Animal Caretakers in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$28,677
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$4,893
14.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,728
New Mexico costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New Mexico — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$33,570
Kept after tax
$28,677
Worth in national money
$31,728
State rank
26
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. New Mexico pays animal caretakers around $33,570 at the midpoint, 26 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 485 occupations New Mexico publishes, animal caretakers lands at 453. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where New Mexico does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $33,570 you keep $28,677, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $31,728 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $35,050, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For animal caretakers the New Mexico median is $33,570, ranking 26 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within New Mexico, this work ranks 453 of 485 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After federal, FICA and New Mexico income tax, retained pay for animal caretakers on $33,570 is $28,677. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $31,728 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $35,050 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Animal Caretakers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,980 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $33,570 |
| Top tenth earn over | $44,020 |
| This salary | $33,570 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in New Mexico | $28,677 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $29,153 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,727 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $32,977 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,088 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $33,570 as a midpoint for New Mexico, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $27,980 and the ninetieth is $44,020 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $28,677 take-home in New Mexico comes from $33,570. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 453 of 485.
- Two cautions on $31,728, the adjusted value of that $33,570 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of New Mexico. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 453 of 485 locally.
- The New Mexico median of $33,570 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $27,980 to $44,020. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $28,677, from $33,570, assumes a single New Mexico filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 453 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 26 of 51 for it.
- This $31,728 adjusted figure, worked from $33,570, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 453 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 453 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $35,050, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $27,980 at the bottom tenth to $44,020 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $31,728.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; New Mexico then takes its own share, leaving $28,677.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in New Mexico is $35,050. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($27,980 to $44,020) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to New Mexico rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
New Mexico's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $31,728 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $28,677 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New Mexico income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.