Mexico

Economy & income

Currency

• Mexican peso (MXN, $)
• ~17.5 MXN per USD (Jul 2026; peso ~17.48, near multi-year highs)

GDP per capita

• ~$13,700 nominal (2025, IMF WEO Apr 2026)
• ~$22,040 PPP (2024, World Bank) / ~$26,600 PPP (2026, IMF WEO)

Average salary

• ~$813 net/mo (Numbeo, Jul 2026, ~MX$14,200)
• gross ~$1,000-1,200/mo est. — skilled roles in CDMX/Monterrey/Guadalajara reach $1,300-2,000+

Median salary

• ~$450-550/mo est. — no clean official median
• INEGI ENOE 2025 avg labour income ~MX$8,000-9,000/mo, but ~54% informal employment pulls the true median well below the formal IMSS-registered average (~MX$16,000)

Minimum wage

• MX$315.04/day general = ~MX$9,582/mo (~$548/mo)
• Zona Libre de la Frontera Norte MX$440.87/day = ~MX$13,410/mo (~$766/mo)
• +13% general / +5% border, effective Jan 1 2026 (CONASAMI)

Cost of living

• Low-Medium — Numbeo (Jul 2026): single person ~MX$12,531/mo (~$704) excl. rent, family of four ~MX$46,506/mo (~$2,627) excl. rent
• cheaper than the US but local wages are proportionally lower
• CDMX & Monterrey noticeably pricier

Digital landscape

Population

131 million (Jan 2025, DataReportal; 82.0% urban)

Internet users

83.3% (~110 million users; ~21.9M still offline)

Social media users

70.7% (~93.0 million social media user identities; = 84.9% of internet users)

Mobile connections

127 million cellular connections = 96.5% of population (97.7% broadband)

Devices

mobile ~61.1% / desktop ~38.0% / tablet ~0.9% (StatCounter, Jun 2026)

Ad spend

• Total ad spend ~$10.9bn (2025, +5.9% YoY)
• digital ~$6.4bn = ~59% of total (Statista/eMarketer/IAB Mexico), mobile-led with video & social the fastest-growing formats

Top social platforms

Facebook ~93.0M ad reach, 70.7% — #1 by reach

TikTok ~85.4M aged 18+, 91.7% of adults — among world's highest

YouTube ~83.6M, 63.6%

Messenger ~57.0M, 43.3%

Instagram ~48.8M, 37.1%

Pinterest ~26.7M, 20.3%

LinkedIn ~26.0M, 19.8%

Messengers

• WhatsApp (dominant everyday app — near-universal among internet users; core for social commerce)
• Facebook Messenger (~57.0M reach)
• Telegram (growing — news, crypto & betting channels)

Payments & behaviour

Payment methods

• Debit cards (~79% of online buyers use them — most widely used instrument)
• Credit cards (~55% of online transactions; interest-free installments 'meses sin intereses' are a major conversion lever)
• Cash / OXXO Pay vouchers (~31% of transactions still cash in 2024; 22,000+ OXXO stores bridge the unbanked)
• SPEI bank transfer (real-time interbank; used by ~6 in 10 Mexicans, 3M+ tx/day)
• Digital wallets / Mercado Pago (projected >30% of e-commerce payments in 2025)

E-wallets

• Mercado Pago (dominant — tied to Mercado Libre)
• PayPal
• OXXO Pay (cash-to-digital voucher)
• CoDi (Banxico QR over SPEI — low adoption, ~1.9M users)
• Spin by OXXO / DiDi Pay / Nu (neobank wallets rising)

Cash on delivery

Moderate — cash remains ~31% of transactions and COD/OXXO cash vouchers are essential for the large unbanked/underbanked segment, though card & wallet share is rising fast

E-commerce

• High and fast-growing
• Mercado Libre & Amazon form a duopoly (~40% share) with ~60% still open to Coppel, Liverpool, Walmart, Shein, Temu & AliExpress
• ~85% of shoppers blend online + in-store (AMVO)

