New Mexico Tipped Minimum Wage 2026
Current year
The 2026 New Mexico Tipped Minimum Wage is $3.
Effective 2026-01-01Source: Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees (DOL)Verified 2026-08-30
Who it applies to
Employers of tipped employees in New Mexico. The cash wage is the part of the minimum wage the employer pays directly. The rest may be met by the employee's tips, up to the maximum tip credit the same row of the table states, and the table sets out separately how much an employee must receive in tips to count as a tipped employee at all.
What changed this year, and why
The Wage and Hour Division's table of minimum wages for tipped employees, in the version last revised July 1, 2026, gives $3.00 per hour as the minimum cash wage an employer may pay a tipped employee in New Mexico. The table carries only its own revision date and never dates the rate, so this page reports the figure as in force as of that revision rather than claiming an effective date no document states.
Common questions
- What is the tipped minimum wage in New Mexico in 2026?
- $3.00 per hour in cash wages. That is what the Department of Labor's table of minimum wages for tipped employees, last revised July 1, 2026, gives as the minimum cash wage for a tipped employee in New Mexico. Tips make up the remainder of the applicable minimum wage, up to the maximum tip credit stated in the same row.
- What if tips do not bring the employee up to the full minimum wage?
- The employer pays the difference. A tip credit is a credit against the minimum wage the employer already owes, not a lower wage in its own right, so an employee whose cash wage and tips together fall short of the applicable minimum wage is owed the shortfall in wages.
- Where does the figure on this page come from?
- From Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees, the table the Wage and Hour Division publishes by state, in the version last revised July 1, 2026. The row it was read from is quoted on this page, and the snapshot it was verified against is the one captured for this record.
Every amount on this page is a published figure rather than yours. The Tips needed per hour takes the number you enter and works it out against them, showing which published figure it used.
Who counts as a tipped employee
In New Mexico, you are considered a tipped employee under federal law if you work in an occupation where you customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips. This threshold matters because it determines whether your employer is allowed to pay you the lower tipped minimum wage and apply a tip credit toward its minimum wage obligation. Only the tips you actually receive from customers count toward this calculation — tips held by the employer or passed through a pool to someone else do not qualify. If your role regularly brings in more than $30 per month in customer tips, your employer may treat you as a tipped employee for purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act. If your tips fall below that amount, or if your occupation is not one where tips are customary and regular, you are entitled to the full minimum wage without any tip credit being applied.
Under the FLSA, a tipped employee is an employee engaged in an occupation in which they customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
What a tip credit is, and the cash wage underneath it
In New Mexico, the tip credit is the amount your employer subtracts from the regular minimum wage, claiming your customers' tips cover the gap. Under federal law, an employer may take a tip credit equal to the difference between the direct wage it pays you in cash and the minimum wage. New Mexico requires employers to pay a minimum cash wage of $3 per hour to tipped employees. That means the tip credit an employer can claim is the difference between that $3 cash wage and the full minimum wage. Your employer must still be able to show that your cash wage plus the tips you actually received add up to at least the minimum wage in every workweek. Only tips you personally received from customers can be counted toward the tip credit — tips held by the employer or sent elsewhere do not qualify. If your combined cash wages and tips fall short in any workweek, your employer owes you the balance.
An employer can take an FLSA tip credit equal to the difference between the direct wage, or the cash wage it pays directly to the tipped employee, and the federal minimum wage, which is currently $7.25 per hour.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
When the tips do not get you to the minimum wage
In New Mexico, if your tips combined with the cash wage your employer pays you do not add up to the minimum hourly wage in a given workweek, the employer must make up the difference. This guarantee applies every single workweek — not averaged over a pay period or a month. Your employer cannot rely on a slow week being balanced by a busy one; each workweek stands on its own. The employer's obligation is to ensure you receive at least the full minimum wage when its direct cash wages and the tip credit amount are combined. If your tips fall short for any reason — slow season, fewer customers, or any other cause — the employer is responsible for paying the remaining amount out of its own pocket so that your total compensation reaches the required hourly minimum for every hour you worked that week.
If an employee’s tips combined with the employer’s direct (or cash) wages do not equal the minimum hourly wage of $7.25 per hour in each workweek, the employer must make up the difference.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
The notice an employer owes you before it takes the credit
In New Mexico, before your employer is allowed to take a tip credit against your wages, it must give you specific notice about how the credit works. Employers must provide the following information to tipped employees before taking a tip credit: the amount of the direct cash wage the employer is paying you; the additional amount it is claiming as a tip credit; the fact that the credit cannot exceed the tips you actually received; that all tips you receive are yours to keep except for a valid tip pool limited to employees who customarily and regularly receive tips; and that the tip credit will not apply unless you have been told of these rules. The employer may give this notice orally or in writing. If the employer fails to provide all of this information before claiming the credit, it loses the right to use the tip credit entirely and must pay you the full minimum wage.
