Mechanical Engineers in New Hampshire
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$81,755
after federal, FICA and New Hampshire tax
Tax takes
$21,905
21.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$77,607
New Hampshire costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New Hampshire — 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
$103,660
Kept after tax
$81,755
Worth in national money
$77,607
State rank
20
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. New Hampshire is 20 of 51 states for mechanical engineers, with a middle wage of $103,660. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within New Hampshire this is well-paid work. Of 488 occupations with published figures in the state, mechanical engineers ranks 60 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $103,660 the take-home is $81,755. But New Hampshire costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $77,607 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $110,940, because the best-paid pull it up.
- New Hampshire ranks 20 of 51 for mechanical engineers at $103,660. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Ranked against every occupation New Hampshire publishes a median for, mechanical engineers sits 60 of 488 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and New Hampshire income tax is $81,755 for mechanical engineers, from $103,660. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $77,607. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $110,940 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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: Mechanical Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $72,740 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $103,660 |
| Top tenth earn over | $165,500 |
| This salary | $103,660 |
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 Hampshire | $81,755 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $81,755 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,525 |
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 | $103,660 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,013 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 105 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $103,660 as a midpoint for New Hampshire, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $72,740 and the ninetieth is $165,500 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind New Hampshire's $81,755, worked from $103,660. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 60 of 488.
- One number stands for prices across all of New Hampshire, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $77,607, the adjusted value of that $103,660 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 60 of 488 in the state.
- The New Hampshire median of $103,660 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $72,740 to $165,500. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The New Hampshire take-home of $81,755, on $103,660 for work ranking 60 of 488 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 60 of 488 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New Hampshire, so $77,607 — the adjusted value of that $103,660 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 60 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $110,940 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $72,740 and the top tenth $165,500 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $77,607 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $81,755 of this wage reaches your account, because New Hampshire takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 Hampshire is $110,940. 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 ($72,740) and the ninetieth ($165,500) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
New Hampshire's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $77,607 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
New Hampshire levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $81,755 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
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.