Occupational Health and Safety Specialists in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$65,473
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$19,037
22.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$72,437
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
$84,510
Kept after tax
$65,473
Worth in national money
$72,437
State rank
38
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. New Mexico pays this job a middle wage of $84,510, 38 of 51 states and about 6.26% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in New Mexico. It ranks 96 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 $84,510 you keep $65,473 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $72,437 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $88,980, since top earners drag the number up.
- New Mexico's $84,510 median for occupational health and safety specialists places it 38 of 51 states, about 6.26% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Within New Mexico, occupational health and safety specialists ranks 96 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 $65,473 after the full tax stack, from $84,510. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $72,437 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $88,980 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Occupational Health and Safety Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,730 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $84,510 |
| Top tenth earn over | $132,090 |
| This salary | $84,510 |
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 | $65,473 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $68,283 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,169 |
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 | $80,516 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,996 |
| 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 occupational health and safety specialists in New Mexico earn under $84,510 and half over. The published range runs $48,730 at the tenth percentile to $132,090 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $65,473 take-home in New Mexico comes from $84,510. 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 96 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 $72,437, the adjusted value of that $84,510 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 96 of 485 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for occupational health and safety specialists in New Mexico, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $48,730 to $132,090; 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 $65,473, from $84,510, 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 96 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 38 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New Mexico, so $72,437 — the adjusted value of that $84,510 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 96 of 485 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 $88,980 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $48,730, the highest tenth $132,090, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. New Mexico is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $72,437 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; New Mexico then takes its own share, leaving $65,473.
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 Mexico is $88,980. 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 ($48,730) and the ninetieth ($132,090) 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 $72,437 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 $65,473 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.