Social and Human Service Assistants in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,389
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$7,951
17.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,472
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
$46,340
Kept after tax
$38,389
Worth in national money
$42,472
State rank
19
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. New Mexico pays this job around $46,340 at the midpoint, 19 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in New Mexico, this sits in the middle: 320 of 485 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- New Mexico is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $46,340 the take-home is $38,389; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $42,472 would nationally. The average comes to $47,670, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For social and human service assistants the New Mexico median is $46,340, ranking 19 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Social and human service assistants ranks 320 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.
- Post-tax income for social and human service assistants in New Mexico, on $46,340, is $38,389 — equivalent to $42,472 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 $47,670 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Social and Human Service Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,820 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,340 |
| Top tenth earn over | $63,650 |
| This salary | $46,340 |
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 | $38,389 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,414 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,912 |
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 | $45,064 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,313 |
| 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 $46,340. The published range is $32,820 up to $63,650, 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 $38,389, worked from $46,340. 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 320 of 485.
- One number stands for prices across all of New Mexico, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $42,472, the adjusted value of that $46,340 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 320 of 485 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for social and human service assistants in New Mexico the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $32,820 to $63,650. 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 $38,389, on $46,340 for work ranking 320 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 320 of 485 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New Mexico, so $42,472 — the adjusted value of that $46,340 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 320 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $32,820 at the bottom tenth to $63,650 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $42,472.
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 $38,389 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($32,820 to $63,650) 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 $42,472 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 $38,389 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.