Notes

• Cash-and-voucher culture (OXXO) coexists with rapid card/wallet + fintech growth
• 'meses sin intereses' installments are decisive for big-ticket conversions
• Mercado Pago anchors the largest closed-loop wallet ecosystem

Audience & culture

Languages

• Spanish (de facto official; ~92% first language, ~99% spoken)
• Indigenous languages (~6.1% of pop / ~7.4M speakers — Nahuatl ~1.7%, Maya, Tzeltal, Mixtec, Zapotec)
• English (business, tourism, US-border & maquila regions)

Religion

• Roman Catholic ~77.7%
• Protestant/Evangelical ~11.2%
• no religion ~8.2%
• other ~2-3% (2020 INEGI census) — Catholicism declining, evangelicals rising
• devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe is culturally central

Median age

~29.6 years (DataReportal, Jan 2025; INEGI ~29-30)

Key seasons

• Día de la Madre / Mother's Day (May 10 — one of the biggest commercial days)
• Hot Sale (late May — online-only, tech/travel/fashion)
• El Buen Fin (mid-Nov, 'Mexican Black Friday' — appliances/clothing/furniture)
• Navidad + Reyes Magos (Dec 24 - Jan 6 — peak gifting)
• Día de Muertos (Nov 1-2 — cultural, growing commercial tie-ins)
• Semana Santa / Easter (travel) & back-to-school (Aug)
• FIFA World Cup 2026 (Jun-Jul 2026 — Mexico co-hosts; huge sports/betting window)

Cultural notes

• Family-centric, mobile-first and price-sensitive
• interest-free installments ('meses sin intereses') drive purchase decisions
• football/soccer (Liga MX, El Tri) is a national obsession fueling betting demand
• strong música (regional Mexican, corridos tumbados) and telenovela/creator culture
• WhatsApp + OXXO cash are backbone of commerce for the unbanked
• warm, humor-forward, relationship-driven marketing wins

Where to find creators

• TikTok
• Instagram
• YouTube
• Facebook

Media landscape

Creators & public figures

Top creators

Kimberly Loaiza ~83.7M TikTok / ~37.9M Instagram

TikTok/Instagram/YouTubemusic, lifestyle & family; most-followed Mexican woman — top beauty/FMCG/fashion relevance

D

Domelipa (Dominik Reséndez) ~75.7M TikTok / ~23M Instagram

TikTok/Instagramdance, lifestyle & fashion (Monterrey); Gen-Z beauty/apparel brand tie-ins

Luisito Comunica ~39M YouTube / ~33.7M Instagram

YouTube/Instagramtravel & vlogs; broad reach, own brands (telecom, mezcal) — strong commercial credibility

Fede Vigevani ~76M YouTube

YouTube/TikTokchallenges & entertainment; Uruguayan but Mexico-based — #1 channel among Mexican audiences

J

Juan de Dios Pantoja ~23.7M Instagram

Instagram/YouTubemusic & family vlogs (JukiLop with Kim Loaiza); youth/entertainment brands

K

Kunno (Guillermo Olivo) ~34M TikTok / ~6M Instagram

TikTok/Instagramdance & entertainment (Monterrey); Gen-Z, LGBTQ+ audience, fashion/beauty

L

Los Polinesios ~27M YouTube

YouTubesibling trio — family vlogs, challenges & merch; broad family/FMCG appeal

Celebrities

Danna Paola ~31M Instagram

singer & actress (Élite, Mexican pop star)

Salma Hayek ~29M Instagram

Hollywood actress & producer (global Mexican icon)

Thalía ~22M Instagram

singer & actress — 'Queen of Latin Pop', telenovela legend

Belinda ~18M Instagram

singer & actress (Spanish-Mexican pop star)

