Dental Hygienists in New Mexico

A stethoscope and folded scrubs in a sunlit clinical workspace.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$72,954

after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax

Tax takes

$22,986

24.0% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$80,713

New Mexico costs less than average

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

$95,940

Kept after tax

$72,954

Worth in national money

$80,713

State rank

27

of 50 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Neither high nor low. New Mexico is 27 of 50 states for dental hygienists, with a middle wage of $95,940. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
  • Locally, this pays well. Among 485 occupations New Mexico reports, dental hygienists comes in at 72 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
  • New Mexico is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $95,940 the take-home is $72,954; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $80,713 would nationally. The average lands at $94,890, below the middle of the range.
  • New Mexico ranks 27 of 50 for dental hygienists at $95,940. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
  • Dental hygienists ranks 72 of 485 occupations by median in New Mexico, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
  • Post-tax income for dental hygienists in New Mexico, on $95,940, is $72,954 — equivalent to $80,713 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 $94,890 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.

Compare this career across states

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Pay band: Dental Hygienists

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$82,180
Half earn under$95,940
Top tenth earn over$105,440
This salary$95,940

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

Compare with
+$3,370take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in New Mexico$72,954
Take-home in Texas$76,324
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$2,171

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

Moving to
$0$98,939
$98,939in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$91,149
Raise you would need+$2,999
Prices in Texas97 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 $95,940. The published range is $82,180 up to $105,440, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
  • One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind New Mexico's $72,954, worked from $95,940. 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 72 of 485.
  • Two cautions on $80,713, the adjusted value of that $95,940 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 72 of 485 locally.
  • Reported values are medians; for dental hygienists in New Mexico the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $82,180 to $105,440. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
  • The New Mexico take-home of $72,954, on $95,940 for work ranking 72 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 72 of 485 in the state.
  • This $80,713 adjusted figure, worked from $95,940, 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 72 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 72 of 485 locally.

Questions people ask

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

The range here is narrow. From $82,180 at the bottom tenth to $105,440 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.

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 $80,713 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, $72,954 remains.

Why is this job missing from some states?

A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.

What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?

The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($82,180 to $105,440) 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 $80,713 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 $72,954 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.