Mexico’s minimum wage in 2026: daily and monthly rates, border zone and real take-home pay
Hiring a housekeeper, a driver or a first employee in Mexico starts with one number: the 2026 minimum wage. Here are the official CONASAMI rates, how to convert them, what employers owe on top and what workers actually take home.
Reviewed by Radif Partners · Editorial policy
Mexico’s general minimum wage for 2026 is MX$315.04 a day, and MX$440.87 a day in the Northern Border Free Zone, under the resolution of the National Minimum Wage Commission (CONASAMI) published in the Official Gazette (DOF) on 9 December 2025 and in force since 1 January 2026. The general rate rose 13 % from MX$278.80, including an independent recovery amount of MX$17.01, while the border rate rose 5 %. The resolution converts daily to monthly by multiplying by 365 and dividing by 12, which gives MX$9,582.47 and MX$13,409.80. Workers earning only the minimum of their zone keep every peso: article 96 of the Income Tax Law forbids withholding ISR and article 36 of the Social Security Law shifts their IMSS contribution to the employer. Mandatory benefits such as the aguinaldo and paid vacation come on top.
Net monthly at the minimum
MX$9,582
MX$315.04 a day · MX$9,582.47 gross a month
| Daily wage | MX$315.04 |
|---|---|
| Monthly (× 365 ÷ 12) | MX$9,582.47 |
| ISR | − MX$0 |
| Employee IMSS | − MX$0 |
| Net monthly | MX$9,582 |
| Weekly incl. paid rest day | MX$2,205.28 |
- General minimum: no ISR withholding (art. 96 LISR), employee IMSS paid by the employer (art. 36 LSS).
The 2026 rates at a glance
Mexico sets two general minimum wages. One covers the municipalities along the US border, the Zona Libre de la Frontera Norte (ZLFN). The other covers everywhere else, including Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey and the tourist coasts. The figures below are what you will see on contracts, job ads and payslips.
| Northern border zone | Rest of Mexico | |
|---|---|---|
| Daily rate | MX$440.87 | MX$315.04 |
| Monthly (daily × 365 ÷ 12) | MX$13,409.80 | MX$9,582.47 |
| Weekly, rest day included | MX$3,086.09 | MX$2,205.28 |
| Annual, salary only | MX$160,918 | MX$114,990 |
| Per hour, reference only (÷ 8) | MX$55.11 | MX$39.38 |
| 2025 daily rate | MX$419.88 | MX$278.80 |
| Increase for 2026 | 5 % | 13 % |
Mexican labour law thinks in days, not hours or months. The daily rate is the legal figure, and every other line is derived from it. If a dispute ever reaches the labour authorities, pay is checked against MX$315.04 for every paid day, rest day included.
What a minimum-wage worker takes home
On the minimum, gross and net are the same. Two rules make it so. Article 96 of the Income Tax Law (LISR) says no ISR, Mexico’s income tax, is withheld from people who earn only the general minimum of their area. Article 36 of the Social Security Law (LSS) says that when a worker earns the minimum, the employer pays the worker’s share of IMSS, the social security institute, as well as its own.
That means MX$9,582.47 net a month in most of the country and MX$13,409.80 at the border. The worker is still fully registered: article 28 of the LSS sets the minimum wage as the floor for the contribution base, so pension, health and disability rights accrue as for anyone else.
The picture changes the moment pay goes above the minimum. With MX$10,000 gross, ISR (after the employment subsidy of MX$535.65) and the employee IMSS share both come out of the payslip, and net pay ends up below the minimum’s. It takes about MX$9,582 gross to match the MX$9,582 a minimum earner keeps. If you are setting a salary just above the minimum, look at the net figure first: a raise of a few hundred pesos can leave your employee worse off. The simulator below shows net pay at the minimum for a full or partial month.
Net 2026 minimum wage
Net for the period
MX$9,451.20
| Daily minimum wage | MX$315.04 |
| Gross for the period | MX$9,451.20 |
| ISR | MX$0.00 |
| Employee IMSS | MX$0.00 |
Minimum-wage earners pay neither ISR nor IMSS: the employer covers it (art. 36 LSS).
