Security Guards in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,092
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$7,228
16.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,931
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
$43,320
Kept after tax
$36,092
Worth in national money
$39,931
State rank
12
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. New Mexico pays security guards a middle wage of $43,320, ranking 12 of 51 states and sitting about 13.94% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Security guards ranks 354 among 485 occupations New Mexico publishes pay for.
- New Mexico is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $43,320 the take-home is $36,092; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $39,931 would nationally. The average comes to $46,300, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- New Mexico's median for security guards is $43,320, about 13.94% above the national figure and 12 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Position 354 of 485 in New Mexico places security guards in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Post-tax income for security guards in New Mexico, on $43,320, is $36,092 — equivalent to $39,931 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 $46,300 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Security Guards
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,220 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $43,320 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,840 |
| This salary | $43,320 |
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 | $36,092 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,988 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,868 |
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 | $42,206 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,259 |
| 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 security guards in New Mexico earn under $43,320 and half over. The published range runs $30,220 at the tenth percentile to $64,840 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In New Mexico the take-home figure of $36,092, from $43,320, 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 354 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 $39,931 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 354.
- Figures are distribution medians for security guards in New Mexico, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $30,220 to $64,840; 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.
- Take-home for New Mexico is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $36,092 from $43,320. 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 354 of 485 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $39,931, worked from $43,320, 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 354 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 $46,300 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 $30,220 and the top tenth $64,840 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $39,931 in national terms.
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, $36,092 remains.
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 $46,300. 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 ($30,220) 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 $39,931 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 $36,092 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.