Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses in New Mexico

A stethoscope and folded scrubs in a sunlit clinical workspace.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$48,229

after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax

Tax takes

$11,101

18.7% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$53,359

New Mexico costs less than average

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

$59,330

Kept after tax

$48,229

Worth in national money

$53,359

State rank

43

of 51 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • The nominal figure here is modest. New Mexico pays this job a middle wage of $59,330, 43 of 51 states and about 7.87% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
  • Middle of the local pack. Of 485 occupations New Mexico reports figures for, this is number 218.
  • New Mexico is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $59,330 the take-home is $48,229; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $53,359 would nationally. The average lands at $58,630, below the middle of the range.
  • New Mexico's $59,330 median for licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses places it 43 of 51 states, about 7.87% 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.
  • In New Mexico's occupational distribution, licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses sits at 218 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 licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses in New Mexico, on $59,330, is $48,229 — equivalent to $53,359 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 $58,630 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.

Compare this career across states

Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.

Pay band: Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$38,090
Half earn under$59,330
Top tenth earn over$78,110
This salary$59,330

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

Compare with
+$1,623take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in New Mexico$48,229
Take-home in Texas$49,852
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$2,058

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

Moving to
$0$61,819
$61,819in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$57,310
Raise you would need+$2,489
Prices in Texas97 vs 90

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • Treat $59,330 as a midpoint for New Mexico, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $38,090 and the ninetieth is $78,110 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
  • In New Mexico the take-home figure of $48,229, from $59,330, 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 218 of 485 occupations here.
  • Two cautions on $53,359, the adjusted value of that $59,330 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 218 of 485 locally.
  • The New Mexico median of $59,330 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $38,090 to $78,110. 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 $48,229 from $59,330. 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 218 of 485 locally.
  • This $53,359 adjusted figure, worked from $59,330, 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 218 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 218 of 485 locally.

Questions people ask

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $38,090 and the top tenth $78,110, so most people doing this work in New Mexico sit within a fairly tight band.

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 $53,359 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.

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, $48,229 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.

What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?

The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($38,090 to $78,110) 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 $53,359 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 $48,229 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.