Tile and Stone Setters in New Mexico

A hard hat, safety glasses and tool belt beside timber house framing.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$37,028

after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax

Tax takes

$7,522

16.9% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$40,966

New Mexico costs less than average

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

$44,550

Kept after tax

$37,028

Worth in national money

$40,966

State rank

41

of 47 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Pay for tile and stone setters is on the low side in New Mexico. The middle earner gets $44,550. That is 41 of 47 states, and about 20% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
  • Against other work in New Mexico, this sits in the middle: 345 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 $44,550 you keep $37,028 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $40,966 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $43,630.
  • For tile and stone setters, New Mexico sits in the lower band at $44,550, ranking 41 of 47 and trailing the national median by about 20%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
  • Tile and stone setters ranks 345 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 $37,028 after the full tax stack, from $44,550. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $40,966 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $43,630 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.

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Pay band: Tile and Stone Setters

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$33,480
Half earn under$44,550
Top tenth earn over$59,740
This salary$44,550

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

Compare with
+$948take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in New Mexico$37,028
Take-home in Texas$37,976
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$1,886

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

Moving to
$0$46,831
$46,831in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$43,370
Raise you would need+$2,281
Prices in Texas97 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 $44,550. The published range is $33,480 up to $59,740, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
  • That $37,028 take-home in New Mexico comes from $44,550. 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 345 of 485.
  • The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $40,966 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 345.
  • Reported values are medians; for tile and stone setters in New Mexico the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $33,480 to $59,740. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
  • Retained pay of $37,028, from $44,550, 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 345 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 41 of 47 for it.
  • Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $40,966, worked from $44,550, 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 345 of 485 locally.

Questions people ask

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $33,480 at the tenth percentile, $59,740 at the ninetieth.

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 $40,966.

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 $37,028 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.

What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?

The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($33,480 to $59,740) 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 $40,966 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 $37,028 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.