Statewide pay Government data
Concrete finishers in New Mexico earn a statewide median of $49,230 a year, 14% below the typical U.S. metro, ranking #40 of 50 states and DC. About 1,540 people work in the trade statewide.
Statewide pay range
States ranked near New Mexico
See all states on the concrete finisher overview.
Pay by city Government data
BLS publishes concrete finisher pay for 4 New Mexico metros. The highest-paying is Santa Fe at $51,430, followed by Albuquerque and Farmington.
| Metro | Median pay | Real pay | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa FeNEW MEXICO · NM | $51,430 | $52,072 | 80 |
| AlbuquerqueNEW MEXICO · NM | $50,310 | $52,655 | 840 |
| FarmingtonNEW MEXICO · NM | $46,850 | $53,416 | 120 |
| Las CrucesNEW MEXICO · NM | $45,180 | $50,082 | 140 |
Pay: BLS OEWS, May 2025 (metro-level). Real pay: BEA price parities, 2024. How we calculate
Pay outside the cities Government data
BLS also reports pay for New Mexico's rural (nonmetropolitan) regions.
BLS OEWS nonmetropolitan areas, May 2025.
The job (national)
Smooth and finish surfaces of poured concrete, such as floors, walks, sidewalks, roads, or curbs using a variety of hand and power tools. Align forms for sidewalks, curbs, or gutters; patch voids; and use saws to cut expansion joints.
Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 1.6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 13,600 openings a year. Typical training: moderate-term on-the-job training.
Nationally, concrete finishers have 25 injuries or illnesses serious enough to miss work per 10,000 full-time workers, 71% below the rate for all jobs (87). The most common cause is being struck by or caught in objects and equipment.
What the work is like Government data
How often concrete finishers deal with each condition, from surveys of workers in the job.
Getting started usually takes some preparation (high school plus months of training).
O*NET 31.0 Work Context and Job Zones (U.S. Department of Labor), national.
Serious injuries & deaths reported to OSHA Government data
New Mexico runs its own workplace-safety program (an OSHA State Plan), so its injury reports aren't in the federal dataset. Nationally, in states federal OSHA covers, concrete contractors filed 765 severe injury reports from 2015 to 2024; the most common cause was contact with objects and equipment (53%).
OSHA Severe Injury Reports, January 2015–December 2024 (states under federal OSHA only).
Fatality investigations: OSHA Fatality Inspection Data, events 2015–2024, all states.
Licensing in New Mexico Official source
The main state licensing office in New Mexico is the New Mexico Construction Industries Division. It can point you to the right license for concrete finishers.
Official New Mexico licensing site ↗
Requirements for concrete finishers vary by state and sometimes by city; always confirm with the official agency.
Union membership
In 2025, 6.1% of wage and salary workers in New Mexico were union members, below the U.S. rate of about 10% (#33 of 51 states and D.C.), and 7.9% were covered by a union contract. These figures cover all jobs in the state, not only concrete finishers.
BLS Union Members, 2025 (Current Population Survey), table 5.
Cities in New Mexico
All trades in New Mexico.