Cost Estimators in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$54,369
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$13,221
19.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$60,151
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
$67,590
Kept after tax
$54,369
Worth in national money
$60,151
State rank
50
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. New Mexico pays cost estimators a middle wage of $67,590, 50 of 51 states and about 14.16% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Cost estimators ranks 160 among 485 occupations New Mexico publishes pay for.
- New Mexico is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $67,590 the take-home is $54,369; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $60,151 would nationally. The average comes to $71,890, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- New Mexico's $67,590 median for cost estimators places it 50 of 51 states, about 14.16% 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.
- Position 160 of 485 in New Mexico places cost estimators in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Post-tax income for cost estimators in New Mexico, on $67,590, is $54,369 — equivalent to $60,151 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 $71,890 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Cost Estimators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,960 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $67,590 |
| Top tenth earn over | $109,610 |
| This salary | $67,590 |
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 | $54,369 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $56,380 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,133 |
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 | $64,952 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,946 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $67,590 as a midpoint for New Mexico, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $38,960 and the ninetieth is $109,610 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $54,369 take-home in New Mexico comes from $67,590. 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 160 of 485.
- Two cautions on $60,151, the adjusted value of that $67,590 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 160 of 485 locally.
- The New Mexico median of $67,590 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $38,960 to $109,610. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $54,369, from $67,590, 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 160 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 50 of 51 for it.
- This $60,151 adjusted figure, worked from $67,590, 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 160 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 160 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 $71,890, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $38,960 and the top tenth $109,610 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $60,151 in national terms.
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 $54,369 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 $71,890. 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 ($38,960) and the ninetieth ($109,610) 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 $60,151 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 $54,369 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.