New Mexico Apprenticeship Programs
New Mexico's registered-apprenticeship system is small — 5,000 active apprentices across 230 programs as of September 2026 — so its structure, not its size, is the story below.
- Active apprentices
- 5,000
- National rank
- #37 / 51
- Completion rate
- 52.8%
- Completion wage
- $26
New Mexico ranks #37 of 51 jurisdictions by active registered apprentices - about 0.6% of all U.S. registered apprentices. Its 52.8% completion rate sits 5.4 pts below the 58.2% national average, and apprentices who finish raise their pay by 82% - from $14 to $26 an hour.
Apprenticeship filing desk
Jurisdiction NE · New Mexico
New Mexico registered-apprenticeship filing: 5,000 active apprentices (rank 37/51), 230 programs, 52.8% completion.
- BOOK-SMALL 5,000
- RANK-LOWER #37
- PROG-SPARSE 230
- COMP-LOW 52.8%
- WAGE-STRONG +82%
- SHARE-SMALL 0.6%
- NEW-FY 1,300
Nearest enrollment peer: Idaho (200 apprentice gap)
U.S. Department of Labor registered-apprenticeship filing stamps for this jurisdiction. Read: fastest growing occupations 2034
Where New Mexico sits among all 51 jurisdictions
Enrollment by jurisdiction; New Mexico is marked near the small end. Inventory size is not a quality ranking.
New Mexico vs all states by active apprentices
Where this state's DOL registered-apprenticeship enrollment sits among every tracked jurisdiction
5,000 37th of 51 higher than 14 of 51 states
States and territories, banded by active apprentices
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Department of Labor registered-apprenticeship data · 2026-09-25
Source: U.S. Department of Labor registered-apprenticeship data, compiled by PlainWorkforce.
Reading New Mexico's numbers
What stands out in this state's DOL filing, most distinctive first. Every figure below is computed from the state's own row in the dataset.
The signature stat: completion
If one figure defines this system it is attrition: 52.8% completion, weaker than 96% of states.
Where the scale sits
5,000 active apprentices rank 37 of 51 nationally, 0.6% of all registered enrollment.
Many small programs
Enrollment is unusually distributed: 230 programs averaging 21.7 apprentices apiece against a 23.6 national norm. A long tail of small sponsors carries the system.
Typical wage progression
Pay runs $14.25/hour at the start and $26.00 at completion — a 82.5% progression near the 82.7% norm.
Steady intake
A 26% intake ratio (1,300 new apprentices this fiscal year) keeps New Mexico in the middle tercile for pipeline speed.
New Mexico's largest registered-apprenticeship occupations, ranked by AI-exposure score, most sit well below the 37% occupation-wide average (the dotted line), which is exactly why the trades are AI-resilient. Bars link to the full occupation profile where tracked.
- Electrician 13%
- Operating Engineer 25%
- Plumber 27%
- Carpenter 28%
- HVAC Mechanic -
AI-exposure scores are PlainWorkforce's analysis of O*NET task data; the 37% line is the average across all 832 tracked occupations. Lower = more AI-resilient.
Frequently asked questions
How many apprentices does New Mexico have?
About 5,000 active registered apprentices, one of the smaller state totals (rank 37 of 51), in roughly 230 programs.
What is the apprenticeship completion rate in New Mexico?
52.8%, which trails the 58.2% national average by 5.4 points.
How much do apprentices earn in New Mexico?
Entry wages average $14.25/hour, rising to about $26.00 at completion (82.5% growth).
What are the top apprenticeship trades in New Mexico?
The dataset's largest registered-apprenticeship occupations for New Mexico are Electrician, Plumber, HVAC Mechanic, Operating Engineer, Carpenter — construction trades dominate registered apprenticeship in every state.
How does New Mexico compare with neighboring systems?
On the dataset's own axes: rank 37 of 51 by enrollment, 52.8% completion, 82.5% wage progression. The comparison links below open the states adjacent in rank.
Compare other states
What to do with this
Use New Mexico's apprenticeship numbers above to plan a specific trade path, not just compare states.
- Compare an apprenticeship path against a college degree using real wage and growth numbers. Apprenticeships vs college
- Check wage and AI exposure for a specific trade in the full occupation directory. Browse all occupations
- Through 2034, these are the occupations projected to add the most jobs. Fastest-growing occupations
Apprenticeship figures come from U.S. Department of Labor Registered Apprenticeship data; enrollment and completion vary by program and year.
Every figure on PlainWorkforce is rendered directly from BLS/O*NET source data, no number is typed in by an editor. Enrollment and wage figures are rounded. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these figures, or report a data error. Data current as of U.S. Department of Labor, Registered Apprenticeship.
Sources: U.S. Department of Labor, Registered Apprenticeship (active apprentices, registered programs, completion rates, and wages by state), O*NET (occupation task data, for the linked AI-exposure scores).