UMA stands for Unidad de Medida y Actualización, Mexico’s official reference unit for calculating fines, fees, tax-exemption thresholds, social security contribution ceilings, and certain housing credit balances. For 2026, the daily UMA is 117.31 pesos, the monthly value is 3,566.22 pesos, and the annual value is 42,794.64 pesos.1INEGI. Unidad de Medida y Actualización (UMA) 2026 When a Mexican law states an amount in UMAs, you convert it to pesos by multiplying the number of units by the applicable daily, monthly, or annual figure.
Why Mexico Created the UMA
Until 2016, the minimum wage did two jobs. It set the legal pay floor and served as the unit of measurement inside hundreds of laws that priced fines, tax thresholds, social security caps, and mortgage balances. Every wage increase meant to help low-income workers also pushed up traffic tickets, tax penalties, and INFONAVIT loan balances. Congress hesitated to raise the minimum wage because the ripple hit everyone.
A 2016 constitutional reform, called desindexación, cut that link. The reform required updates to 149 federal laws covering more than 870 articles that referenced the minimum wage as a unit of measurement.2Gobierno de México. Desindexación del Salario Mínimo The Ley para Determinar el Valor de la Unidad de Medida y Actualización then defined the UMA as the unit of account for payment amounts under federal, state, and Mexico City law.3Justia México. Ley para Determinar el Valor de la Unidad de Medida y Actualización Freed from that dual role, the minimum wage could grow with wage policy while the UMA grew only with inflation.
How and When the UMA Value Changes
INEGI (the National Institute of Statistics and Geography) calculates and publishes the UMA each year, adjusting the previous daily value by the year-over-year change in the National Consumer Price Index for December.3Justia México. Ley para Determinar el Valor de la Unidad de Medida y Actualización The monthly UMA equals the daily figure times 30.4; the annual UMA is the monthly figure times 12. INEGI must publish the new values in the Diario Oficial de la Federación within the first ten days of January, and they take effect on February 1.
The 2026 figures reflect a 3.69 percent increase over 2025:1INEGI. Unidad de Medida y Actualización (UMA) 2026
- Daily: 117.31 pesos
- Monthly: 3,566.22 pesos
- Annual: 42,794.64 pesos
Every obligation priced in UMAs shifts on February 1 without any legislative action.
How the UMA Compares to the Minimum Wage
When the UMA launched in 2016, its daily value was 73.04 pesos, identical to the minimum wage at the time.4INEGI. Unit of Measurement and Update (UMA) A decade later, the daily minimum wage for 2026 is 315.04 pesos, roughly 2.7 times the daily UMA.5Gobierno de México. Incremento a los Salarios Mínimos para 2026 Since 2016, the minimum wage has risen roughly 331 percent while the UMA has increased only about 60 percent.
That gap is the point of the reform, and it cuts both ways. Fines and old mortgage balances have grown slower than wages, which favors the person paying them. But benefits, thresholds, and pension caps still measured in UMAs shrink in real purchasing power compared with what workers actually earn.
Tax-Exempt Limits on Worker Benefits
Article 93 of the Ley del Impuesto sobre la Renta exempts several common benefits from income tax only up to a limit stated in UMAs. Anything above the threshold is taxable and subject to withholding. The 2026 caps:
- Aguinaldo (annual bonus): 30 daily UMAs, or 3,519.30 pesos
- Prima vacacional (vacation premium): 15 daily UMAs, or 1,759.65 pesos
- Reparto de utilidades (profit sharing, PTU): 15 daily UMAs, or 1,759.65 pesos
- Separation pay and seniority premiums: 90 daily UMAs per year of service, or 10,557.90 pesos per year worked
Because these caps rise only with inflation, workers whose wages have climbed faster than the UMA now see more of their aguinaldo and other benefits cross into taxable territory each year.
Government Fines and SAT Tax Penalties
When a statute prices a fine in UMAs, the peso amount refreshes every February. A ticket set at 10 to 20 UMAs costs 1,173.10 to 2,346.20 pesos in 2026. Passport fees, driver’s license charges, and administrative costs follow the same logic.
