Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing in New Mexico
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,541
after federal, FICA and New Mexico tax
Tax takes
$6,109
15.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,002
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
$38,650
Kept after tax
$32,541
Worth in national money
$36,002
State rank
38
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. New Mexico pays this job a middle wage of $38,650, 38 of 47 states and about 10.9% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within New Mexico this is lower-paid work. Of 485 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 382. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $38,650 you keep $32,541 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $36,002 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $42,050, since top earners drag the number up.
- New Mexico's $38,650 median for woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing places it 38 of 47 states, about 10.9% 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.
- Against every occupation New Mexico reports, woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing ranks 382 of 485, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay in New Mexico is $32,541 after the full tax stack, from $38,650. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $36,002 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $42,050 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,850 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,650 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,300 |
| This salary | $38,650 |
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 | $32,541 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,235 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,800 |
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 | $37,785 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,177 |
| 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 $38,650. The published range is $32,850 up to $59,300, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $32,541 take-home in New Mexico comes from $38,650. 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 382 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 $36,002, the adjusted value of that $38,650 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 382 of 485 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing in New Mexico the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $32,850 to $59,300. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $32,541, from $38,650, 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 382 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 38 of 47 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New Mexico, so $36,002 — the adjusted value of that $38,650 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 382 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 $42,050, 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 — $32,850 at the tenth percentile, $59,300 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 $36,002.
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, $32,541 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 47 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $42,050. 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 ($32,850 to $59,300) 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 $36,002 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 $32,541 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.