Butchers and Meat Cutters in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,012
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$5,628
15.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,311
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
$36,640
Kept after tax
$31,012
Worth in national money
$34,311
State rank
45
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. New Mexico pays butchers and meat cutters a middle wage of $36,640, 45 of 51 states and about 8.72% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within New Mexico this is lower-paid work. Of 485 occupations the state publishes figures for, butchers and meat cutters ranks 420. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $36,640 you keep $31,012 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $34,311 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $40,260, since top earners drag the number up.
- New Mexico's $36,640 median for butchers and meat cutters places it 45 of 51 states, about 8.72% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation New Mexico reports, butchers and meat cutters ranks 420 of 485, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay in New Mexico is $31,012 after the full tax stack, from $36,640. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $34,311 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $40,260 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Butchers and Meat Cutters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,170 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,640 |
| Top tenth earn over | $49,930 |
| This salary | $36,640 |
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 | $31,012 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,620 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,771 |
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 | $35,883 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,142 |
| 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 butchers and meat cutters in New Mexico earn under $36,640 and half over. The published range runs $29,170 at the tenth percentile to $49,930 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $31,012 take-home in New Mexico comes from $36,640. 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 420 of 485.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $34,311 uses one figure for the whole of New Mexico. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 485 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 420.
- Figures are distribution medians for butchers and meat cutters in New Mexico, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $29,170 to $49,930; 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.
- Retained pay of $31,012, from $36,640, 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 420 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 45 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $34,311, worked from $36,640, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular New Mexico address, on work sitting at 420 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 $40,260 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 — $29,170 at the tenth percentile, $49,930 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. New Mexico is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $34,311 in national terms.
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 $31,012 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $40,260. 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 ($29,170 to $49,930) 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 $34,311 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 $31,012 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.