Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,925
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$7,805
17.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,959
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
$45,730
Kept after tax
$37,925
Worth in national money
$41,959
State rank
47
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- New Mexico is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $45,730, ranking 47 of 50 states — about 5.22% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 485 occupations New Mexico reports figures for, this is number 329.
- New Mexico is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $45,730 the take-home is $37,925; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $41,959 would nationally. The average comes to $49,360, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- New Mexico ranks 47 of 50 for coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders, with a median of $45,730 — about 5.22% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- In New Mexico's occupational distribution, coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders sits at 329 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.
- Post-tax income for coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders in New Mexico, on $45,730, is $37,925 — equivalent to $41,959 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $49,360 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,560 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,730 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,980 |
| This salary | $45,730 |
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 | $37,925 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,924 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,903 |
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 | $44,487 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,302 |
| 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 coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders in New Mexico earn under $45,730 and half over. The published range runs $35,560 at the tenth percentile to $64,980 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $37,925 take-home in New Mexico comes from $45,730. 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 329 of 485.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $41,959 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 329.
- Figures are distribution medians for coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders in New Mexico, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $35,560 to $64,980; 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 $37,925, from $45,730, 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 329 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 47 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $41,959, worked from $45,730, 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 329 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 $49,360, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $35,560 and the top tenth $64,980, so most people doing this work in New Mexico sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $41,959.
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 $37,925 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $49,360. 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 ($35,560 to $64,980) 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 $41,959 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 $37,925 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.