Peso Pluma ~16M Instagram

regional-Mexican / corridos tumbados superstar

Canelo Álvarez ~15M Instagram

world champion boxer — Mexico's biggest sports star

Affiliate & traffic

Hot verticals

• iGaming & sports betting (licensed + grey — surging into World Cup 2026)
• Nutra (weight-loss, beauty, potency — COD)
• Finance (loans, cards, fintech/neobanks, crypto trading)
• E-commerce / COD physical goods (OXXO cash)
• Dating (mainstream & casual)
• Mobile apps, games & sweepstakes

Active networks

• Mercado Libre / Amazon Afiliados (e-commerce CPS)
• Hotmart & Monetizze (infoproducts, big in LATAM)
• Admitad / Involve Asia (CPS/CPA)
• Mobidea (mobile CPA — mVAS, sweeps, dating, nutra)
• Dr.Cash / Leadbit / Everad (nutra COD)
• Caliente / Codere / Betano partner programs (iGaming, licensed .mx)
• RichAds / PropellerAds (traffic + offers)

Payouts

• iGaming CPA ~$20-60 per FTD (licensed vs grey)
• nutra COD ~$8-15 per approved order
• finance/loan CPL ~$1-5
• dating CPL ~$1-3
• e-commerce CPS on % basis — USD-pegged deals common

Competition

• Moderate-high — a large, young, mobile-first ~131M market with cheap CPMs vs Tier-1 and strong Spanish-language scale
• e-commerce, iGaming and fintech affiliate activity is intensifying, especially ahead of the 2026 World Cup

Seasonality

• Peaks at Hot Sale (late May), El Buen Fin (mid-Nov), Navidad/Reyes (Dec-Jan 6), Mother's Day (May 10) and Día de Muertos
• the Jun-Jul 2026 World Cup (Mexico co-hosts) is a major betting & sponsorship spike

Traffic sources

• Facebook / Instagram Ads (Meta dominant)
• TikTok Ads & creator collabs
• Google (Search, UAC, YouTube)
• Push & popunder (RichAds/PropellerAds)
• Telegram channels
• Influencer / micro-creator marketing

Good to know

Capital

Mexico City (CDMX)

Major cities

• Mexico City
• Guadalajara
• Monterrey
• Puebla
• Tijuana
• León
• Ciudad Juárez
• Querétaro
• Cancún

Time zones

• 4 zones
• most of the country incl
• CDMX is Central UTC-6 year-round (Mexico abolished DST nationally in Oct 2022, except border municipalities that follow US DST)
• Pacific/Northwest states UTC-7, and Baja California UTC-8/-7

Android vs iOS

78% 22%

Android 78% iOS 22%

Phone brands

• Apple (~22%)
• Samsung (~10.5%)
• Motorola (~7.4%)
• Xiaomi (~4.2%)
• Oppo (~2.6%)

Top e-commerce

• Mercado Libre
• Amazon México
• Temu
• Coppel
• Walmart / Bodega Aurrerá
• Liverpool
• Shein
• AliExpress

Peak activity

Evenings ~20:00-23:00 local (CST/UTC-6) strongest; lunch 13:00-15:00 secondary; heavy weekend & late-night mobile scrolling

Creative taboos

Narco/cartel violence & security, religion (Catholic devotion, Virgin of Guadalupe — avoid mockery), politics (Sheinbaum/Morena vs opposition), US-Mexico relations, migration & deportations, classism/skin-color ('malinchismo'), and disrespecting national symbols or Día de Muertos traditions

Also worth knowing

• Mexico co-hosts the FIFA World Cup 2026 (Jun-Jul) — a massive sports-betting, sponsorship & creative window; Caliente is the national team's official betting house
• Huge cash/unbanked segment (~31% of transactions still cash) makes OXXO Pay vouchers + COD essential conversion levers alongside cards/wallets
• Among the world's highest TikTok penetration (~85M adults) and a mobile-first, Spanish-language market of 131M — Facebook still leads by reach while TikTok drives youth culture