Biological Scientists, All Other in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$78,039
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$26,711
25.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$71,672
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
$104,750
Kept after tax
$78,039
Worth in national money
$71,672
State rank
8
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for biological scientists, all other is strong here. New Jersey's middle earner gets $104,750, putting the state 8 of 50 — about 5.89% ahead of the national figure.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in New Jersey. It ranks 90 out of 490 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- New Jersey is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $104,750 the take-home is $78,039; in national-average money that behaves like $71,672. The average comes to $109,010, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For biological scientists, all other, New Jersey sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $104,750, ranking 8 of 50 and running about 5.89% 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.
- Within New Jersey, biological scientists, all other ranks 90 of 490 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Take-home for biological scientists, all other in New Jersey, on $104,750, is $78,039; deflated by the state's price level, $71,672. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $109,010 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Biological Scientists, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $72,010 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $104,750 |
| Top tenth earn over | $161,660 |
| This salary | $104,750 |
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 | $78,039 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $82,522 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$13,248 |
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 | $98,378 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$18,300 |
| 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 biological scientists, all other in New Jersey earn under $104,750 and half over. The published range runs $72,010 at the tenth percentile to $161,660 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $78,039 take-home in New Jersey comes from $104,750. 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 90 of 490.
- Two cautions on $71,672, the adjusted value of that $104,750 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of New Jersey. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 90 of 490 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for biological scientists, all other in New Jersey, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $72,010 to $161,660; 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 $78,039, from $104,750, 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 90 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 8 of 50 for it.
- This $71,672 adjusted figure, worked from $104,750, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 90 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 90 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 $109,010, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $72,010, the highest tenth $161,660, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $71,672 rather than its face figure.
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 $78,039.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 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 $109,010. 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 ($72,010) and the ninetieth ($161,660) 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 $71,672 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 $78,039 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.