The SAT (Tax Administration Service) publishes the peso amounts for tax penalties each year in Anexo 5 of the Resolución Miscelánea Fiscal. For 2026, the main fines for failing to file declarations are:6SAT. Anexo 5 de la Resolución Miscelánea Fiscal para 2026
- Not filing a required declaration: 2,050 to 25,360 pesos per unfiled obligation
- Filing late after receiving a formal notice: 2,050 to 50,710 pesos per obligation
- Not filing electronically when required: 20,790 to 41,590 pesos
Articles 81 and 82 of the Código Fiscal de la Federación set these ranges.7Justia México. Código Fiscal de la Federación – Título Cuarto – Capítulo I Filing late voluntarily costs less than waiting for a formal SAT demand, so if a deadline has already passed, submitting before a notice arrives limits exposure.
Employer Fines Under the Federal Labor Law
The Ley Federal del Trabajo denominates all employer fines in UMAs. Article 992 states that penalties are calculated using the UMA value in effect when the violation occurred, and repeat offenders within two years face double the original fine.8Justia México. Ley Federal del Trabajo – Título Dieciséis The ranges vary sharply by violation:
- Working hours, rest days, and vacation violations: 50 to 250 UMAs (5,865.50 to 29,327.50 pesos)
- Profit sharing noncompliance: 250 to 5,000 UMAs (29,327.50 to 586,550 pesos)
- Safety and anti-discrimination violations: 250 to 5,000 UMAs
- Blocking a labor inspection: 250 to 5,000 UMAs
- Illegal subcontracting or operating without registration: 2,000 to 50,000 UMAs (234,620 to 5,865,500 pesos)
- General violations with no specific fine assigned: 50 to 5,000 UMAs
The subcontracting penalties are the steepest. At the top end, a 50,000-UMA fine approaches six million pesos, and recidivism doubles it to nearly twelve million.
INFONAVIT Housing Credits
Before desindexación, INFONAVIT issued mortgages in multiples of the minimum wage (Veces Salarios Mínimos, or VSM). As the minimum wage climbed, balances and payments climbed with it. INFONAVIT now uses a hybrid unit, the Unidad Mixta Infonavit (UMI), for older VSM-denominated credits, capping the annual adjustment at whichever is lower between the minimum wage increase and the UMA increase.9INFONAVIT. Convertidor UMI For 2026 the daily UMI value is 100.81 pesos, and as of late 2024 INFONAVIT froze UMI-based balances, so no further increases apply to those older credits.
New INFONAVIT credits are typically denominated in pesos, so the balance stays fixed and only interest accrues. The UMA still sets certain credit parameters like maximum loan amounts and closing costs at origination, but those figures convert to a locked peso amount inside the loan terms.
The IMSS Contribution Ceiling and Modalidad 40
The Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) caps the salary used to calculate employer and employee contributions at 25 times the daily UMA.10Justia México. Ley del Seguro Social – Título Segundo – Capítulo II For 2026, that ceiling is 2,932.75 pesos per day. Earnings above the cap are not covered by social security benefits, so workers paid well above 25 UMAs build IMSS pension rights only up to the ceiling and will see a smaller share of their income replaced at retirement. Private retirement savings, such as an Afore voluntaria, fill the gap.
The 25-UMA ceiling also sets the maximum payment for Modalidad 40, the voluntary continuation scheme that lets people who have left formal employment keep building pension weeks. In 2026, registering at the maximum salary of 25 UMAs costs roughly 12,703 pesos for a 30-day period.11SSA. Social Security Programs Throughout the World: The Americas – Mexico That cost rises each February with the new UMA. Registering at a lower multiple lowers the monthly payment and the eventual pension in the same proportion.
When to Check the New Values
Because every UMA-priced obligation shifts on February 1, the January INEGI announcement matters if you pay an INFONAVIT installment, make Modalidad 40 contributions, or budget for potential fines. INEGI publishes the new figures on its official UMA page and in the Diario Oficial de la Federación.4INEGI. Unit of Measurement and Update (UMA) Employers should update payroll by February 1 so tax-exempt thresholds on aguinaldo, PTU, and other benefits reflect the current UMA; missing the date doesn’t change what’s owed, only when the corrections happen.