Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health Salary

Yes — at the median salary of $87K, rent takes 20.3% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,119/month. That stays under the 30% guideline most financial planners use.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new environmental scientists and specialists, including healths typically earn — is $61K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $3,655/month. At HUD’s $1,119/month FMR, rent would take 31% of that take-home — above the 30% guideline, so a 1-bedroom or shared housing is likely necessary starting out.

Pay here is roughly in line with the national average — $87K locally vs. $82K nationally, a 5% difference.

New Mexico pays $87K median vs. the U.S. average of $82K — that’s +5%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 93.06), the purchasing-power equivalent is $93K — still ahead of the national median.

The median is $86,630 a year, that works out to about $42 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $60,920, and experienced environmental scientists and specialists, including healths can clear $129,080. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $5,507/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,119/month, which eats 20.3% of your paycheck. That's under the 30% guideline most financial planners use, so the numbers work.

New Mexico has a Regional Price Parity of 93.06 (100 is the national average). That's below average, your money stretches further here than the raw salary number suggests. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median environmental scientists and specialists, including health salary is worth about $93,090 in national-average purchasing power.

The table above ranks every state by median pay for this role. Keep in mind that the highest-paying states tend to have the highest costs of living, so the top salary doesn't always mean the most money in your pocket.