Community and Social Service Specialists, All Other in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,275
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$8,545
17.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,559
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
$48,820
Kept after tax
$40,275
Worth in national money
$44,559
State rank
37
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- New Mexico is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $48,820, ranking 37 of 49 states — about 13.94% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in New Mexico, this sits in the middle: 290 of 485 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where New Mexico does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $48,820 you keep $40,275, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $44,559 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $52,000, because the best-paid pull it up.
- New Mexico ranks 37 of 49 for community and social service specialists, all other, with a median of $48,820 — about 13.94% 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.
- Community and social service specialists, all other ranks 290 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.
- After federal, FICA and New Mexico income tax, retained pay for community and social service specialists, all other on $48,820 is $40,275. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $44,559 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 $52,000 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Community and Social Service Specialists, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $43,980 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,820 |
| Top tenth earn over | $62,500 |
| This salary | $48,820 |
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 | $40,275 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,407 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,948 |
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 | $47,411 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,356 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $48,820 as a midpoint for New Mexico, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $43,980 and the ninetieth is $62,500 — 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 $40,275, worked from $48,820. 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 290 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 $44,559, the adjusted value of that $48,820 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 290 of 485 in the state.
- The New Mexico median of $48,820 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $43,980 to $62,500. 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 $40,275, on $48,820 for work ranking 290 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 290 of 485 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New Mexico, so $44,559 — the adjusted value of that $48,820 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 290 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $52,000 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $43,980 at the tenth percentile, $62,500 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in New Mexico sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $44,559 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $40,275 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $52,000. 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 ($43,980 to $62,500) 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 $44,559 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 $40,275 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.