Employers must provide the following information to tipped employees before taking a tip credit under the FLSA: the amount of the direct (or cash) wage the employer is paying a tipped employee, which must be at least $2.13 per hour; the additional amount claimed by the employer as a tip credit, which cannot exceed $5.12 (the difference between the minimum required direct (or cash) wage of $2.13 and the current minimum wage of $7.25); that the tip credit claimed by the employer cannot exceed the amount of tips actually received by the tipped employee; that all tips received by the tipped employee are to be retained by the employee except for a valid tip pooling arrangement limited to employees who customarily and regularly receive tips; and that the tip credit will not apply to any tipped employee unless the employee has been informed of these tip credit provisions.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
When state law gives more than the federal rule
In New Mexico, when state law provides greater protection to workers than the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, employers must follow whichever standard is most protective to employees. This means you are always entitled to the better of the two rules — whether that is a higher cash wage, a smaller tip credit, or no tip credit at all. For example, some states require employers to pay a cash wage higher than the federal floor, and some states ban tip credits entirely. In New Mexico, the minimum cash wage for tipped employees is $3 per hour, which is higher than the federal cash wage, so employers here must pay at least that amount. If a future state rule further raises the cash wage or limits the tip credit, New Mexico employers must comply with the more generous standard. You are entitled to whichever version of the law — federal or state — puts more money in your pocket.
When state law differs from the federal FLSA, an employer must comply with the standard most protective to employees.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
Your employer, your manager and your supervisor may not keep your tips
In New Mexico, regardless of whether your employer takes a tip credit, the FLSA prohibits employers from keeping any portion of employees' tips for any purpose, whether directly or through a tip pool. Your tips belong to you. An employer may not require you to hand your tips over to the business, a manager, or a supervisor — even if the employer pays you the full minimum wage in cash and takes no tip credit at all. This protection covers managers and supervisors, defined as employees whose primary duty is managing the enterprise or a recognized department, who regularly direct the work of at least two full-time employees, and who have hiring or firing authority. Business owners who hold a significant equity stake and are actively engaged in management are also treated as supervisors who may not keep your tips. A manager or supervisor may keep only tips they receive directly from a customer for service the manager personally provided.
Regardless of whether an employer takes a tip credit, the FLSA prohibits employers from keeping any portion of employees’ tips for any purpose, whether directly or through a tip pool.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
Which tip pools you can be made to join
In New Mexico, when your employer takes a tip credit, it can require you to participate in a tip pool, but that pool is limited to employees in occupations in which they customarily and regularly receive tips. These are sometimes called "traditional" tip pools. Eligible participants typically include waiters, bellhops, counter personnel who serve customers, bussers, and service bartenders — workers whose roles regularly bring in customer tips. The employer may not include managers, supervisors, or itself in the pool, and it may not retain any of the pooled tips for any other purpose. The employer must also notify you of the required contribution amount and may only take a tip credit based on the tips you ultimately receive after the pool is distributed. If the employer instead pays all workers the full minimum wage in cash, without taking a tip credit, it may include non-tipped employees such as cooks and dishwashers in the pool, but it still may not keep any tips or let managers and supervisors participate.
An employer that takes a tip credit can require tipped employees to contribute tips only to a tip pool which is limited to employees in occupations in which they customarily and regularly receive tips, such as waiters, bellhops, counter personnel (who serve customers), bussers, and service bartenders.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
Doing two jobs for one employer
In New Mexico, if you work two separate jobs for the same employer — for example, as a maintenance worker and also as a server — you are a tipped employee only with respect to their employment as a server, provided you customarily and regularly receive at least $30 a month in tips from your server work. Your employer cannot take a tip credit for the hours you spend working as a maintenance person or in any other non-tipped occupation. For those non-tipped hours, you must be paid the full minimum wage. This rule is distinct from situations where a server performs related duties like cleaning tables, toasting bread, or making coffee — those tasks are considered part of the tipped occupation itself and do not trigger the dual-job rule. The key distinction is whether you are performing work in a genuinely separate occupation that is not a tipped one. When you are, your employer must pay you the full minimum wage for every hour you spend in that role.
In such a situation the employee, if they customarily and regularly receive at least $30 a month in tips for their work as a server, is a tipped employee only with respect to their employment as a server.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
How each figure was verified
Each number below was read from a stored copy of the document named beside it, and checked to occur word for word in the quoted sentence. The digest is of that stored text.
Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees (DOL)
- Minimum cash wage
New Mexico $12.00 $9.00 $3.00 More than $30