Residential Advisors in New Mexico

Two armchairs facing each other in a welcoming counseling room.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$31,696

after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax

Tax takes

$5,844

15.6% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$35,068

New Mexico costs less than average

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

$37,540

Kept after tax

$31,696

Worth in national money

$35,068

State rank

37

of 51 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • New Mexico is among the lower-paying states for residential advisors. The middle earner takes $37,540, ranking 37 of 51 states — about 11.13% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
  • Measured against other jobs in New Mexico, this one sits low: 397 of 485 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
  • Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $37,540 you keep $31,696 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $35,068 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $40,500, since top earners drag the number up.
  • New Mexico ranks 37 of 51 for residential advisors, with a median of $37,540 — about 11.13% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
  • Residential advisors occupies position 397 of 485 in New Mexico's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
  • Retained pay in New Mexico is $31,696 after the full tax stack, from $37,540. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $35,068 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $40,500 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.

Compare this career across states

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Pay band: Residential Advisors

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$31,220
Half earn under$37,540
Top tenth earn over$53,030
This salary$37,540

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

Compare with
+$647take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in New Mexico$31,696
Take-home in Texas$32,343
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$1,784

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

Moving to
$0$39,698
$39,698in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$36,735
Raise you would need+$2,158
Prices in Texas97 vs 90

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • Treat $37,540 as a midpoint for New Mexico, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $31,220 and the ninetieth is $53,030 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
  • In New Mexico the take-home figure of $31,696, from $37,540, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 397 of 485 occupations here.
  • The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $35,068 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 397.
  • The New Mexico median of $37,540 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $31,220 to $53,030. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
  • Take-home for New Mexico is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $31,696 from $37,540. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 397 of 485 locally.
  • Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $35,068, worked from $37,540, 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 397 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 $40,500, 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?

Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $31,220 at the tenth percentile, $53,030 at the ninetieth.

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 $35,068 in national terms.

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 $31,696 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 $40,500. 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 ($31,220 to $53,030) 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 $35,068 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 $31,696 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.