Bakers in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,301
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$5,659
15.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,748
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
$36,960
Kept after tax
$31,301
Worth in national money
$28,748
State rank
24
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. New Jersey pays bakers around $36,960 at the midpoint, 24 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 490 occupations New Jersey publishes, bakers lands at 462. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $36,960, tax leaves $31,301 — and because New Jersey is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $28,748 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $40,660, since top earners drag the number up.
- For bakers the New Jersey median is $36,960, ranking 24 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within New Jersey, this work ranks 462 of 490 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After tax, $31,301 remains from the New Jersey median of $36,960 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $28,748 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $40,660 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Bakers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,220 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,960 |
| Top tenth earn over | $55,280 |
| This salary | $36,960 |
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 | $31,301 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,877 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,056 |
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 | $36,243 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,906 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
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 Jersey earn less than $36,960. The published range is $32,220 up to $55,280, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind New Jersey's $31,301, worked from $36,960. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 462 of 490.
- One number stands for prices across all of New Jersey, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $28,748, the adjusted value of that $36,960 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 462 of 490 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for bakers in New Jersey the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $32,220 to $55,280. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The New Jersey take-home of $31,301, on $36,960 for work ranking 462 of 490 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 462 of 490 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New Jersey, so $28,748 — the adjusted value of that $36,960 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 462 of 490 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $40,660, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $32,220 at the bottom tenth to $55,280 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. New Jersey costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $28,748 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and New Jersey adds its own income tax on top — which is why $31,301 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $40,660. 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 ($32,220 to $55,280) 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 Jersey rather than a national figure.
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 $28,748 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 $31,301 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.