Communications Teachers, Postsecondary in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,080
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$8,800
17.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,449
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
$49,880
Kept after tax
$41,080
Worth in national money
$45,449
State rank
48
of 48 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 $49,880. That is 48 of 48 states, and about 36.52% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in New Mexico, this sits in the middle: 276 of 485 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- New Mexico is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $49,880 the take-home is $41,080; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $45,449 would nationally. The average comes to $59,760, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For communications teachers, postsecondary, New Mexico sits in the lower band at $49,880, ranking 48 of 48 and trailing the national median by about 36.52%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Communications teachers, postsecondary ranks 276 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.
- Post-tax income for communications teachers, postsecondary in New Mexico, on $49,880, is $41,080 — equivalent to $45,449 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 $59,760 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Communications Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,680 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,880 |
| Top tenth earn over | $89,270 |
| This salary | $49,880 |
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 | $41,080 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,259 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,962 |
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 | $48,413 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,373 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $49,880 as a midpoint for New Mexico, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $42,680 and the ninetieth is $89,270 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In New Mexico the take-home figure of $41,080, from $49,880, 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 276 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 $45,449, the adjusted value of that $49,880 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 276 of 485 in the state.
- The New Mexico median of $49,880 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $42,680 to $89,270. 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 $41,080 from $49,880. 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 276 of 485 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New Mexico, so $45,449 — the adjusted value of that $49,880 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 276 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 $59,760, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $42,680, the highest tenth $89,270, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $45,449.
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, $41,080 remains.
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 48 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 $59,760. 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 ($42,680) and the ninetieth ($89,270) 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 $45,449 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 $41,080 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.