New Mexico · BLS May 2025

How much do refuse and recyclable material collectors make in New Mexico?

Refuse and recyclable material collectors in New Mexico earn a median of $47,660 a year ($22.92 an hour), about $3,281 a month after federal, state and FICA tax. Figure from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey. The survey counted 1,070 of these jobs in New Mexico in May 2025.

Median pay · New Mexico

$47,660A year, or $23 an hour.
Take-home a month$3,281After federal, state and FICA tax at 17.4%
Worth at national prices$51,685Prices here sit at 92.2 against 100
Against the nation4.1% belowNational median $49,690
What refuse and recyclable material collectors earn in New Mexico, May 2025
PercentileAnnualHourly
10th percentile1 in 10 earn less$34,870$17
25th percentile$41,870$20
MedianHalf earn more, half less$47,660$23
75th percentile$50,140$24
90th percentile1 in 10 earn more$61,040$29
MeanAll pay divided by all jobs$46,940$23

Wage survey · BLS May 2025

How we got this
  1. Median wage in New MexicoBLS OEWS May 2025. Half of the people in this job were paid more than this, half less.$47,660
  2. Median hourly wagePublished separately by BLS, not divided out of the annual figure.$22.92
  3. Take-home after federal, state and FICA tax$3,281 a month at an effective rate of 17.4%.$39,378 a year
  4. Worth at national average pricesPrices in New Mexico sit at 92.2 against a national 100 (BEA, 2024).$51,685
  5. Against the national medianThe national median is $49,690.4.1% below
  6. Jobs countedA concentration of 1.3 against the nation's 1.00.1,070
What we assumed
  • Wages are BLS OEWS survey estimates for May 2025, not job postings or offers.
  • OEWS surveys wage and salary workers. The self-employed and business owners are outside it.
  • Take-home assumes one 2026 filer, filing single, taking the standard deduction, with no dependents, pre-tax retirement contributions or local income tax.
  • Regional price parities compare price levels between places in one year. They are not inflation, and they do not adjust for what a household actually buys.
Technical details

Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1

What lands in the bank

Tax year 2026 · Interactive

Estimated on the median salary of $47,660 in New Mexico, for a single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026. Explore other wage levels and filing statuses below.

$47,660
$30,000$65,000
Filing status:
Gross salary breakdown$47,660
Net 83%
Fed 7%
NM 2%
FICA 8%
Annual take-home$39,378After all taxes
Monthly deposit$3,281Estimated per month
Biweekly paycheck$1,515Every 2 weeks (26/yr)
Effective tax rate17.4%Total tax burden
Federal income tax$3,539 / yr
New Mexico state income tax$1,097 / yr
FICA (Social Security & Medicare)$3,646 / yr

Run the numbers on your own pay

Same U.S. tax tables as the rest of the site. Change the salary, state, or filing status.

What $47,660 is worth in New Mexico

Prices in New Mexico sit at 92.2 against a national average of 100, so $47,660 earned here buys what $51,685 buys at national average prices.

  • Rents. 73.6 against 100, the component that moves most between states.
  • Against local households. The median household in New Mexico takes in $64,059, so this occupation's median is 0.74 times that, on one income.
  • How common the job is here. 30% more concentrated in New Mexico than in the country as a whole.

Compare two places properly →

Reading the numbers

What stands out for refuse and recyclable material collectors in New Mexico

Rents in New Mexico index at 73.6 (U.S. = 100) while prices overall index at 92.2, a gap of -18.6 pts. For a renter, housing moves the local cost of living more than anything else.

The top of the pay range is stretched out. Going from the 75th to the 90th percentile adds $10,900, against $2,480 from the median to the 75th. The best-paid 10% of refuse and recyclable material collectors in New Mexico make $61,040 or more.

The median for this job is 0.7 times the median household income in New Mexico ($64,059). Many households have two earners, so one paycheck at this level falls short of what a typical local household brings in.

Common questions

Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors pay in New Mexico, answered

How much do refuse and recyclable material collectors make in New Mexico?

The median wage for refuse and recyclable material collectors in New Mexico is $47,660 a year, or $22.92 an hour.

Half earn more than that and half earn less. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey for May 2025.

What is the average Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors salary in New Mexico?

BLS’s mean (average) wage for refuse and recyclable material collectors in New Mexico is $46,940 a year. The median is $47,660.

The mean sits higher when a smaller group of high earners pulls the average up. For a typical paycheck, the median is the better middle.

What is the hourly pay for refuse and recyclable material collectors in New Mexico?

The median hourly wage is $22.92. At a full-time year that lines up with about $47,660 a year.

BLS May 2025; hourly and annual figures come from the same survey.

What is the starting salary for refuse and recyclable material collectors in New Mexico?

BLS does not publish starting pay. The closest figure it does publish is the low end of the range: in New Mexico, the lowest-paid 10% of refuse and recyclable material collectors earn under $34,870 a year and a quarter earn under $41,870 ($16.76 and $20.13 an hour).

New hires often start somewhere in that band, but the May 2025 survey does not record experience, so read it as a floor to compare an offer against rather than a typical first salary.

What is the salary range for refuse and recyclable material collectors in New Mexico?

The overall salary range for refuse and recyclable material collectors in New Mexico spans from $34,870 for the bottom 10% to $61,040 for top earners.

The middle 50% earn between $41,870 and $50,140 a year, with the overall median at $47,660.

What is the take-home pay for refuse and recyclable material collectors in New Mexico?

On the median wage of $47,660, a single filer taking the 2026 standard deduction keeps an estimated $39,378 a year, or roughly $3,281 a month.

That is after federal, state and FICA tax, an effective rate of 17.4%.

New Mexico takes $1,097 of it in state income tax.

How much does refuse and recyclable material collectors make a month in New Mexico?

On the median annual salary of $47,660, estimated take-home pay is roughly $3,281 a month after federal, state, and FICA taxes.

For workers paid on a standard biweekly schedule (26 pay periods per year), each paycheck is approximately $1,515 net.

Do refuse and recyclable material collectors earn more in New Mexico than in the rest of the country?

No. The median in New Mexico is 4.1% below the national median of $49,690.

Nominal pay is only half the comparison: prices in New Mexico sit at 92.2 against a national 100, so the gap in what the money buys is different from the gap in the salary.

Is $47,660 a good salary in New Mexico?

It is 0.74 times the median household income of $64,059. A household often has more than one earner, so a single salary at this level goes further than the ratio alone suggests.

Prices in New Mexico run at 92.2 against a national average of 100, with rents at 73.6, so $47,660 here buys about what $51,685 buys at national average prices.

What do the highest-paid refuse and recyclable material collectors earn in New Mexico?

The top tenth earn $61,040 a year or more. The 10th-percentile wage is $34,870.

Experience, specialty, employer and the part of New Mexico someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.

How many refuse and recyclable material collectors are there in New Mexico?

The survey counted 1,070 of these jobs in New Mexico for May 2025.

That makes the occupation 30% more concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.

Sources

Where this data comes from

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