2026-09-30 · By Robert Katona
How Much Does a Shelter Program Cost in Mexico?
Market Entry Readiness Diagnostic · 11 questions, about 3 minutes
Key takeaways
- Published 2026 shelter fees run from under $100 to about $400 per employee per month, or $1.50 to $4 per direct labor hour in one provider's calculator. Every one of those figures comes from a shelter provider, a real-estate site or a nearshoring website, and the shelter contracts filed with the SEC redact their rates.
- Per employee per month and per paid hour are the two most common pricing bases, according to one large provider, usually on a banded scale that steps down as headcount or paid hours rise. Fixed management fees, a percentage of payroll and transactional fees also appear, often in combination.
- In an illustrative 200-worker Tijuana operation built from published ranges, burdened labor runs about $290,000 to $330,000 a month and the fee $16,000 to $80,000, which puts the fee at about 5 percent of the modelled monthly cost at the low end of every range and 17 percent at the high end.
- The safe-harbor income tax is legally your own tax: 30 percent of the higher of 6.9 percent of qualifying assets or 6.5 percent of operating costs, computed on your account and paid by the shelter, which in market practice bills it back to you.
- The headline rate is one input among several. Over a multi-year term, the exchange-rate basis, markups on pass-throughs, the annual escalator, the minimum term, and who pays severance and transfer costs at exit all carry cost, so compare them line by line.
A shelter program in Mexico costs you a service fee plus the full cost of the operation the shelter administers. Published 2026 fee figures run from under $100 to about $400 per employee per month, or $1.50 to $4 per direct labor hour, sometimes with a management fee or a percentage of payroll added. Burdened wages, rent, utilities, the safe-harbor income tax billed back to you, profit sharing, customs and freight make up most of the bill.
Every published fee range comes from a shelter provider, a real-estate site or a nearshoring website, and the shelter contracts filed with the SEC redact their rates.
If you are still comparing providers, start with the shelter companies in Mexico guide, and if you are choosing between models, see shelter or your own entity.
How do shelter companies price their services?
Per employee per month is the most common model, according to one large provider, and per paid hour is the other mainstream basis. Both usually run on a banded scale that steps down as headcount or paid hours rise, and many quotes combine models.
| Pricing model | How it is billed |
|---|---|
| Per employee per month | A monthly rate per direct employee, banded by headcount |
| Per paid hour | A rate times the hours paid each week, tiered by headcount or floor area |
| Fixed management fee | One monthly amount, alone or on top of a per-employee rate |
| Percentage of payroll | A cost-plus percentage on direct payroll |
| Transactional fees | Per-pedimento charges, percentages of purchases, payroll or VAT recovered, recruiting and start-up fees, markups on pass-throughs |
The shelter agreement NxStage Medical filed with the SEC in 2007 multiplies a headcount-based rate by the hours paid each week, and the one Masimo refiled in 2022 invoices "weekly using the listed Hourly Rate Schedule."
How much does a shelter program cost in Mexico in 2026?
The fee is the line providers publish. These are the 2026 figures in circulation, with their publishers and caveats.
| Published figure | Publisher and date | Caveat |
|---|---|---|
| $80 to $250 per employee per month | Nearshore Navigator, March 2026 | No data cited |
| $160 to $280 per direct employee per month, or 10% to 15% cost-plus on payroll | Nearshore Navigator, September 2026 | Claims audited filings, cites none |
| $150 to $400 per direct employee per month, plus $5,000 to $15,000 a month in management fees | Mexico Industrial Real Estate, April 2026 | Real-estate site, no methodology |
| $1.50 to $4 per direct labor hour | A shelter provider's cost calculator, undated | Depends on specifics |
| 1% to 2% of payroll | A shelter provider's cost guide, September 2026 | Same provider says no single market rate exists |
| 5% to 10% of payroll | A shelter provider's guide, February 2026 | HR and payroll administration only |
At about 195 paid hours a month, the ratio implied by one provider's 2026 wage benchmark, $1.50 to $4 an hour equals roughly $290 to $780 per worker a month. None of these publishers shows its data, so budget a range and test each quote against your own all-in cost.
What does the shelter fee include, and what is billed outside it?
Where each item sits in the filed contracts and provider descriptions:
| Cost item | Where it usually sits |
|---|---|
| Legal entity, IMMEX program, IVA/IEPS certification (renewed yearly), IMMEX annual report | Held by the shelter, so normally covered by the fee |
| Accounting, payroll and HR administration, EHS, facilities management, IT | Inside the fee, in one provider's published list |
| Mexican customs brokerage | Varies: inside one provider's list, outside the fee in a filed contract |
| Wages, overtime, fringes, payroll taxes, bonuses, PTU, severance | Pass-through; wages and fringes invoiced weekly on hours paid |
| Safe-harbor income tax | Billed to you as an operating cost, in market practice |
| Rent, utilities, hazardous-waste disposal, licenses, duties, bonds, freight | Outside the fee |
| Materials and machinery | Yours, lent to the shelter free of charge (comodato), because LISR Article 183 bars selling them to it |
What is the full monthly cost of a shelter operation?
