Highway Maintenance Workers in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,454
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$8,286
17.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,650
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
$47,740
Kept after tax
$39,454
Worth in national money
$43,650
State rank
34
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for highway maintenance workers is on the low side in New Mexico. The middle earner gets $47,740. That is 34 of 49 states, and about 5.01% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in New Mexico, this sits in the middle: 303 of 485 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- New Mexico is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $47,740 the take-home is $39,454; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $43,650 would nationally. The average lands at $47,340, below the middle of the range.
- For highway maintenance workers, New Mexico sits in the lower band at $47,740, ranking 34 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 5.01%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Highway maintenance workers ranks 303 of 485 occupations in New Mexico by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Post-tax income for highway maintenance workers in New Mexico, on $47,740, is $39,454 — equivalent to $43,650 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 $47,340 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Highway Maintenance Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,770 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,740 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,380 |
| This salary | $47,740 |
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 | $39,454 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,539 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,932 |
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 | $46,389 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,337 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $47,740 as a midpoint for New Mexico, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $33,770 and the ninetieth is $59,380 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In New Mexico the take-home figure of $39,454, from $47,740, 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 303 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 $43,650, the adjusted value of that $47,740 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 303 of 485 in the state.
- The New Mexico median of $47,740 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $33,770 to $59,380. 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 $39,454 from $47,740. 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 303 of 485 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New Mexico, so $43,650 — the adjusted value of that $47,740 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 303 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $33,770 at the bottom tenth to $59,380 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 $43,650 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 $39,454 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 49 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($33,770 to $59,380) 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 $43,650 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 $39,454 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.