Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,271
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$5,709
15.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,597
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
$36,980
Kept after tax
$31,271
Worth in national money
$34,597
State rank
49
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in New Mexico. The middle earner gets $36,980. That is 49 of 49 states, and about 24.52% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 485 occupations New Mexico publishes, this job lands at 413. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where New Mexico does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $36,980 you keep $31,271, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $34,597 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $43,610, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders, New Mexico sits in the lower band at $36,980, ranking 49 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 24.52%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within New Mexico, this work ranks 413 of 485 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After federal, FICA and New Mexico income tax, retained pay for mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders on $36,980 is $31,271. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $34,597 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $43,610 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,230 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,980 |
| Top tenth earn over | $63,140 |
| This salary | $36,980 |
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 | $31,271 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,893 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,776 |
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 | $36,205 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,148 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders in New Mexico earn under $36,980 and half over. The published range runs $28,230 at the tenth percentile to $63,140 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $31,271 take-home in New Mexico comes from $36,980. 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 413 of 485.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $34,597 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 413.
- Figures are distribution medians for mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders in New Mexico, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $28,230 to $63,140; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $31,271, from $36,980, 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 413 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 49 of 49 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $34,597, worked from $36,980, 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 413 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $43,610, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $28,230, the highest tenth $63,140, 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 $34,597.
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, $31,271 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $43,610. 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 ($28,230) and the ninetieth ($63,140) 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 $34,597 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 $31,271 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.