Hiring household staff: the professional minimum applies
Many foreign residents first meet Mexican labour law when they hire a housekeeper, nanny or cook. Domestic work is one of the 61 occupations that CONASAMI gives a professional minimum wage, so the general rate is not the right benchmark. In 2026 a domestic worker’s minimum outside the border zone is MX$342.47 a day, 8.7 % above the general minimum, or MX$10,417 a month.
Because that rate is higher than the general minimum, the article 96 exemption no longer applies. On MX$10,417 gross, payroll withholds MX$239 of ISR after the subsidy and MX$265 of employee IMSS, for a net of MX$9,914. Employers who agree a net figure with their staff should gross it up with the net salary calculator. The full list of trades, from bricklayers to newspaper reporters, is in our table of professional minimum wages.
What an employer owes on top of the daily rate
The minimum pays for days worked plus the weekly rest day, which article 69 of the Federal Labour Law (LFT) makes paid. Mandatory benefits sit on top and cannot be netted against it. For one full year on the general minimum, the floor looks like this:
| Item | Annual amount |
|---|---|
| Salary, 365 days | MX$114,990 |
| Aguinaldo, 15 days (art. 87) | MX$4,726 |
| Vacation premium, 25 % of 12 days (art. 80) | MX$945 |
| Employee IMSS share the employer absorbs (art. 36 LSS), 12 months | MX$2,904 |
| Minimum annual outlay before employer IMSS and housing contributions | MX$123,564 |
The aguinaldo is the statutory year-end bonus of at least 15 days’ pay, due before 20 December. First-year paid vacation is 12 days since the 2022 reform of article 76, rising by two days a year up to the fifth year. The vacation premium, prima vacacional, adds at least 25 % of the pay for those days. The table leaves out the employer’s own IMSS and housing fund contributions, which depend on the company’s risk class and are not covered here. Use the aguinaldo calculator and the vacation days guide for partial years.
How the 2026 increase was built
The general increase of 13 % combines two steps. First, an independent recovery amount, the MIR, of MX$17.01 is added to the 2025 rate, giving MX$295.81. Then a percentage increase lifts that to MX$315.04. The MIR exists to raise the floor without becoming a benchmark for raises further up the pay scale. The border zone got no MIR, only a 5 % rise, because its rate is already 40 % higher.
For a company budgeting payroll, the practical point is that minimum-wage increases do not automatically flow to salaried staff above the minimum. Raises for those employees are a matter of contract and negotiation, not of the CONASAMI resolution.
Monthly conversions that trip up foreign employers
The CONASAMI resolution, point CUARTO, defines the monthly minimum as daily × 365 ÷ 12, about 30.4167 days a month. Multiplying by 30 gives MX$9,451.20, which is below the legal monthly minimum of MX$9,582.47. Paying a flat MX$9,451.20 every month is a common and avoidable underpayment.
A second rule works in the other direction. Article 89 of the LFT says that when a salary is agreed per month, the daily rate used for benefits is the monthly salary divided by 30. The two divisions answer different questions: one checks whether you pay the minimum, the other computes aguinaldo, vacation pay or severance from an agreed monthly salary.
Which minimum applies to which worker
- Border zone or not: it depends on the municipality, not the state. The resolution lists each border municipality by name. Monterrey, Hermosillo and the city of Chihuahua are outside it. See the northern border minimum wage guide for the full list.
- Listed trade or not: if the job matches one of the 61 professional minimums, that rate is the floor.
- Hourly pay: the resolution, point QUINTO, says the daily minimum cannot be split by the hour. The hourly figure in the table above is a benchmark only. To convert any salary to hours, use the hourly wage calculator.
The minimum wage is also not the UMA, the unit of measure Mexico uses for fines, tax exemptions and contribution caps. The UMA is MX$117.31 a day from 1 February 2026, far below the minimum wage, so mixing the two up in an HR policy or a severance estimate produces very different numbers.