Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers job market in New Mexico
Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.
The headline
Industry employment fell while average weekly industry wages rose
A data-driven view of the industries that employ Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in New Mexico.
Occupation pay
What Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers earn in New Mexico
BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.
Median annual wage
$50,500New Mexico- Middle 50% of published wages
- $46,370 – $60,320
- U.S. median annual wage
- $58,640
- Reference period
- May 2025
The middle 50% is the 25th-to-75th percentile wage range, not an experience-level band. Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.
Pay around New Mexico
How median pay varies by metro area
Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, compared with the New Mexico median of $50,500.
Albuquerque, NM$55,840+10.6% vs. state
Santa Fe, NM$51,120+1.2% vs. state
Farmington, NM$51,070+1.1% vs. state
Las Cruces, NM$48,400−4.2% vs. state
Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the New Mexico median. Some BLS metropolitan areas cross state lines, so a metro estimate can cover workers in more than one state.
Verified snapshot
Market at a Glance
Key changes in New Mexico’s weighted industry mix.
Percentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
Published coverage: 12,555 represented establishments, 81.69% of the published industry mix.
Local research
What the data shows for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in New Mexico
Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 11, 2026.
Published median pay is below the U.S. median
Median annual pay in New Mexico stands 13.9% below the U.S. estimate for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers. The underlying OEWS May 2025 figures are $50,500 for the state and $58,640 nationally. This is a nominal wage comparison; living costs and individual pay differences are outside its scope.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSPay differs widely between metro areas
Published metro pay varies substantially across the 4 comparable areas associated with New Mexico in OEWS May 2025. Median wages range from $48,400 in Las Cruces, NM to $55,840 in Albuquerque, NM; the upper figure is 15.4% higher. Higher nominal pay alone does not account for living costs or job availability.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSMetro estimates may include areas in neighboring states. The comparison covers published metro estimates, not every part of the state.
Findings describe published data and do not establish causes. Methodology
Employment trends
New Mexico industry employment over time
Year-over-year change in the weighted industries. The U.S. line is the latest-quarter benchmark because a comparable national quarterly history is not published here.
- New Mexico · 2026 Q1-0.6%
- U.S. · latest-quarter benchmark-0.8%
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View every published value
| Quarter | New Mexico | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 Q2 | +0.2% | 100% |
| 2024 Q3 | +0.8% | 100% |
| 2024 Q4 | +0.5% | 100% |
| 2025 Q1 | +0.9% | 100% |
| 2025 Q2 | +1.1% | 100% |
| 2025 Q3 | +0.6% | 100% |
| 2025 Q4 | +0.2% | 100% |
| 2026 Q1 | -0.6% | 100% |
How to read this chart
State trend and national reference
The solid line follows New Mexico’s published year-over-year industry employment changes by quarter. The dashed U.S. line is a latest-quarter reference, not a second time series.
- Published quarters
- 8
- Earliest quarter
- 2024 Q2
- Latest quarter
- 2026 Q1
- U.S. benchmark
- -0.8%
Quarters with no published value are omitted rather than interpolated.
Industry context
Where Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers Work
The occupation mix determines which New Mexico industries are weighted into this view.
| Industry group | Occupation mix | Employment change | Establishments | Avg. weekly industry wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trade, transportation, and utilities | 72.7% | -0.3% | 11,082 | $979 |
| Manufacturing | 7.4% | -1.3% | 1,473 | $1,491 |
| Construction | 6.6% | -0.9% | 5,416 | $1,322 |
| Professional and business services | 6.5% | -2.4% | 13,434 | $1,788 |
| Mining and logging | 1.5% | -2.4% | 1,023 | $2,167 |
| Financial activities | 1.3% | -1.2% | 5,978 | $1,620 |
Which industries are growing?
No weighted industry published growth
In January to March 2026, none of the weighted New Mexico industries published a positive year-over-year employment change. Nothing is substituted in its place.
Current New Mexico context
Current New Mexico Market Signals
Statewide indicators for all occupations in New Mexico. They are not Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers demand and are not part of the Job Market Health score.
