Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,796
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$8,394
17.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,029
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
$48,190
Kept after tax
$39,796
Worth in national money
$44,029
State rank
43
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. New Mexico pays this job a middle wage of $48,190, 43 of 50 states and about 19.71% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 296 among 485 occupations New Mexico publishes pay for.
- Here is where New Mexico does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $48,190 you keep $39,796, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $44,029 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $53,870, because the best-paid pull it up.
- New Mexico's $48,190 median for water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators places it 43 of 50 states, about 19.71% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Position 296 of 485 in New Mexico places water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators 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.
- After federal, FICA and New Mexico income tax, retained pay for water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators on $48,190 is $39,796. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $44,029 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $53,870 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,110 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,190 |
| Top tenth earn over | $80,090 |
| This salary | $48,190 |
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 | $39,796 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,901 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,939 |
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 | $46,815 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,345 |
| 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 $48,190. The published range is $36,110 up to $80,090, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $39,796 take-home in New Mexico comes from $48,190. 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 296 of 485.
- Two cautions on $44,029, the adjusted value of that $48,190 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 296 of 485 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators in New Mexico the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $36,110 to $80,090. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $39,796, from $48,190, 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 296 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 43 of 50 for it.
- This $44,029 adjusted figure, worked from $48,190, 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 296 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 296 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 $53,870 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 $36,110 and the top tenth $80,090 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $44,029.
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, $39,796 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 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 $53,870. 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 ($36,110) and the ninetieth ($80,090) 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 $44,029 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 $39,796 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.