Burdened labor and rent
Labor is usually the largest line. The table pairs one large provider's 2026 benchmark for a fully fringed entry-level operator, which the provider says draws on payroll at more than 60 foreign manufacturers, with Solili's average industrial rents for August 2026.
| Location | Operator, fully fringed (USD per hour) | Industrial rent (USD per m² per month) |
|---|---|---|
| Tijuana | 7.50 to 8.50 (border band) | 8.68 (0.81 per sq ft) |
| Ciudad Juárez | 7.50 to 8.50 (border band) | 7.32 (0.68 per sq ft) |
| Monterrey | 7.00 to 7.50 | 7.08 (0.66 per sq ft) |
| Saltillo | 6.00 to 6.50 | 7.16 (0.67 per sq ft) |
| Querétaro | 5.00 to 5.75 (Bajío band) | 6.17 (0.57 per sq ft) |
The labor figures include IMSS, INFONAVIT, SAR, state payroll tax, aguinaldo, vacation and PTU, at 18.0 pesos per dollar; the DOF rate for September 30, 2026 was 18.0710.
Three changes push labor up. The 2026 minimum wage rose 13% to MXN 315.04 a day in the general zone and 5% to MXN 440.87 in the northern border zone. The employer's IMSS contribution for cesantía y vejez steps up every January through 2030. And the 2026 constitutional reform cuts the maximum work week from 48 hours to 40 by 2030 and bars any reduction in "sueldos, salarios o prestaciones," which raises your cost per paid hour; the hiring guide covers the burden.
Safe-harbor income tax
Under LISR Article 183-Bis, the shelter computes your taxable profit as the higher of 6.9% of qualifying assets and 6.5% of operating costs, and pays 30% tax on it: about 2.07% of the asset base or 1.95% of the cost base. The asset base counts fixed assets and raw-material inventories, including machinery you lend, at undepreciated tax value and never below 10% of acquisition cost.
In law the tax is yours, "determinado por cuenta del residente en el extranjero," with the shelter jointly liable; in market practice it arrives on your invoice. If the shelter breaches its 183-Bis obligations and does not cure within 30 days of a SAT requirement, you are deemed to have a permanent establishment in Mexico. This summary is general information and does not replace tax or legal advice.
PTU (profit sharing)
PTU is 10% of the employer's renta gravable under the 2020 national commission resolution, capped per worker at three months' salary or the three-year average, whichever favors the worker (Ley Federal del Trabajo Article 127). One filed contract passes it through. No official guidance settles whether your safe-harbor profit enters the shelter's PTU base, so ask how each provider computes it.
Customs, duties and freight
The shelter is the Mexican importer of record under its IMMEX program; both filed contracts make the client the US importer of record, so US broker fees and duties are yours. One filed contract passed import and export services through "without any additional mark-up." See customs, trade and IMMEX.
Start-up costs and deposits
A start-up fee typically covers onboarding, recruiting, systems and customs setup; many providers charge one, and at least one does not. The filed contracts add cash before production: a payroll deposit, a severance fund of "ten percent of the weekly payroll" or a bond, and in one case a letter of credit. For finished medical devices sold in the US, add FDA's $13,785 annual establishment registration fee for fiscal 2027; the medical device shelter guide covers who registers.
An illustrative monthly cost: 200 workers in Tijuana
These figures are illustrative, built only from the published ranges above.
| Line | Monthly (USD) | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Burdened labor, 200 workers | 290,000 to 330,000 | $7.50 to $8.50 an hour, about 195 paid hours |
| Rent, 50,000 sq ft | 38,000 to 40,500 | $0.76 (Cushman & Wakefield, Class A, end 2025) to $0.81 (Solili) per sq ft |
| Shelter fee | 16,000 to 80,000 | $80 to $400 per employee |
| Safe-harbor tax, cost leg | 6,400 to 7,200 | 1.95% of labor and rent |
| Utilities, customs, freight | Not modelled | Quote-specific |
| Modelled total | 350,400 to 457,700 |
At the low end of every line the fee is about 5% of the modelled total and labor about 83%; at the high end, the fee is about 17% and labor 72%. Priced at $1.50 to $4 an hour, the same fee line reads about $58,000 to $156,000. If 6.9% of your machinery and raw-material inventory at tax value exceeds 6.5% of costs, the asset leg sets the tax. The Mexico manufacturing cost calculator takes your inputs.
