New Mexico minimum wage and tip laws (2026)

The minimum wage in New Mexico is $12.00 an hour.

Minimum wage

$12.00

For a 40-hour week

$480.00

Source: NMSA 1978, 50-4-22(A) ($12.00 on and after January 1, 2023; no scheduled increase or indexing) Read the rule

Employers in New Mexico can pay tipped workers a cash wage as low as $3.00 an hour and count up to $9.00 an hour of tips toward the $12.00 minimum. That is called a tip credit. Your cash wage plus the tips you keep must reach at least $12.00 for every hour in each workweek. If they do not, your employer has to make up the difference.

Tips can count toward the wage

Yes

Tipped cash wage

$3.00

Maximum tip credit

$9.00

Employer must tell you first

Yes

Source: NMSA 1978, 50-4-22(C) (an employee who customarily and regularly receives more than $30 a month in tips may be paid a cash wage of $3.00 per hour on and after January 1, 2023; tips combined with the cash wage may not be less than the minimum wage; employees keep their tips and pooling among wait staff is permitted) Read the rule

• Hours past 40 in a workweek are paid at 1.5 times your regular rate.

Overtime rate at minimum wage

$18.00

Overtime cash rate with a tip credit

$9.00

For tipped workers, overtime is figured on the full minimum wage, not the cash wage. At $12.00, that is $18.00 an hour, so with the full tip credit the overtime cash rate cannot be less than $9.00.

Source: 29 U.S.C. 207(a)(1); 29 CFR 778.107; Fact Sheet #15 (overtime for tipped employees is computed on the full minimum wage, not the cash wage) Read the rule

New Mexico does not require meal or rest breaks for adult workers, and neither does federal law. If your employer does give short breaks of 5 to 20 minutes, federal law says those minutes are paid.

Source: 29 CFR 785.18 and 785.19 (federal law does not require breaks; short breaks that are given must be paid) Read the rule

Taxes and deductions you agreed to, like health insurance, are normal. These are the ones that cause trouble in restaurants and bars, and what New Mexico allows:

Required uniforms

Only if pay stays above minimum

Register or cash shortages

Only if pay stays above minimum

Broken dishes or equipment

Only if pay stays above minimum

Card processing fee on card tips

Only if pay stays above minimum

Customers who walk out

Only if pay stays above minimum

"Only if pay stays above minimum" means the deduction cannot take your pay for the week below minimum wage. For a worker paid a tipped cash wage, that usually leaves no room for a uniform, shortage, breakage or walkout deduction. A card fee works differently: only the fee on the card tip itself, taken from that tip.

Source: 29 CFR 531.35 (wages must be paid free and clear); Fact Sheet #16; Fact Sheet #15 (credit card fee deduction limited to the fee actually charged and may not reduce pay below minimum wage) Read the rule

Managers and owners can share in the pool

No

Kitchen staff can share when a tip credit is taken

No

Kitchen staff can share when no tip credit is taken

Yes

In most states, an employer can require tipped staff to pool tips with others who serve customers, like bussers, runners and bartenders. Managers, supervisors and owners can never take a share. Under federal law, cooks and dishwashers can share only when the employer takes no tip credit, and some states do not allow it at all. The answers above show the rule in New Mexico.

Source: 29 U.S.C. 203(m)(2)(B); 29 CFR 531.54 Read the rule

Under federal law, a mandatory service charge, like an automatic 20% on large parties, is not a tip. It belongs to the business unless it is paid out, and when it is paid to you it counts as wages. It cannot be used to cover the tip credit, and it should not be reported as tips on your stub. Some states give the charge to the staff when customers were not clearly told it is not a tip, so if a charge was presented as a gratuity, it is worth asking where it went.

Source: 29 CFR 531.55 (a compulsory service charge is not a tip) Read the rule

New Mexico requires employers to give paid sick leave.

You earn

1 hour for every 30 hours worked

Yearly use can be capped at

64 hours

Source: NMSA 1978, 50-17-1 et seq. (Healthy Workplaces Act, HB 20 (2021), effective July 1, 2022): 1 hour of earned sick leave per 30 hours worked for every private employer with one or more employees; use may be limited to 64 hours per 12-month period Read the rule

Some parts of New Mexico law depend on things a pay stub does not show. A TruWage result for New Mexico can be off if any of these apply to you:

• If you work in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Santa Fe County, Bernalillo County, or Las Cruces, your local minimum wage and tipped cash wage are higher than the $12.00 and $3.00 used here, so the result may understate what you are owed.

Start with your manager or payroll and show them the numbers. Many mistakes get fixed that way. If it is not fixed, you can file a wage claim. It is free and you do not need a lawyer.

Agency

New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions, Labor Relations Division (Wage and Hour Bureau)

The Labor Relations Division takes wage claims under the Minimum Wage Act and the Healthy Workplaces Act (paid sick leave). UNVERIFIED: dws.state.nm.us refused every page request from this session (web application firewall), so the claim page URL and the Division's phone number could not be confirmed; the URL is the Division's published Wage and Hour page address.

How to file a wage claim

You can also file with the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, which enforces federal wage law, at 1-866-487-9243. They take complaints in many languages and keep the name of the person complaining confidential.