Emergency Medical Technicians in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,704
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$5,846
15.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,076
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
$37,550
Kept after tax
$31,704
Worth in national money
$35,076
State rank
41
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. New Mexico pays this job a middle wage of $37,550, 41 of 51 states and about 15.56% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within New Mexico this is lower-paid work. Of 485 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 396. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where New Mexico does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $37,550 you keep $31,704, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $35,076 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $42,160, because the best-paid pull it up.
- New Mexico's $37,550 median for emergency medical technicians places it 41 of 51 states, about 15.56% 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.
- Against every occupation New Mexico reports, emergency medical technicians ranks 396 of 485, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- After federal, FICA and New Mexico income tax, retained pay for emergency medical technicians on $37,550 is $31,704. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $35,076 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 $42,160 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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: Emergency Medical Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,370 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,550 |
| Top tenth earn over | $55,500 |
| This salary | $37,550 |
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 | $31,704 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,351 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,784 |
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 | $36,744 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,158 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 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 $37,550. The published range is $32,370 up to $55,500, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In New Mexico the take-home figure of $31,704, from $37,550, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 396 of 485 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of New Mexico, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $35,076, the adjusted value of that $37,550 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 396 of 485 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for emergency medical technicians in New Mexico the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $32,370 to $55,500. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for New Mexico is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $31,704 from $37,550. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 396 of 485 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New Mexico, so $35,076 — the adjusted value of that $37,550 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 396 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $42,160 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $32,370 at the tenth percentile, $55,500 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $35,076.
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, $31,704 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 $42,160. 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 ($32,370 to $55,500) 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 $35,076 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 $31,704 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.