Librarians and Media Collections Specialists in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,650
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$11,880
19.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$56,037
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
$62,530
Kept after tax
$50,650
Worth in national money
$56,037
State rank
31
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- New Mexico sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $62,530, ranking 31 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 192 among 485 occupations New Mexico publishes pay for.
- New Mexico is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $62,530 the take-home is $50,650; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $56,037 would nationally. The average comes to $65,900, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- New Mexico occupies the middle band for librarians and media collections specialists: a median of $62,530, ranking 31 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Position 192 of 485 in New Mexico places librarians and media collections specialists in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Post-tax income for librarians and media collections specialists in New Mexico, on $62,530, is $50,650 — equivalent to $56,037 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 $65,900 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Librarians and Media Collections Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $41,600 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,530 |
| Top tenth earn over | $97,490 |
| This salary | $62,530 |
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 | $50,650 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,423 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,090 |
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 | $60,323 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,528 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $62,530 as a midpoint for New Mexico, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $41,600 and the ninetieth is $97,490 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In New Mexico the take-home figure of $50,650, from $62,530, 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 192 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 $56,037 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 192.
- The New Mexico median of $62,530 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $41,600 to $97,490. 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 $50,650 from $62,530. 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 192 of 485 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $56,037, worked from $62,530, 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 192 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $65,900, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $41,600 and the top tenth $97,490 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $56,037.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and New Mexico's own levy, $50,650 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $65,900. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($41,600) and the ninetieth ($97,490) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
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 $56,037 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 $50,650 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.