School Bus Monitors in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,715
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$5,535
15.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,982
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
$36,250
Kept after tax
$30,715
Worth in national money
$33,982
State rank
18
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- New Mexico sits in the middle of the pack for school bus monitors. The median is $36,250, ranking 18 of 50 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Measured against other jobs in New Mexico, this one sits low: 428 of 485 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Here is where New Mexico does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $36,250 you keep $30,715, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $33,982 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $39,350, because the best-paid pull it up.
- New Mexico occupies the middle band for school bus monitors: a median of $36,250, ranking 18 of 50. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- School bus monitors occupies position 428 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.
- After federal, FICA and New Mexico income tax, retained pay for school bus monitors on $36,250 is $30,715. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $33,982 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 $39,350 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: School Bus Monitors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,230 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,250 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,750 |
| This salary | $36,250 |
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 | $30,715 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,307 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,766 |
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 | $35,514 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,135 |
| 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 school bus monitors in New Mexico earn under $36,250 and half over. The published range runs $30,230 at the tenth percentile to $64,750 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $30,715 take-home in New Mexico comes from $36,250. 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 428 of 485.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $33,982 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 428.
- Figures are distribution medians for school bus monitors in New Mexico, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $30,230 to $64,750; 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 $30,715, from $36,250, 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 428 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 18 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $33,982, worked from $36,250, 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 428 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 $39,350 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 $30,230 and the top tenth $64,750 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in New Mexico sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $33,982 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $30,715 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $39,350. 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 ($30,230) and the ninetieth ($64,750) 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 $33,982 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 $30,715 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.