Career/Technical Education Teachers, Postsecondary in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,106
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$11,384
18.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,330
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
$60,490
Kept after tax
$49,106
Worth in national money
$54,330
State rank
36
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 $60,490. That is 36 of 51 states, and about 5.22% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 210 among 485 occupations New Mexico publishes pay for.
- Here is where New Mexico does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $60,490 you keep $49,106, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $54,330 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $77,800, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For career/technical education teachers, postsecondary, New Mexico sits in the lower band at $60,490, ranking 36 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 5.22%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 210 of 485 in New Mexico places career/technical education teachers, postsecondary in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After federal, FICA and New Mexico income tax, retained pay for career/technical education teachers, postsecondary on $60,490 is $49,106. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $54,330 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 $77,800 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Career/Technical Education Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $43,490 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $60,490 |
| Top tenth earn over | $177,330 |
| This salary | $60,490 |
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 | $49,106 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,784 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,070 |
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 | $58,402 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,503 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $60,490 as a midpoint for New Mexico, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $43,490 and the ninetieth is $177,330 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind New Mexico's $49,106, worked from $60,490. 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 210 of 485.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $54,330 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 210.
- The New Mexico median of $60,490 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $43,490 to $177,330. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The New Mexico take-home of $49,106, on $60,490 for work ranking 210 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 210 of 485 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $54,330, worked from $60,490, 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 210 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $77,800, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $43,490 and the top tenth $177,330 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $54,330.
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, $49,106 remains.
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 $77,800. 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 ($43,490) and the ninetieth ($177,330) 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 $54,330 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 $49,106 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.