Carpet Installers in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$84,712
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$30,468
26.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$77,801
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
$115,180
Kept after tax
$84,712
Worth in national money
$77,801
State rank
1
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- New Jersey is one of the better-paying states for carpet installers. The middle earner takes $115,180, which ranks 1 of 45 states with published figures. That is about 128.8% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 490 occupations New Jersey reports, carpet installers comes in at 72 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $115,180, tax leaves $84,712 — and because New Jersey is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $77,801 would nationally. Here the average runs under the middle, at $97,430.
- New Jersey ranks 1 of 45 states publishing a median for carpet installers, at $115,180 — about 128.8% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Carpet installers ranks 72 of 490 occupations by median in New Jersey, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- After tax, $84,712 remains from the New Jersey median of $115,180 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $77,801 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $97,430 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: Carpet Installers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,790 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $115,180 |
| Top tenth earn over | $128,130 |
| This salary | $115,180 |
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 | $84,712 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $89,859 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$14,670 |
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 | $107,864 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$20,264 |
| 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 carpet installers in New Jersey earn under $115,180 and half over. The published range runs $48,790 at the tenth percentile to $128,130 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In New Jersey the take-home figure of $84,712, from $115,180, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 72 of 490 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $77,801, the adjusted value of that $115,180 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 72 of 490 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for carpet installers in New Jersey, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $48,790 to $128,130; 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.
- Take-home for New Jersey is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $84,712 from $115,180. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 72 of 490 locally.
- This $77,801 adjusted figure, worked from $115,180, 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 72 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 72 of 490 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $97,430 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $48,790 at the bottom tenth to $128,130 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in New Jersey run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $77,801 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 $84,712.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 45 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $97,430. 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 ($48,790 to $128,130) 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 $77,801 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 $84,712 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.