Child, Family, and School Social Workers in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$45,831
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$10,329
18.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,706
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
$56,160
Kept after tax
$45,831
Worth in national money
$50,706
State rank
32
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. New Mexico pays this job around $56,160 at the midpoint, 32 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 485 occupations New Mexico reports figures for, this is number 239.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $56,160 you keep $45,831 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $50,706 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $63,790, since top earners drag the number up.
- For child, family, and school social workers the New Mexico median is $56,160, ranking 32 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- In New Mexico's occupational distribution, child, family, and school social workers sits at 239 of 485 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Retained pay in New Mexico is $45,831 after the full tax stack, from $56,160. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $50,706 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $63,790 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Child, Family, and School Social Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,920 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $56,160 |
| Top tenth earn over | $101,600 |
| This salary | $56,160 |
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 | $45,831 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $47,305 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,026 |
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 | $54,326 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,450 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $56,160 as a midpoint for New Mexico, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $36,920 and the ninetieth is $101,600 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In New Mexico the take-home figure of $45,831, from $56,160, 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 239 of 485 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $50,706, the adjusted value of that $56,160 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 239 of 485 locally.
- The New Mexico median of $56,160 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $36,920 to $101,600. 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 $45,831 from $56,160. 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 239 of 485 locally.
- This $50,706 adjusted figure, worked from $56,160, 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 239 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 239 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 $63,790, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $36,920 at the bottom tenth to $101,600 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $50,706.
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 $45,831 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 $63,790. 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 ($36,920) and the ninetieth ($101,600) 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 $50,706 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 $45,831 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.