Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,552
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$5,168
14.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$32,695
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
$34,720
Kept after tax
$29,552
Worth in national money
$32,695
State rank
46
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in New Mexico. The middle earner gets $34,720. That is 46 of 46 states, and about 18.82% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 485 occupations New Mexico publishes, this job lands at 450. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where New Mexico does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $34,720 you keep $29,552, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $32,695 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $41,380, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood, New Mexico sits in the lower band at $34,720, ranking 46 of 46 and trailing the national median by about 18.82%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within New Mexico, this work ranks 450 of 485 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After federal, FICA and New Mexico income tax, retained pay for sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood on $34,720 is $29,552. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $32,695 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $41,380 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,120 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $34,720 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,840 |
| This salary | $34,720 |
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 | $29,552 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,078 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,743 |
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 | $34,066 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,108 |
| 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 $34,720. The published range is $29,120 up to $64,840, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind New Mexico's $29,552, worked from $34,720. 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 450 of 485.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $32,695 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 450.
- Reported values are medians; for sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood in New Mexico the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $29,120 to $64,840. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The New Mexico take-home of $29,552, on $34,720 for work ranking 450 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 450 of 485 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $32,695, worked from $34,720, 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 450 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 $41,380 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $29,120, the highest tenth $64,840, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $32,695 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 $29,552 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 46 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $41,380. 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 ($29,120) and the ninetieth ($64,840) 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 $32,695 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 $29,552 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.