Mechanical Drafters in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$69,027
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$20,913
23.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$76,369
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
$89,940
Kept after tax
$69,027
Worth in national money
$76,369
State rank
1
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for mechanical drafters is strong here. New Mexico's middle earner gets $89,940, putting the state 1 of 47 — about 25.7% ahead of the national figure.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in New Mexico. It ranks 85 out of 485 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $89,940 you keep $69,027 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $76,369 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $98,460, since top earners drag the number up.
- For mechanical drafters, New Mexico sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $89,940, ranking 1 of 47 and running about 25.7% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Within New Mexico, mechanical drafters ranks 85 of 485 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Retained pay in New Mexico is $69,027 after the full tax stack, from $89,940. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $76,369 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $98,460 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Mechanical Drafters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $52,840 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $89,940 |
| Top tenth earn over | $131,340 |
| This salary | $89,940 |
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 | $69,027 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $72,103 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,170 |
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 | $85,567 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,997 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in New Mexico earn less than $89,940. The published range is $52,840 up to $131,340, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $69,027 take-home in New Mexico comes from $89,940. 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 85 of 485.
- One number stands for prices across all of New Mexico, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $76,369, the adjusted value of that $89,940 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 85 of 485 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for mechanical drafters in New Mexico the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $52,840 to $131,340. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $69,027, from $89,940, 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 85 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 1 of 47 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New Mexico, so $76,369 — the adjusted value of that $89,940 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 85 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 $98,460, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $52,840, the highest tenth $131,340, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $76,369.
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, $69,027 remains.
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 47 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $98,460. 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 ($52,840) and the ninetieth ($131,340) 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 $76,369 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 $69,027 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.