Crane and Tower Operators in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,551
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$11,849
19.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$55,928
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
$62,400
Kept after tax
$50,551
Worth in national money
$55,928
State rank
34
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. New Mexico pays crane and tower operators a middle wage of $62,400, 34 of 50 states and about 8.34% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in New Mexico, this sits in the middle: 194 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 $62,400 the take-home is $50,551; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $55,928 would nationally. The average comes to $63,550, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- New Mexico's $62,400 median for crane and tower operators places it 34 of 50 states, about 8.34% 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.
- Crane and tower operators ranks 194 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 crane and tower operators in New Mexico, on $62,400, is $50,551 — equivalent to $55,928 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 $63,550 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Crane and Tower Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,180 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,400 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,830 |
| This salary | $62,400 |
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 | $50,551 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,318 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,089 |
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 | $60,201 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,526 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $62,400 as a midpoint for New Mexico, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $45,180 and the ninetieth is $81,830 — 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 $50,551, worked from $62,400. 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 194 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 $55,928, the adjusted value of that $62,400 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 194 of 485 in the state.
- The New Mexico median of $62,400 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $45,180 to $81,830. 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 $50,551, on $62,400 for work ranking 194 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 194 of 485 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New Mexico, so $55,928 — the adjusted value of that $62,400 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 194 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $45,180 and the top tenth $81,830, so most people doing this work in New Mexico sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $55,928 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 $50,551 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 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($45,180 to $81,830) 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 $55,928 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 $50,551 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.