Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$61,124
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$16,756
21.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$67,625
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
$77,880
Kept after tax
$61,124
Worth in national money
$67,625
State rank
7
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- New Mexico is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $77,880, which ranks 7 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 21.06% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in New Mexico. It ranks 120 out of 485 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- New Mexico is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $77,880 the take-home is $61,124; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $67,625 would nationally. The average lands at $75,480, below the middle of the range.
- New Mexico ranks 7 of 51 states publishing a median for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors, at $77,880 — about 21.06% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Within New Mexico, educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors ranks 120 of 485 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Post-tax income for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors in New Mexico, on $77,880, is $61,124 — equivalent to $67,625 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 $75,480 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,660 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $77,880 |
| Top tenth earn over | $103,110 |
| This salary | $77,880 |
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 | $61,124 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,619 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,157 |
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 | $74,334 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,980 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors in New Mexico earn under $77,880 and half over. The published range runs $46,660 at the tenth percentile to $103,110 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $61,124 take-home in New Mexico comes from $77,880. 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 120 of 485.
- Two cautions on $67,625, the adjusted value of that $77,880 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 120 of 485 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors in New Mexico, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $46,660 to $103,110; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $61,124, from $77,880, 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 120 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 7 of 51 for it.
- This $67,625 adjusted figure, worked from $77,880, 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 120 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 120 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 $75,480, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $46,660, the highest tenth $103,110, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $67,625 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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, $61,124 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $75,480. 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 ($46,660) and the ninetieth ($103,110) 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 $67,625 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 $61,124 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.