What salary do you need to live in Albuquerque, NM?

Rent, home values and prices in Albuquerque

Renters in Albuquerque pay a median $1,187 a month for two bedrooms. Size matters: one bedroom is $942, three bedrooms $1,473, so going from the smallest to the largest of the three adds $6,372 a year.

Buying is the other half of the housing picture: owners put the median home in Albuquerque, NM at $287,800. With median household income at $70,783, a typical home costs 4.1× a typical income, close to the middle of the range across US metros.

The Regional Price Parity, BEA's index of local prices with the US at 100, is 95.5 here. Below 100 means a paycheck stretches further: $100,000 in Albuquerque has the buying power of roughly $104,662 at national average prices.

Albuquerque: the pre-tax income for each grade

For two bedrooms, $148,000 is where Albuquerque turns Comfortable. Below that, $74,000 marks the start of Okay and $37,000 the start of Tight; under $37,000 the score reads Stretched. Rent at the Comfortable line is 10% of gross pay.

Royal, the top band, starts at $427,000. At that income rent is 3% of pay and the median home 0.7× income.

Each figure is the lowest income, to the next $1,000, at which the calculator itself would show that grade for a two-bedroom in Albuquerque.

Albuquerque at four common salaries

Take a $75,000 salary. In a one-bedroom the rent share is 15% and the score 49, Okay; in a three-bedroom the share rises to 24% and the score falls to 42, Tight.

The two-bedroom column turns Comfortable at the $150,000 row. One row up, $100,000 scores 54.

How Albuquerque ranks among 387 metros

On price level Albuquerque is 155th of 387 (1 = most expensive); on two-bedroom rent it is 166th, and on median home value 164th. The two rankings agree, both falling near the middle.

Its nearest neighbors on the rent list are Hanford-Corcoran, CA ($1,190) and Ocala, FL ($1,175).

Albuquerque in a New Mexico context

Compared with New Mexico as a whole, two-bedroom rent in Albuquerque is 12% higher ($1,187 vs. $1,062) and the median home is 16% higher ($287,800 vs. $248,100).

On statewide medians, a two-bedroom budget reaches Comfortable at $120,000 — below Albuquerque's $148,000 line.

If Albuquerque is on your list, Santa Fe, NM, Farmington, NM, and Las Cruces, NM are the most similar New Mexico metros by two-bedroom rent and price level; the table shows where each turns Comfortable.

Does the typical Albuquerque income clear the bar?

What about a typical local household? Census puts median household income here at $70,783, which grades Tight (44) for a two-bedroom at the median rent. The Comfortable line is 109% above what the median household makes. For New Mexico as a whole, the median household income of $64,059 scores 47 against statewide rents. Keep in mind a household median often combines two incomes.

Treat every number here as a pre-tax, public-data estimate rather than financial advice.