Chemists in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$65,051
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$19,399
23.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$59,744
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
$84,450
Kept after tax
$65,051
Worth in national money
$59,744
State rank
30
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. New Jersey is 30 of 51 states for chemists, with a middle wage of $84,450. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in New Jersey, this sits in the middle: 151 of 490 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $84,450 the take-home is $65,051. But New Jersey costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $59,744 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $96,980, because the best-paid pull it up.
- New Jersey ranks 30 of 51 for chemists at $84,450. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Chemists ranks 151 of 490 occupations in New Jersey by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and New Jersey income tax is $65,051 for chemists, from $84,450. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $59,744. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $96,980 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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: Chemists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $60,910 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $84,450 |
| Top tenth earn over | $144,030 |
| This salary | $84,450 |
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 | $65,051 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $68,241 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$10,480 |
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 | $79,916 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$14,477 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $84,450 as a midpoint for New Jersey, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $60,910 and the ninetieth is $144,030 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind New Jersey's $65,051, worked from $84,450. 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 151 of 490.
- Two cautions on $59,744, the adjusted value of that $84,450 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 151 of 490 locally.
- The New Jersey median of $84,450 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $60,910 to $144,030. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The New Jersey take-home of $65,051, on $84,450 for work ranking 151 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 151 of 490 in the state.
- This $59,744 adjusted figure, worked from $84,450, 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 151 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 151 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 $96,980, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $60,910, the highest tenth $144,030, 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 $59,744 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 $65,051.
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 $96,980. 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 ($60,910) and the ninetieth ($144,030) 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 $59,744 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 $65,051 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.