Statewide job postings
Indeed job postings · New Mexico
Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score
Total postings index (seasonally adjusted) by observation date · baseline 100
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View values: Indeed postings index
| Observation date | Index (Feb 2020 = 100) |
|---|---|
| Jul 24, 2026 | 110.06 |
| Jul 31, 2026 | 110.51 |
| Aug 7, 2026 | 109.93 |
| Aug 14, 2026 | 110.33 |
| Aug 21, 2026 | 110.26 |
| Aug 28, 2026 | 111.27 |
| Sep 4, 2026 | 111.12 |
| Sep 11, 2026 | 112.34 |
| Sep 18, 2026 | 112.21 |
| Sep 25, 2026 | 112.84 |
| Oct 2, 2026 | 112.44 |
| Oct 9, 2026 | 112.14 |
| Oct 16, 2026 | 113.08 |
| Oct 23, 2026 | 112.75 |
This is statewide demand across all occupations, not demand for this specific job. Postings are not a count of vacancies or hires, and Indeed does not cover the entire labor market.
Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0. Seven-day average, seasonally adjusted; publisher refreshes weekly and may revise history. Retrieved Nov 1, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.
Statewide layoff notices
Listed WARN records in New Mexico
Partial listPartial list. Partial listed-record coverage: DWS's annual report names a reporting month, which does not certify that every notice through that month, or after it, is listed. Rows are dated by the published notice date; receipt dates are kept separately. No month or statewide total is treated as complete; missing records are unknown, not zero.
| Month of notice date | Listed notices |
|---|---|
| Apr 2026 | 1 |
| Jun 2026 | 1 |
| Sep 2026 | 1 |
| Listed notices counted | 3 |
Statewide, current-month and three-month totals are unavailable. Months not shown are unknown, not zero. Effective layoff dates are not used as notice dates.
New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions
Source last checked . This check does not certify a newly published report.
Career context
Related occupations
Related roles from the occupation’s published O*NET profile.
Questions answered by this release
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in New Mexico FAQs
Each answer is limited to what QCEW 2026 Q1 actually publishes for this state.
Is employment growing for Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in New Mexico?
The available QCEW measure is not direct occupation employment. Employment across the New Mexico industries weighted to Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers changed -0.6% year over year in January to March 2026, compared with -0.8% nationwide.
Are wages for Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers rising in New Mexico?
QCEW does not publish pay for Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in this view. Average weekly wages across the weighted industries changed +1.7% year over year; that must not be read as an occupation salary change.
How complete is this New Mexico industry view?
The three core state trends each meet the site’s coverage floor; the minimum published coverage is 100% of the occupation’s industry mix.
Does this page show current Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers openings?
No. QCEW measures industry employment, establishments and wages. Any postings, news or WARN figures shown here are statewide context and are not occupation-specific openings.
Methodology & sourcesQCEW 2026 Q1 · coverage 100% · full evidence record
Methodology & Sources
Derived by JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix. This is occupation-weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment and not a count of current job openings.
- Occupation
- Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers
- SOC code
- 53-3032
- State
- New Mexico
- QCEW release label
- QCEW 2026 Q1
- Data period
- 2026 Q1
- State industry employment, year over year
- -0.6%State data coverage 100%
- U.S. benchmark, year over year
- -0.8%
- Difference from U.S. benchmark
- +0.2 percentage pointsPercentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
- Establishments, year over year
- -1.4%State data coverage 100%
- Average weekly industry wage, year over year
- +1.7%State data coverage 100%
- Industry mix vintage
- EP-2025-2035
- BLS publication date
- Aug 28, 2026
- Source verification
- Verified against the committed source snapshotVerified Sep 17, 2026
- Canonical record URL
- https://jobmarkethealth.com/occupations/heavy-and-tractor-trailer-truck-drivers/new-mexico#evidence-record
- Derived by
- JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix
MethodologyBLS QCEWHow to citeQCEW state context release, 2026 Q1
Weighted industry conditions are not direct occupation employment, occupation wages, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. No causal explanation is inferred.