Food Servers, Nonrestaurant in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,328
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$5,412
15.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,553
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
$35,740
Kept after tax
$30,328
Worth in national money
$33,553
State rank
19
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. New Mexico pays food servers, nonrestaurant around $35,740 at the midpoint, 19 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 485 occupations New Mexico publishes, food servers, nonrestaurant lands at 434. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $35,740 you keep $30,328 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $33,553 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $36,310, since top earners drag the number up.
- For food servers, nonrestaurant the New Mexico median is $35,740, ranking 19 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within New Mexico, this work ranks 434 of 485 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Retained pay in New Mexico is $30,328 after the full tax stack, from $35,740. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $33,553 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $36,310 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Food Servers, Nonrestaurant
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,750 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,740 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,190 |
| This salary | $35,740 |
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 | $30,328 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,897 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,758 |
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 | $35,031 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,126 |
| 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 food servers, nonrestaurant in New Mexico earn under $35,740 and half over. The published range runs $29,750 at the tenth percentile to $45,190 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $30,328 take-home in New Mexico comes from $35,740. 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 434 of 485.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $33,553 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 434.
- Figures are distribution medians for food servers, nonrestaurant in New Mexico, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $29,750 to $45,190; 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 $30,328, from $35,740, 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 434 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 19 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $33,553, worked from $35,740, 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 434 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $29,750 at the tenth percentile, $45,190 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 $33,553 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 $30,328 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($29,750 to $45,190) 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 $33,553 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 $30,328 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.