If your ownership structure, site or timeline is still open, the Mexico Entry Readiness Diagnostic takes eleven questions and about three minutes, and gives you a scored read on ownership structure, site, regulatory routing, landed cost and timeline before you request quotes.
Questions to put to every shelter provider
- What is the all-in cost per employee per month, with every fee, markup and start-up charge named?
- Is the fee per employee, per paid hour, fixed or a share of payroll, and where are the bands?
- Which roles do I hire and pay for outside the fee?
- Which currency is the fee in, and which exchange rate and date convert peso costs?
- Which costs are pass-throughs, and which carry a markup?
- Is Mexican customs brokerage inside the fee?
- What does the start-up fee cover, and which deposits, bonds or letters of credit come before the first payroll?
- Do I pre-fund accounts, or do you invoice in arrears?
- Will I see the monthly and annual safe-harbor computation, and the PTU base?
- Which index drives the annual adjustment, and is it capped?
- How does an hourly rate change as the work week falls to 40 hours?
- What are the minimum term and the early-termination charges by year?
- At exit, who pays accrued severance, and how do employees and machinery move to my own entity?
For weighting the answers and checking references, see how to choose a shelter company.
Common gotchas in shelter quotes
Exchange-rate basis. Wages are paid in pesos, so a dollar quote still carries peso exposure. One filed contract billed wages "at the exchange rate prevailing at the time of payment"; another required each invoice to show "the exchange rate used."
Pass-through markups. The shelter agreement Align Technology filed in 2005 reimbursed severance at cost and billed after-hours warehouse work at cost plus markup.
Start-up fees. Scope differs by provider; get it in writing, recruiting included.
Minimum terms, termination and wind-down. The Masimo and NxStage contracts ran 36 and 60 months, and the first charged a redacted penalty for leaving without cause in years one and two, on top of fees owed, pass-throughs and severance.
Labor liabilities and asset transfer at exit. The NxStage contract put on the client severance "that results from the expiration of this Agreement or its termination for any reason." Labor law sets indemnity for indefinite-term workers at three months' pay plus 20 days per year of service (Article 50), plus a seniority premium of 12 days per year (Article 162). Employer substitution carries staff into your own entity with their seniority, and since April 2021 requires the business assets to pass to the new employer, a point for Mexican labor counsel. Machinery can move by same-day virtual transfer without import duty under RGCE 2026 rule 1.6.10, with IVA/IEPS due unless your entity is certified or guaranteed.
Annual escalators. One contract adjusted rates yearly for "any changes in the minimum or professional wages, as well as any inflationary change." In 2026 a clause like that would have tracked a 13% minimum-wage rise in the general zone, or 5% in the northern border zone.
Markup opacity. A low headline rate can shift cost into your payroll or the pass-throughs; the all-in number exposes it.
Common pitfalls when budgeting a shelter operation
- Comparing unlike units. Convert hourly and per-employee quotes to a monthly cost at your paid hours.
- Borrowing another region's labor rate. The Bajío band sits about $2.50 to $2.75 an hour below the border band, roughly $490 to $540 a month per worker.
- Counting PTU twice. Fully fringed benchmarks already include it.
- Leaving out the safe-harbor tax. It is your tax, and it typically lands on your invoice.
- Budgeting year one only. IMSS contributions and the legal work week step every January through 2030.
A short decision framework
| Step | What you do | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Normalize | Restate every quote as all-in cost per employee per month, at year-one and year-three headcount | Comparable quotes |
| 2. Stress | Rerun at a stronger peso, the next minimum-wage step and the 46-hour week of 2027 | Your real range |
| 3. Price the exit | Add severance, termination charges and transfer costs at years three and five | The cost of leaving |
| 4. Test the model | Set the multi-year shelter cost against your own entity | Whether a shelter fits your horizon |
If step four points to your own entity, entity and legal structuring covers the build. Calder & Vale sells no shelter services, so the read you get on each quote carries no provider interest.
The bottom line
Published 2026 shelter fees run from under $100 to about $400 per employee per month, or $1.50 to $4 per direct labor hour, all from shelter providers, a real-estate site or nearshoring websites. In the illustrative Tijuana case the fee is about 5% to 17% of the modelled bill.
Over three to five years, the exchange-rate basis, markups, the escalator, the minimum term and the exit belong in the comparison alongside the headline rate. Put the same thirteen questions to every provider and compare the answers all-in.
If you want a second read on the quotes in front of you, a complimentary 30-minute call is available with no pitch, and you will hear back within 24 hours.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a shelter program cost in Mexico?
