Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,119
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$8,181
17.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,280
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
$47,300
Kept after tax
$39,119
Worth in national money
$43,280
State rank
43
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- New Mexico is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $47,300, ranking 43 of 51 states — about 6.56% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in New Mexico, this sits in the middle: 308 of 485 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $47,300 you keep $39,119 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $43,280 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $51,790, since top earners drag the number up.
- New Mexico ranks 43 of 51 for automotive service technicians and mechanics, with a median of $47,300 — about 6.56% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Automotive service technicians and mechanics ranks 308 of 485 occupations in New Mexico by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Retained pay in New Mexico is $39,119 after the full tax stack, from $47,300. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $43,280 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $51,790 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,390 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,300 |
| Top tenth earn over | $77,850 |
| This salary | $47,300 |
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 | $39,119 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,186 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,926 |
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 | $45,973 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,329 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of automotive service technicians and mechanics in New Mexico earn under $47,300 and half over. The published range runs $30,390 at the tenth percentile to $77,850 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind New Mexico's $39,119, worked from $47,300. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 308 of 485.
- One number stands for prices across all of New Mexico, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $43,280, the adjusted value of that $47,300 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 308 of 485 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for automotive service technicians and mechanics in New Mexico, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $30,390 to $77,850; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The New Mexico take-home of $39,119, on $47,300 for work ranking 308 of 485 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 308 of 485 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New Mexico, so $43,280 — the adjusted value of that $47,300 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 308 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 $51,790, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $30,390, the highest tenth $77,850, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $43,280.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and New Mexico adds its own income tax on top — which is why $39,119 of this wage survives to your account.
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 $51,790. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($30,390) and the ninetieth ($77,850) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
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 $43,280 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 $39,119 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.