Art Directors in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$93,534
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$35,666
27.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$85,903
New Jersey costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New Jersey — 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
$129,200
Kept after tax
$93,534
Worth in national money
$85,903
State rank
7
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for art directors is strong here. New Jersey's middle earner gets $129,200, putting the state 7 of 46 — about 12.49% ahead of the national figure.
- Within New Jersey this is well-paid work. Of 490 occupations with published figures in the state, art directors ranks 50 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- New Jersey is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $129,200 the take-home is $93,534; in national-average money that behaves like $85,903. The average comes to $136,160, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For art directors, New Jersey sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $129,200, ranking 7 of 46 and running about 12.49% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Ranked against every occupation New Jersey publishes a median for, art directors sits 50 of 490 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Take-home for art directors in New Jersey, on $129,200, is $93,534; deflated by the state's price level, $85,903. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $136,160 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Art Directors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $87,700 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $129,200 |
| Top tenth earn over | $195,450 |
| This salary | $129,200 |
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 Jersey | $93,534 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $99,574 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$16,566 |
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 | $120,404 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$23,093 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of art directors in New Jersey earn under $129,200 and half over. The published range runs $87,700 at the tenth percentile to $195,450 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $93,534 take-home in New Jersey comes from $129,200. 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 50 of 490.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $85,903 uses one figure for the whole of New Jersey. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 490 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 50.
- Figures are distribution medians for art directors in New Jersey, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $87,700 to $195,450; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $93,534, from $129,200, assumes a single New Jersey 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 50 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 7 of 46 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $85,903, worked from $129,200, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular New Jersey address, on work sitting at 50 of 490 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $136,160, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $87,700 and the top tenth $195,450 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $85,903 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; New Jersey then takes its own share, leaving $93,534.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 46 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 Jersey is $136,160. 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 ($87,700) and the ninetieth ($195,450) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
New Jersey's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $85,903 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $93,534 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New Jersey 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.