Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$58,938
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$15,612
20.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$65,207
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
$74,550
Kept after tax
$58,938
Worth in national money
$65,207
State rank
18
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- New Mexico sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $74,550, ranking 18 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in New Mexico, this sits in the middle: 140 of 485 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where New Mexico does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $74,550 you keep $58,938, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $65,207 would elsewhere. The average is lower, $72,170, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- New Mexico occupies the middle band for elementary school teachers, except special education: a median of $74,550, ranking 18 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Elementary school teachers, except special education ranks 140 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.
- After federal, FICA and New Mexico income tax, retained pay for elementary school teachers, except special education on $74,550 is $58,938. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $65,207 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $72,170 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $58,120 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $74,550 |
| Top tenth earn over | $86,560 |
| This salary | $74,550 |
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 | $58,938 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $61,276 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,149 |
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 | $71,226 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,969 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $74,550 as a midpoint for New Mexico, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $58,120 and the ninetieth is $86,560 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $58,938 take-home in New Mexico comes from $74,550. 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 140 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 $65,207, the adjusted value of that $74,550 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 140 of 485 in the state.
- The New Mexico median of $74,550 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $58,120 to $86,560. 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 $58,938, from $74,550, 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 140 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 18 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New Mexico, so $65,207 — the adjusted value of that $74,550 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 140 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 $72,170, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $58,120 at the tenth percentile, $86,560 at the ninetieth.
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 $65,207 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 $58,938 of this wage survives to your account.
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 $72,170. 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 ($58,120 to $86,560) 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 $65,207 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 $58,938 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.