Civil Engineers in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$78,163
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$25,737
24.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$86,477
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
$103,900
Kept after tax
$78,163
Worth in national money
$86,477
State rank
9
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for civil engineers is strong here. New Mexico's middle earner gets $103,900, putting the state 9 of 51 — about 3.03% ahead of the national figure.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 485 occupations New Mexico reports, civil engineers comes in at 56 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $103,900 you keep $78,163 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $86,477 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $111,300, since top earners drag the number up.
- For civil engineers, New Mexico sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $103,900, ranking 9 of 51 and running about 3.03% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Civil engineers ranks 56 of 485 occupations by median in New Mexico, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Retained pay in New Mexico is $78,163 after the full tax stack, from $103,900. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $86,477 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $111,300 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Civil Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $67,100 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $103,900 |
| Top tenth earn over | $163,570 |
| This salary | $103,900 |
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 | $78,163 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $81,924 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,172 |
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 | $98,555 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,000 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in New Mexico earn less than $103,900. The published range is $67,100 up to $163,570, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind New Mexico's $78,163, worked from $103,900. 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 56 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 $86,477, the adjusted value of that $103,900 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 56 of 485 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for civil engineers in New Mexico the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $67,100 to $163,570. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The New Mexico take-home of $78,163, on $103,900 for work ranking 56 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 56 of 485 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New Mexico, so $86,477 — the adjusted value of that $103,900 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 56 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 $111,300, 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 $67,100 at the bottom tenth to $163,570 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 $86,477.
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 $78,163 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 $111,300. 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 ($67,100) and the ninetieth ($163,570) 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 $86,477 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 $78,163 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.