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

The cost side of living in Farmington

Renters in Farmington pay a median $936 a month for two bedrooms. Size matters: one bedroom is $599, three bedrooms $1,213, so going from the smallest to the largest of the three adds $7,368 a year.

The median value of owner-occupied homes in the metro is $193,800. Against a median household income of $55,872, the ratio is 3.5× — one of the gentler home-price-to-income ratios in the country.

Price levels matter beyond rent. The Bureau of Economic Analysis measures Farmington's overall prices at 87.7 on a scale where the nation is 100, which makes a $100,000 salary feel like about $114,016 would elsewhere.

How much you need to earn in Farmington

For two bedrooms, $90,000 is where Farmington turns Comfortable. Below that, $45,000 marks the start of Okay and $22,000 the start of Tight; under $22,000 the score reads Stretched. Rent at the Comfortable line is 12% of gross pay.

Royal, the top band, starts at $241,000. At that income rent is 5% of pay and the median home 0.8× 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 Farmington.

What different incomes look like in Farmington

Home size shifts the grade at $75,000: Comfortable for one bedroom, Okay for two and Okay for three, as the rent share climbs from 10% to 19%.

Read down the two-bedroom column and the first Comfortable row is $100,000, consistent with the $90,000 line above.

Farmington on the national list

Out of 387 metros, Farmington has the 343rd highest price parity and the 340th highest two-bedroom rent, which puts it in the bottom quarter on overall prices and in the bottom quarter on rent.

Its nearest neighbors on the rent list are Joplin, MO-KS ($937) and Goldsboro, NC ($936).

Farmington next to New Mexico and similar metros

Statewide, New Mexico's median two-bedroom rent is $1,062 and its median home value $248,100. Farmington's rent is −12% against that, and its home value −22%; the price parity is 87.7 versus 92.2 for the state.

Scored the same way, the statewide figures turn Comfortable at $120,000, so Farmington needs $30,000 less than New Mexico overall.

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

The median Farmington household

What about a typical local household? Census puts median household income here at $55,872, which grades Okay (51) for a two-bedroom at the median rent. Reaching Comfortable would take $34,128 more than the median household earns. For New Mexico as a whole, the median household income of $64,059 scores 47 against statewide rents. Household income can include more than one earner, so a single salary of the same size goes less far.

Estimates use pre-tax income and public data; they are not financial advice.