Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,071
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$10,729
18.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$52,078
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
$57,800
Kept after tax
$47,071
Worth in national money
$52,078
State rank
15
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 $57,800, ranking 15 of 50 states and sitting about 4.01% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 485 occupations New Mexico reports figures for, this is number 229.
- New Mexico is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $57,800 the take-home is $47,071; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $52,078 would nationally. The average lands at $57,370, below the middle of the range.
- New Mexico's median for legal secretaries and administrative assistants is $57,800, about 4.01% above the national figure and 15 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.
- In New Mexico's occupational distribution, legal secretaries and administrative assistants sits at 229 of 485 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Post-tax income for legal secretaries and administrative assistants in New Mexico, on $57,800, is $47,071 — equivalent to $52,078 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 $57,370 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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Pay band: Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $41,060 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $57,800 |
| Top tenth earn over | $71,800 |
| This salary | $57,800 |
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 | $47,071 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $48,622 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,042 |
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 | $55,870 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,470 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $57,800 as a midpoint for New Mexico, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $41,060 and the ninetieth is $71,800 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In New Mexico the take-home figure of $47,071, from $57,800, 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 229 of 485 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $52,078, the adjusted value of that $57,800 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of New Mexico. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 229 of 485 locally.
- The New Mexico median of $57,800 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $41,060 to $71,800. 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 $47,071 from $57,800. 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 229 of 485 locally.
- This $52,078 adjusted figure, worked from $57,800, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 229 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 229 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $41,060 and the top tenth $71,800, so most people doing this work in New Mexico sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $52,078.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; New Mexico then takes its own share, leaving $47,071.
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($41,060 to $71,800) 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 $52,078 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 $47,071 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.