New Mexico Paystub Generator

Reading a New Mexico pay stub, line by line

A New Mexico pay stub is short: one state income tax line and one tiny state fee on top of the federal lines. Here is what each line means in 2026:

NM State Income Tax ("NM SIT", "NM W/H"). New Mexico taxes wages in six brackets from 1.5% to 5.9%. For a single filer: 1.5% on the first $5,500 of taxable income, 3.2% to $16,500, 4.3% to $33,500, 4.7% to $66,500, 4.9% to $210,000, and 5.9% above that. Your taxable income starts from the same $16,100 standard deduction you get federally — New Mexico uses the federal amount rather than setting its own.

Why the tax line looks high if you are single. New Mexico's withholding tables give a single employee a zero bracket of only $8,050 — half the $16,100 deduction your return allows. On $60,000 your stub withholds about $2,033 a year while the actual tax is about $1,654, so roughly $378 comes back at filing. Bonuses paid separately are withheld at a flat 5.9%.

No state W-4. New Mexico has no withholding form of its own. The Taxation and Revenue Department tells employees to fill in a copy of the federal W-4 marked "For New Mexico State Withholding Only" if they want different state withholding — otherwise your federal W-4 drives both.

NM Workers' Comp Fee. The smallest line on the stub: $2.25 per quarter ($9 a year) from you, matched by $2.55 from your employer, funding the Workers' Compensation Administration (NMSA §52-5-19). It rose from $2.00 on July 1, 2025 — a stub still showing $2.00 is using the old rate. It is a state fee, not an insurance premium.

What you will NOT see: a city or county income tax (New Mexico has none), a state unemployment deduction, or a state disability deduction.

Plus the federal lines on every US stub: federal income tax, Social Security (6.2% up to $184,500 in 2026), and Medicare (1.45%, plus 0.9% on wages over $200,000). From January 1, 2027: Social Security 6.2% up to $192,300.

New Mexico paycheck facts — 2026

What you actually take home in New Mexico (2026 estimates)

Estimated for a single filer taking the standard deduction, including federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, New Mexico state tax (statutory brackets after the $16,100 standard deduction and, at lower incomes, the low- and middle-income exemption), and the $9-a-year workers' compensation fee. New Mexico has no local income tax:

Where the money goes at $60,000: New Mexico state tax about $1,654 plus the $9 workers' comp fee — 2.8% of gross. Your stub withholds about $2,033 because of the $8,050 single zero bracket, so roughly $378 comes back when you file. Federal income tax and FICA take the other 16%.

Low earners pay less than the brackets suggest: below $36,667 of income a single filer also gets the low- and middle-income exemption — the full $2,500 at $20,000 or less, shrinking 15 cents per dollar above that.

Methodology: 2026 federal brackets and $16,100 standard deduction (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32), FICA per SSA, New Mexico single-filer brackets from the Taxation and Revenue Department FYI-104 (effective January 1, 2026), federal standard deduction per PIT-1 instructions, low- and middle-income exemption per the 2025 PIT-1 worksheet, workers' compensation fee per TRD. Estimates only — your withholding depends on your W-4, credits, and pre-tax benefits.

What New Mexico jobs pay (BLS, May 2025)

New Mexico's median hourly wage across all occupations is $22.70 — about 7% below the national median of $24.51 — but a top income-tax rate of 5.9% that only starts above $210,000 keeps more of it in your pocket. Waiters' median of $17.75 (tips included) sits well above the $3.00 state cash wage.

New Mexico's workforce in numbers

• 2.1 million residents, civilian labor force of 970,828, unemployment 4.8% (Census 2025 estimate; BLS, July 2026)
• 140,015 self-employed (nonemployer) businesses (Census, 2023) — about one for every 15 residents, and 3.1 times the number of businesses with employees
• 658,702 people on employer payrolls at 44,861 establishments, earning $35 billion a year (Census County Business Patterns, 2023)
• Mean annual wage: $62,330 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)

New Mexico pay rules — the answers people actually need

Pay frequency: at least twice a month. Executive, administrative, and professional employees may be paid monthly.

Is a pay stub required? New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions guidance says employers must give you an itemized listing of every deduction taken from your gross pay, along with your total wages and benefits earned. Day laborers must also see time worked and rate of pay.

Minimum wage: $12.00 an hour statewide, with a $3.00 cash wage for tipped employees (those earning more than $30 a month in tips) — tips must bring you to $12.00. Cities and counties can set higher floors, and Santa Fe and Albuquerque do.

Who has NM tax withheld. Nonresidents working in New Mexico 15 or fewer days a year are not withheld on. Native Americans living and working on their own tribal land, and active-duty military pay, are exempt from New Mexico income tax.

City and county minimum wages in New Mexico (2026)

New Mexico has no local income tax, so your city only changes your paycheck through its minimum wage. The state floor has been $12.00 since January 1, 2023. Three local rates matter:

Albuquerque is the odd case: its indexed city minimum wage has fallen behind the state's $12.00, so the state rate applies — but its $7.20 tipped wage is more than double the state's $3.00. A full-time job at Santa Fe's $15.40 grosses $32,032, about $7,000 more than the same job at the state rate.

How New Mexico compares with its neighbors (take-home on $60,000, 2026 est.)

Because New Mexico uses the full $16,100 federal standard deduction, a $60,000 earner's state tax is only about 2.8% of pay — about $1,660 a year more than the same salary in no-income-tax Texas.

(The Oklahoma figure is a directional estimate pending that page's full data workup.)

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