Motor Vehicle Operators, All Other in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$44,401
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$9,869
18.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$49,124
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
$54,270
Kept after tax
$44,401
Worth in national money
$49,124
State rank
8
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- New Mexico is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $54,270, which ranks 8 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 45.97% above the national middle.
- Against other work in New Mexico, this sits in the middle: 246 of 485 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where New Mexico does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $54,270 you keep $44,401, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $49,124 would elsewhere. The average is lower, $49,680, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- New Mexico ranks 8 of 51 states publishing a median for motor vehicle operators, all other, at $54,270 — about 45.97% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Motor vehicle operators, all other ranks 246 of 485 occupations in New Mexico by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After federal, FICA and New Mexico income tax, retained pay for motor vehicle operators, all other on $54,270 is $44,401. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $49,124 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 $49,680 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in 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: Motor Vehicle Operators, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $26,270 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $54,270 |
| Top tenth earn over | $65,640 |
| This salary | $54,270 |
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 | $44,401 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $45,786 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,007 |
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 | $52,546 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,427 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $54,270 as a midpoint for New Mexico, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $26,270 and the ninetieth is $65,640 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In New Mexico the take-home figure of $44,401, from $54,270, 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 246 of 485 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $49,124, the adjusted value of that $54,270 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 246 of 485 locally.
- The New Mexico median of $54,270 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $26,270 to $65,640. 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 $44,401 from $54,270. 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 246 of 485 locally.
- This $49,124 adjusted figure, worked from $54,270, 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 246 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 246 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 $49,680, 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 $26,270, the highest tenth $65,640, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $49,124 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, $44,401 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $49,680. 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 ($26,270) and the ninetieth ($65,640) 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 $49,124 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 $44,401 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.