Museum Technicians and Conservators in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$46,217
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$10,453
18.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$51,132
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
$56,670
Kept after tax
$46,217
Worth in national money
$51,132
State rank
10
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. New Mexico's middle earner gets $56,670, putting the state 10 of 45 — about 10.17% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 235 among 485 occupations New Mexico publishes pay for.
- Here is where New Mexico does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $56,670 you keep $46,217, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $51,132 would elsewhere. The average is lower, $54,960, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- For museum technicians and conservators, New Mexico sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $56,670, ranking 10 of 45 and running about 10.17% 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.
- Position 235 of 485 in New Mexico places museum technicians and conservators in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After federal, FICA and New Mexico income tax, retained pay for museum technicians and conservators on $56,670 is $46,217. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $51,132 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 $54,960 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
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Pay band: Museum Technicians and Conservators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,250 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $56,670 |
| Top tenth earn over | $69,490 |
| This salary | $56,670 |
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 | $46,217 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $47,714 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,031 |
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 | $54,806 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,456 |
| 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 museum technicians and conservators in New Mexico earn under $56,670 and half over. The published range runs $30,250 at the tenth percentile to $69,490 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $46,217 take-home in New Mexico comes from $56,670. 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 235 of 485.
- Two cautions on $51,132, the adjusted value of that $56,670 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 235 of 485 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for museum technicians and conservators in New Mexico, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $30,250 to $69,490; 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 $46,217, from $56,670, 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 235 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 10 of 45 for it.
- This $51,132 adjusted figure, worked from $56,670, 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 235 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 235 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 $54,960, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $30,250 at the bottom tenth to $69,490 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $51,132.
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, $46,217 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 45 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 $54,960. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($30,250 to $69,490) 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 $51,132 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 $46,217 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.