Average salary in Mexico 2026: MXN 666 a day

What the MXN 666 figure measures

IMSS publishes the average contribution salary (SBC) of every job registered with it. That makes it a monthly read on formal pay, with three limits you should know before using it in an offer.

• Formal jobs only. Informal work is not in it.
• Capped at the top. The SBC is capped at 25 UMA a day, MXN 2,932.75 in 2026, so high earners are counted at the cap.
• Integrated pay, not base pay. The SBC folds in the aguinaldo and vacation premium. If only the legal minimums are included, MXN 666 corresponds to base pay of about MXN 634.70 a day.

It is a mean, not a median, and the bulletin gives no breakdown by state, city or sector, so it cannot tell you the average in Mexico City or Monterrey. Multiplying out, MXN 666 is MXN 20,246.40 a month at 30.4 days and MXN 243,090 a year at 365 days.

Formal pay against the minimum wage

The 2026 general-zone minimum wage is MXN 315.04 a day, so the average formal salary is 2.11 times the minimum. A year earlier the average was MXN 623.10 against a MXN 278.80 minimum, a ratio of 2.23. The gap is narrowing because the minimum rose 13.0% for 2026 while the average rose about 6.9%.

In the Northern Border Free Zone, where the minimum is MXN 440.87, the national average is only 1.51 times the floor. For both zone rates and the monthly math, see Mexico's 2026 minimum wage.

What an average-salary employee costs you

Mexico's statutory employer costs are a mix of percentages and fixed fees. At this pay level the employee falls in the top 7.513% band for the cesantía y vejez retirement contribution (the SBC is 5.68 UMA), and a 1.10% surplus fee applies to pay above 3 UMA.

That is higher than the 31.8% we calculate on a MXN 740,000 salary on the Mexico EOR page, because the IMSS fixed fee weighs more on smaller salaries. Profit sharing (PTU) is left out because it depends on the employing entity's taxable profit.

Hours, hiring and providers

Mexico's ordinary work week is 48 hours in 2026 and drops by two hours a year to 40 in 2030, with electronic time records required from January 1, 2027. Salaries do not fall with the hours, so budget for a rising cost per hour worked.

An employer of record can hire in Mexico without a local entity. Published fees run from $99 a month (Native Teams, whose help center says EUR 99) to $699 (Oyster), checked October 16 and 18, 2026, and Remote lists from $599. Check payment reliability too: an Oyster customer reported late payments in Mexico on Trustpilot on October 22, 2025. Compare terms on our EOR pricing page.

Price your own hire with the international cost calculator, and see how Mexico ranks on the employer cost by country index.