Fast Food and Counter Workers in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$24,931
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$3,769
13.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,583
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
$28,700
Kept after tax
$24,931
Worth in national money
$27,583
State rank
32
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. New Mexico is 32 of 51 states for fast food and counter workers, with a middle wage of $28,700. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within New Mexico this is lower-paid work. Of 485 occupations the state publishes figures for, fast food and counter workers ranks 479. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $28,700 you keep $24,931 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $27,583 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $30,260, since top earners drag the number up.
- New Mexico ranks 32 of 51 for fast food and counter workers at $28,700. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation New Mexico reports, fast food and counter workers ranks 479 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.
- Retained pay in New Mexico is $24,931 after the full tax stack, from $28,700. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $27,583 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $30,260 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Fast Food and Counter Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $26,670 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $28,700 |
| Top tenth earn over | $36,360 |
| This salary | $28,700 |
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 | $24,931 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $25,240 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,608 |
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 | $28,319 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,945 |
| 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 fast food and counter workers in New Mexico earn under $28,700 and half over. The published range runs $26,670 at the tenth percentile to $36,360 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind New Mexico's $24,931, worked from $28,700. 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 479 of 485.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $27,583 uses one figure for the whole of New Mexico. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 485 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 479.
- Figures are distribution medians for fast food and counter workers in New Mexico, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $26,670 to $36,360; 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.
- The New Mexico take-home of $24,931, on $28,700 for work ranking 479 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 479 of 485 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $27,583, worked from $28,700, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular New Mexico address, on work sitting at 479 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 $30,260 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $26,670 at the bottom tenth to $36,360 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 $27,583 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, $24,931 remains.
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 $30,260. 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 ($26,670 to $36,360) 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 $27,583 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 $24,931 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.