Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,857
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$8,413
17.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,096
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
$48,270
Kept after tax
$39,857
Worth in national money
$44,096
State rank
20
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. New Mexico pays this job around $48,270 at the midpoint, 20 of 45 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 293 among 485 occupations New Mexico publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $48,270 you keep $39,857 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $44,096 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $50,280, since top earners drag the number up.
- For teaching assistants, postsecondary the New Mexico median is $48,270, ranking 20 of 45 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.
- Position 293 of 485 in New Mexico places teaching assistants, postsecondary 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.
- Retained pay in New Mexico is $39,857 after the full tax stack, from $48,270. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $44,096 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $50,280 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,400 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,270 |
| Top tenth earn over | $65,100 |
| This salary | $48,270 |
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 | $39,857 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,965 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,940 |
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 | $46,891 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,346 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $48,270 as a midpoint for New Mexico, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $34,400 and the ninetieth is $65,100 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In New Mexico the take-home figure of $39,857, from $48,270, 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 293 of 485 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $44,096, the adjusted value of that $48,270 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 293 of 485 locally.
- The New Mexico median of $48,270 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $34,400 to $65,100. 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 $39,857 from $48,270. 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 293 of 485 locally.
- This $44,096 adjusted figure, worked from $48,270, 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 293 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 293 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $50,280, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $34,400 and the top tenth $65,100, so most people doing this work in New Mexico sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $44,096.
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, $39,857 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 45 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 $50,280. 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 ($34,400 to $65,100) 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 $44,096 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 $39,857 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.