In the third quarter of 2025, around 34.3 percent of the population was in working poverty, a figure lower than the 35.1 percent of the same period last year.
Working poverty in Mexico – a short-term indicator that measures the percentage of the population whose per capita labor income is insufficient to acquire the food basket – decreased 0.8 percentage points from the third quarter of 2024 to the third quarter of 2025, revealed the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).
The states with the highest percentage of the population in working poverty during the third quarter of 2025 were Chiapas, Oaxaca and Guerrero, with 61.1, 58.1 and 52.3 percent, respectively. Those with the lowest percentage were Baja California Sur, Colima and Quintana Roo, with 13.4, 18.4 and 19.4 percent, in that order.
Between the third quarter of 2024 and the same period in 2025, working poverty decreased in 24 entities; where the largest annual decreases were recorded were Tlaxcala, with 5.6 percentage points; Aguascalientes, with 5.2, and Hidalgo, with 4.5. In contrast, the three entities with the greatest increase during the same period were San Luis Potosí, Veracruz and Durango, with increases of 5.5, 3.1 and 2.4 percentage points, respectively.
The entities that registered the largest quarterly decreases were Querétaro, with 6.4; Morelos, with 5.1, and Hidalgo, with 4.8 percentage points. In contrast, the three entities with the greatest increase during this period were Durango, Chihuahua and Veracruz, with increases of 3.8, 3.2 and 3.2 percentage points, respectively.
Real per capita labor income (constant pesos for the first quarter of 2020) presented an annual decrease of 0.1 percent, going from 3,346.45 to 3,344.22 pesos per month. During this same period, real per capita income in the urban area registered an annual decrease of 1.1 percent, falling from 3,808.91 to 3,768.11 pesos per month. In rural areas, an increase of 0.1 percent was observed, increasing from 1,912.81 to 1,914.07 pesos per month.
The quarterly variation in real labor income decreased at the national level and for urban and rural areas. The percentages were 1.2 at the national level, 0.5 in the urban area and 1.6 for the rural area.