of 283 tracked metros for nominal Real Estate Agent 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 Real Estate Agent in Las Cruces?
On $24,034 take-home, a reasonable baseline budget for Las Cruces looks like: housing $10,800/yr (44.9%); food $2,676/yr; transportation $2,288/yr; healthcare $1,622/yr; utilities $1,130/yr; savings + discretionary $5,518/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 Real Estate Agent job market like in Las Cruces?
Las Cruces's unemployment rate is 5.0% across the metro of 215,000. Estimated annual Real Estate Agent openings: ~45 (extrapolated from 467,200 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 Real Estate Agents?
Not consistently — Las Cruces's estimated Real Estate Agent median of $27,489 is 49.4% 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 ($28,420), 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 Real Estate Agentmedian (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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