Medical assistant salary in New Mexico
The median medical assistant salary in New Mexico is $39,230 a year, which works out to $18.86 an hour. Half of the people in this role make more than that and half make less, so it gives you a solid sense of what a typical medical assistant earns.
- Typical yearly pay: $39,230
- Middle half make: $37,240 to $45,970
- Versus the US: 14% under the $45,690 median
- Projected growth in jobs from 2024 through 2034: 12.8%
About 940 medical assistant openings come up in New Mexico every year, so this is a good time to start. Choose an accredited program on the New Mexico programs page and send the short Request information form with your name, email, phone, ZIP code and start time. Your request goes straight to that one school, so you can ask when its next classes begin.
- Median a year
- $39,230
- Lowest-paid tenth
- $34,600 or less
- Best-paid tenth
- $47,850 or more
- Medical assistant jobs
- 5,400
- Job growth 2024 to 2034
- +12.8%
Earnings for most people in this role
Half of New Mexico's medical assistants make somewhere from $37,240 up to $45,970 annually, with a quarter below and a quarter above that band. Those in the bottom 10% make $34,600 or less, while the top 10% bring in $47,850 or more.
The average comes out a little higher, at $41,490 a year, because a smaller group of top earners pulls it up.
Out of the 50 states plus DC, New Mexico comes in at 45 of 51 for median pay in this field. The pay numbers here are based on the wage tables published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
How does pay change by city?
Where you work makes a real difference. Among New Mexico metro areas, Santa Fe has the highest median pay at $45,970, and Farmington has the lowest at $37,440.
Of the roughly 5,400 medical assistant positions statewide, the biggest share is in Albuquerque, at about 2,570.
| Metro area | Median a year | Median an hour | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Fe, NM | $45,970 | $22.10 | 320 |
| Albuquerque, NM | $39,200 | $18.84 | 2,570 |
| Las Cruces, NM | $37,650 | $18.10 | 720 |
| Farmington, NM | $37,440 | $18.00 | 360 |
How this pay stacks up against other health jobs
Looking at what other health roles pay in New Mexico can help when you're deciding where to begin.
| Job | Yearly median |
|---|---|
| Medical assistants | $39,230 |
| Nursing assistants | $39,390 |
| Phlebotomists | $42,910 |
| Licensed practical/vocational nurses | $59,330 |
| Registered nurses | $94,340 |
Phlebotomists take blood samples for testing, and nursing assistants support patients with everyday care. Both earn close to what medical assistants earn, while licensed practical nurses and registered nurses earn quite a bit more.
Job openings and growth
New Mexico had about 6,790 medical assistant jobs in 2024, and the state expects 7,660 by 2034. That works out to a 12.8% increase, a bit ahead of the 12.5% national figure from Projections Central.
Each year should bring about 940 openings, once you count both newly created roles and people moving on. On growth, New Mexico sits at 35 of 51. The role is also fairly common here: it ranks 13 of 51, at 6.2 such jobs per 1,000.
Getting trained in New Mexico
You'll find 10 New Mexico schools on this site that share their medical assistant graduate counts with the federal education survey. Of those, five have a program approved by CAAHEP or ABHES, the two national groups that check that a program meets quality standards.
Across the country, career schools that charge one price for the whole program (tuition, fees and books) have a median price of $17,257, and career schools that report program length have a median of 9 months. At public colleges, the median for tuition and fees is $4,346 per year for full-time study.
Online programs teach their classes through distance education, and the supervised clinical hours with patients are in person.
Pay: Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey, May 2025. Growth: Projections Central. The job itself: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook.
Medical assistant programs in New Mexico · Certification rules in New Mexico · Pay in every state