Published 2026 figures put the shelter fee at under $100 to about $400 per employee per month, or $1.50 to $4 per direct labor hour in one provider's calculator, sometimes with a fixed management fee or a percentage of payroll added. All of these figures come from shelter providers, a real-estate site or a nearshoring website, and no neutral source publishes fee levels. Around the fee you pay burdened wages, rent, utilities, the safe-harbor income tax, profit sharing, customs and freight, and those lines make up most of the monthly bill.
How do shelter companies in Mexico charge for their services?
One large provider names a fee per employee per month and a fee per paid hour as the two most common bases, usually on a banded scale that steps down as headcount or paid hours rise. Some providers charge a fixed monthly management fee, a percentage of payroll on a cost-plus basis, or transactional fees such as per-pedimento charges, recruiting and start-up fees, and markups on pass-through costs. Many quotes combine more than one.
What is a typical shelter fee per hour in Mexico?
One provider's published calculator uses $1.50 to $4 per direct labor hour, depending on the operation. Two shelter contracts filed with the SEC price the fee by the hour, one of them tiered by headcount and floor area, and both redact the actual rates. At about 195 paid hours per worker a month, $1.50 to $4 an hour equals roughly $290 to $780 per worker per month.
What does a shelter company's fee include?
Usually the legal entity, the IMMEX program and IVA/IEPS certification, accounting, payroll and HR administration, and regulatory compliance. Customs brokerage sits inside the fee with some providers and is billed separately by others. Wages and fringes, profit sharing, severance, rent, utilities, waste disposal, licenses, duties, bonds and freight are normally billed outside the fee, often as pass-throughs.
Who pays the safe-harbor income tax under a shelter?
In law the tax belongs to the foreign client and is determined on its account under Article 183-Bis of Mexico's income tax law. The shelter calculates it for each client, pays it and is jointly liable for it, and in market practice bills it to the client as an operating cost. The tax is 30 percent of the higher of 6.9 percent of qualifying assets or 6.5 percent of operating costs, about 2.07 percent of that asset base or 1.95 percent of that cost base.
Do shelter companies charge a start-up fee?
Many do. One large provider says most providers charge a start-up fee for regulatory onboarding, initial recruiting, systems and customs setup, and IMMEX registrations, while another states that it charges none and is paid through an hourly shelter fee. Filed contracts also show an initial payroll deposit and a severance fund or bond, both of which are cash you commit before production begins.
How long is a typical shelter contract in Mexico?
Minimum terms of about three years are common. Shelter contracts filed with the SEC ran for an initial 36 months with 12-month renewal options in one case, and for 60 months in another. One filed contract charged a penalty for terminating without cause in the first two years, on top of fees owed, pass-throughs and severance.
Who pays severance when a shelter contract ends?
In the shelter contracts filed with the SEC, the client does, and one of them puts on the client severance triggered by the agreement's expiry or termination for any reason. Article 50 of Mexico's federal labor law sets indemnity for an indefinite-term worker at three months' pay plus 20 days' pay per year of service, and Article 162 adds a seniority premium of 12 days' pay per year. Moving workers to your own entity by employer substitution keeps seniority, and since April 2021 it takes effect only if the business assets pass to the new employer, a point to settle with Mexican labor counsel.
Are shelter fees billed in dollars or pesos?
The shelter contracts filed with the SEC bill in US dollars and convert peso costs. One billed wages and fringes at the exchange rate prevailing at payment, and another required each invoice to show the peso amounts, the dollar equivalents and the rate used. Because wages are paid in pesos, a stronger peso raises your dollar cost whichever currency the invoice uses. The official rate published in the DOF for September 30, 2026 was 18.0710 pesos per dollar.
What does labor cost under a shelter in Mexico in 2026?
One large provider's 2026 benchmark puts a fully fringed entry-level operator at $7.50 to $8.50 an hour in border cities, $7.00 to $7.50 in Monterrey, $6.00 to $6.50 in Saltillo and $5.00 to $5.75 in the Bajío, at 18 pesos per dollar. Wages pass through to you in the filed contracts, so labor is usually the largest line of a shelter operation's monthly cost. The 2026 minimum wage is 315.04 pesos a day in the general zone and 440.87 pesos in the northern border zone.
How do you compare quotes from shelter companies?
Convert every quote to an all-in cost per employee per month at your planned headcount, with every transactional fee, markup and start-up charge named, and a list of the roles you are expected to hire yourself. Then compare the exchange-rate basis, the annual escalator and its index, the minimum term, early-termination charges, and who pays severance and transfer costs at exit. Two quotes for the same scope can differ widely.
Robert Katona is the founder of Calder & Vale, a cross-border advisory firm working across all of North America. He advises operators, investors, and institutions on market entry, partner selection, and growth strategy throughout the region.
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Market Entry Readiness Diagnostic · 11 questions, about 3 minutes