Respiratory Therapists in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$55,209
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$13,661
19.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$61,081
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
$68,870
Kept after tax
$55,209
Worth in national money
$61,081
State rank
47
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. New Mexico pays respiratory therapists a middle wage of $68,870, 47 of 51 states and about 16.3% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in New Mexico, this sits in the middle: 153 of 485 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $68,870 you keep $55,209 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $61,081 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $73,720, since top earners drag the number up.
- New Mexico's $68,870 median for respiratory therapists places it 47 of 51 states, about 16.3% 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.
- Respiratory therapists ranks 153 of 485 occupations in New Mexico by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Retained pay in New Mexico is $55,209 after the full tax stack, from $68,870. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $61,081 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $73,720 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Respiratory Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $61,990 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $68,870 |
| Top tenth earn over | $91,220 |
| This salary | $68,870 |
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 | $55,209 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $57,280 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,136 |
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 | $65,997 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,950 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in New Mexico earn less than $68,870. The published range is $61,990 up to $91,220, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In New Mexico the take-home figure of $55,209, from $68,870, 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 153 of 485 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of New Mexico, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $61,081, the adjusted value of that $68,870 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 153 of 485 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for respiratory therapists in New Mexico the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $61,990 to $91,220. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for New Mexico is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $55,209 from $68,870. 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 153 of 485 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New Mexico, so $61,081 — the adjusted value of that $68,870 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 153 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 $73,720 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 $61,990 and the top tenth $91,220, so most people doing this work in New Mexico sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $61,081.
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, $55,209 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $73,720. 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 ($61,990 to $91,220) 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 $61,081 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 $55,209 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.