Helpers--Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Workers in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,248
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$5,702
15.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,571
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
$36,950
Kept after tax
$31,248
Worth in national money
$34,571
State rank
41
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. New Mexico pays this job a middle wage of $36,950, 41 of 50 states and about 6.76% 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 414. 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 $36,950 you keep $31,248, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $34,571 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $39,260, because the best-paid pull it up.
- New Mexico's $36,950 median for helpers--installation, maintenance, and repair workers places it 41 of 50 states, about 6.76% 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, helpers--installation, maintenance, and repair workers ranks 414 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 helpers--installation, maintenance, and repair workers on $36,950 is $31,248. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $34,571 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 $39,260 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Helpers--Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,260 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,950 |
| Top tenth earn over | $51,000 |
| This salary | $36,950 |
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 | $31,248 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,869 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,776 |
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 | $36,176 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,147 |
| 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 helpers--installation, maintenance, and repair workers in New Mexico earn under $36,950 and half over. The published range runs $29,260 at the tenth percentile to $51,000 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $31,248 take-home in New Mexico comes from $36,950. 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 414 of 485.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $34,571 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 414.
- Figures are distribution medians for helpers--installation, maintenance, and repair workers in New Mexico, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $29,260 to $51,000; 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 $31,248, from $36,950, 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 414 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 41 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $34,571, worked from $36,950, 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 414 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 $39,260, 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 $29,260 at the bottom tenth to $51,000 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $34,571 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 $31,248 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 $39,260. 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 ($29,260 to $51,000) 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 $34,571 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 $31,248 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.