Psychology Teachers, Postsecondary in New Mexico

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$64,877
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$18,723
22.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$71,778
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
$83,600
Kept after tax
$64,877
Worth in national money
$71,778
State rank
13
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. New Mexico pays this job a middle wage of $83,600, ranking 13 of 50 states and sitting about 4.06% above the national middle.
- Within New Mexico this is well-paid work. Of 485 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 104 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- New Mexico is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $83,600 the take-home is $64,877; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $71,778 would nationally. The average comes to $98,170, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- New Mexico's median for psychology teachers, postsecondary is $83,600, about 4.06% above the national figure and 13 of 50 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Ranked against every occupation New Mexico publishes a median for, psychology teachers, postsecondary sits 104 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 psychology teachers, postsecondary in New Mexico, on $83,600, is $64,877 — equivalent to $71,778 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 $98,170 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Psychology Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $51,740 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $83,600 |
| Top tenth earn over | $172,960 |
| This salary | $83,600 |
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 | $64,877 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $67,643 |
| 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 | $79,669 |
|---|---|
| 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 psychology teachers, postsecondary in New Mexico earn under $83,600 and half over. The published range runs $51,740 at the tenth percentile to $172,960 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $64,877 take-home in New Mexico comes from $83,600. 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 104 of 485.
- Two cautions on $71,778, the adjusted value of that $83,600 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 104 of 485 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for psychology teachers, postsecondary in New Mexico, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $51,740 to $172,960; 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 $64,877, from $83,600, 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 104 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 13 of 50 for it.
- This $71,778 adjusted figure, worked from $83,600, 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 104 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 104 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 $98,170, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $51,740 and the top tenth $172,960 — 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 $71,778.
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 $64,877 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $98,170. 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 ($51,740) and the ninetieth ($172,960) 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 $71,778 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 $64,877 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.