Physician Assistants in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$101,376
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$38,544
27.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$112,159
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
$139,920
Kept after tax
$101,376
Worth in national money
$112,159
State rank
14
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- New Mexico is one of the better-paying states for physician assistants. The middle earner takes $139,920, which ranks 14 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 2.97% above the national middle.
- Within New Mexico this is well-paid work. Of 485 occupations with published figures in the state, physician assistants ranks 14 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- New Mexico is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $139,920 the take-home is $101,376; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $112,159 would nationally. The average lands at $134,670, below the middle of the range.
- New Mexico ranks 14 of 51 states publishing a median for physician assistants, at $139,920 — about 2.97% 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.
- Ranked against every occupation New Mexico publishes a median for, physician assistants sits 14 of 485 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Post-tax income for physician assistants in New Mexico, on $139,920, is $101,376 — equivalent to $112,159 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 $134,670 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Physician Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $70,010 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $139,920 |
| Top tenth earn over | $172,900 |
| This salary | $139,920 |
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 | $101,376 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $106,901 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,150 |
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 | $131,836 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,057 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $139,920 as a midpoint for New Mexico, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $70,010 and the ninetieth is $172,900 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $101,376 take-home in New Mexico comes from $139,920. 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 14 of 485.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $112,159 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 14.
- The New Mexico median of $139,920 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $70,010 to $172,900. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $101,376, from $139,920, 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 14 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 14 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $112,159, worked from $139,920, 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 14 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 $134,670 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $70,010 and the top tenth $172,900 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $112,159.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and New Mexico adds its own income tax on top — which is why $101,376 of this wage survives to your account.
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 $134,670. 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 ($70,010) and the ninetieth ($172,900) 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 $112,159 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 $101,376 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.