Construction Laborers in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,351
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$6,050
15.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,791
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
$38,400
Kept after tax
$32,351
Worth in national money
$35,791
State rank
47
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. New Mexico pays construction laborers a middle wage of $38,400, 47 of 51 states and about 18.51% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within New Mexico this is lower-paid work. Of 485 occupations the state publishes figures for, construction laborers ranks 385. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- New Mexico is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $38,400 the take-home is $32,351; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $35,791 would nationally. The average comes to $41,450, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- New Mexico's $38,400 median for construction laborers places it 47 of 51 states, about 18.51% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation New Mexico reports, construction laborers ranks 385 of 485, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Post-tax income for construction laborers in New Mexico, on $38,400, is $32,351 — equivalent to $35,791 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 $41,450 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Construction Laborers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,840 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,400 |
| Top tenth earn over | $53,590 |
| This salary | $38,400 |
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 | $32,351 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,034 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,797 |
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 | $37,549 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,173 |
| 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 $38,400. The published range is $30,840 up to $53,590, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In New Mexico the take-home figure of $32,351, from $38,400, 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 385 of 485 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $35,791, the adjusted value of that $38,400 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 385 of 485 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for construction laborers in New Mexico the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $30,840 to $53,590. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for New Mexico is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $32,351 from $38,400. 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 385 of 485 locally.
- This $35,791 adjusted figure, worked from $38,400, 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 385 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 385 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $41,450, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $30,840 and the top tenth $53,590, so most people doing this work in New Mexico sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. New Mexico is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $35,791 in national terms.
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, $32,351 remains.
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 $41,450. 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 ($30,840 to $53,590) 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 $35,791 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 $32,351 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.