Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$26,613
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$4,267
13.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,443
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
$30,880
Kept after tax
$26,613
Worth in national money
$29,443
State rank
45
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in New Mexico. The middle earner gets $30,880. That is 45 of 51 states, and about 13.43% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 485 occupations New Mexico publishes, this job lands at 463. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- New Mexico is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $30,880 the take-home is $26,613; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $29,443 would nationally. The average comes to $33,540, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For automotive and watercraft service attendants, New Mexico sits in the lower band at $30,880, ranking 45 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 13.43%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within New Mexico, this work ranks 463 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.
- Post-tax income for automotive and watercraft service attendants in New Mexico, on $30,880, is $26,613 — equivalent to $29,443 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $33,540 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,610 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $30,880 |
| Top tenth earn over | $40,550 |
| This salary | $30,880 |
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 | $26,613 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $26,992 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,667 |
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 | $30,408 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,015 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $30,880 as a midpoint for New Mexico, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $28,610 and the ninetieth is $40,550 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In New Mexico the take-home figure of $26,613, from $30,880, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 463 of 485 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $29,443, the adjusted value of that $30,880 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 463 of 485 locally.
- The New Mexico median of $30,880 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $28,610 to $40,550. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for New Mexico is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $26,613 from $30,880. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 463 of 485 locally.
- This $29,443 adjusted figure, worked from $30,880, 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 463 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 463 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $33,540 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $28,610 at the tenth percentile, $40,550 at the ninetieth.
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 $29,443.
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 $26,613.
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 $33,540. 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 ($28,610 to $40,550) 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 $29,443 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 $26,613 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.