Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,450
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$8,600
17.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,752
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
$49,050
Kept after tax
$40,450
Worth in national money
$44,752
State rank
37
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. New Mexico pays this job a middle wage of $49,050, 37 of 46 states and about 34.59% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in New Mexico, this sits in the middle: 288 of 485 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where New Mexico does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $49,050 you keep $40,450, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $44,752 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $57,300, because the best-paid pull it up.
- New Mexico's $49,050 median for camera operators, television, video, and film places it 37 of 46 states, about 34.59% 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.
- Camera operators, television, video, and film ranks 288 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.
- After federal, FICA and New Mexico income tax, retained pay for camera operators, television, video, and film on $49,050 is $40,450. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $44,752 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 $57,300 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,730 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,050 |
| Top tenth earn over | $101,160 |
| This salary | $49,050 |
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 | $40,450 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,592 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,952 |
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 | $47,629 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,360 |
| 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 camera operators, television, video, and film in New Mexico earn under $49,050 and half over. The published range runs $38,730 at the tenth percentile to $101,160 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In New Mexico the take-home figure of $40,450, from $49,050, 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 288 of 485 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of New Mexico, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $44,752, the adjusted value of that $49,050 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 288 of 485 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for camera operators, television, video, and film in New Mexico, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $38,730 to $101,160; 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.
- Take-home for New Mexico is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $40,450 from $49,050. 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 288 of 485 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New Mexico, so $44,752 — the adjusted value of that $49,050 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 288 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 $57,300 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $38,730, the highest tenth $101,160, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in New Mexico sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $44,752 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and New Mexico's own levy, $40,450 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 46 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $57,300. 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 ($38,730) and the ninetieth ($101,160) 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 $44,752 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 $40,450 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.