Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,856
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$5,894
15.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,245
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
$37,750
Kept after tax
$31,856
Worth in national money
$35,245
State rank
12
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. New Mexico pays this job a middle wage of $37,750, ranking 12 of 50 states and sitting about 5.48% above the national middle.
- Against 485 occupations New Mexico publishes, this job lands at 389. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- New Mexico is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $37,750 the take-home is $31,856; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $35,245 would nationally. The average comes to $39,550, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- New Mexico's median for hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists is $37,750, about 5.48% above the national figure and 12 of 50 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Within New Mexico, this work ranks 389 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.
- Post-tax income for hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists in New Mexico, on $37,750, is $31,856 — equivalent to $35,245 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 $39,550 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,190 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,750 |
| Top tenth earn over | $52,560 |
| This salary | $37,750 |
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 | $31,856 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,512 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,787 |
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 | $36,934 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,162 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $37,750 as a midpoint for New Mexico, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $27,190 and the ninetieth is $52,560 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In New Mexico the take-home figure of $31,856, from $37,750, 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 389 of 485 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $35,245 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 389.
- The New Mexico median of $37,750 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $27,190 to $52,560. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for New Mexico is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $31,856 from $37,750. 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 389 of 485 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $35,245, worked from $37,750, 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 389 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $39,550, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $27,190 at the bottom tenth to $52,560 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 $35,245 in national terms.
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 $31,856 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $39,550. 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 ($27,190 to $52,560) 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 $35,245 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 $31,856 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.