Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,039
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$7,841
17.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,085
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
$45,880
Kept after tax
$38,039
Worth in national money
$42,085
State rank
44
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. New Mexico pays this job a middle wage of $45,880, 44 of 50 states and about 13.99% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 326 among 485 occupations New Mexico publishes pay for.
- New Mexico is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $45,880 the take-home is $38,039; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $42,085 would nationally. The average comes to $47,700, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- New Mexico's $45,880 median for paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators places it 44 of 50 states, about 13.99% 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.
- Position 326 of 485 in New Mexico places paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators 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.
- Post-tax income for paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators in New Mexico, on $45,880, is $38,039 — equivalent to $42,085 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $47,700 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,130 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,880 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,180 |
| This salary | $45,880 |
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 | $38,039 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,045 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,905 |
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 | $44,629 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,304 |
| 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 paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators in New Mexico earn under $45,880 and half over. The published range runs $37,130 at the tenth percentile to $60,180 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind New Mexico's $38,039, worked from $45,880. 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 326 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 $42,085, the adjusted value of that $45,880 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 326 of 485 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators in New Mexico, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $37,130 to $60,180; 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.
- The New Mexico take-home of $38,039, on $45,880 for work ranking 326 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 326 of 485 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New Mexico, so $42,085 — the adjusted value of that $45,880 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 326 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 $47,700 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $37,130 and the top tenth $60,180, so most people doing this work in New Mexico sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $42,085.
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, $38,039 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 50 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 $47,700. 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 ($37,130 to $60,180) 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 $42,085 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 $38,039 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.