Packers and Packagers, Hand in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$24,436
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$3,634
12.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,035
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
$28,070
Kept after tax
$24,436
Worth in national money
$27,035
State rank
50
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. New Mexico pays packers and packagers, hand a middle wage of $28,070, 50 of 51 states and about 22.63% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within New Mexico this is lower-paid work. Of 485 occupations the state publishes figures for, packers and packagers, hand ranks 484. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $28,070 you keep $24,436 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $27,035 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $32,310, since top earners drag the number up.
- New Mexico's $28,070 median for packers and packagers, hand places it 50 of 51 states, about 22.63% 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.
- Against every occupation New Mexico reports, packers and packagers, hand ranks 484 of 485, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay in New Mexico is $24,436 after the full tax stack, from $28,070. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $27,035 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $32,310 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Packers and Packagers, Hand
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $25,670 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $28,070 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,220 |
| This salary | $28,070 |
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 | $24,436 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $24,726 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,591 |
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 | $27,718 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,913 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $28,070 as a midpoint for New Mexico, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $25,670 and the ninetieth is $45,220 — 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 Mexico's $24,436, worked from $28,070. 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 484 of 485.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $27,035 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 484.
- The New Mexico median of $28,070 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $25,670 to $45,220. 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 Mexico take-home of $24,436, on $28,070 for work ranking 484 of 485 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 484 of 485 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $27,035, worked from $28,070, 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 484 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 $32,310, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $25,670 and the top tenth $45,220, so most people doing this work in New Mexico sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $27,035 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 $24,436.
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 $32,310. 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 ($25,670 to $45,220) 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 $27,035 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 $24,436 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.