Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,184
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$8,516
17.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,458
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
$48,700
Kept after tax
$40,184
Worth in national money
$44,458
State rank
34
of 47 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 $48,700. That is 34 of 47 states, and about 5.12% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in New Mexico, this sits in the middle: 291 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 $48,700 you keep $40,184 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $44,458 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $51,310, since top earners drag the number up.
- For structural metal fabricators and fitters, New Mexico sits in the lower band at $48,700, ranking 34 of 47 and trailing the national median by about 5.12%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Structural metal fabricators and fitters ranks 291 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 $40,184 after the full tax stack, from $48,700. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $44,458 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $51,310 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,440 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,700 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,320 |
| This salary | $48,700 |
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 | $40,184 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,310 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,946 |
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 | $47,298 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,354 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $48,700 as a midpoint for New Mexico, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,440 and the ninetieth is $60,320 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In New Mexico the take-home figure of $40,184, from $48,700, 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 291 of 485 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $44,458, the adjusted value of that $48,700 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of New Mexico. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 291 of 485 locally.
- The New Mexico median of $48,700 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,440 to $60,320. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for New Mexico is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $40,184 from $48,700. 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 291 of 485 locally.
- This $44,458 adjusted figure, worked from $48,700, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 291 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 291 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $51,310, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $37,440 at the tenth percentile, $60,320 at the ninetieth.
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 $44,458 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 $40,184 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 47 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $51,310. 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 ($37,440 to $60,320) 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 $44,458 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 $40,184 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.