Commercial Pilots in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$155,641
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$71,069
31.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$142,943
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
$226,710
Kept after tax
$155,641
Worth in national money
$142,943
State rank
2
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for commercial pilots is strong here. New Jersey's middle earner gets $226,710, putting the state 2 of 48 — about 83.99% ahead of the national figure.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 490 occupations New Jersey reports, commercial pilots comes in at 4 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- New Jersey is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $226,710 the take-home is $155,641; in national-average money that behaves like $142,943. The average lands at $215,210, below the middle of the range.
- For commercial pilots, New Jersey sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $226,710, ranking 2 of 48 and running about 83.99% 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.
- Commercial pilots ranks 4 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.
- Take-home for commercial pilots in New Jersey, on $226,710, is $155,641; deflated by the state's price level, $142,943. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $215,210 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Commercial Pilots
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $52,560 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $226,710 |
| Top tenth earn over | $326,930 |
| This salary | $226,710 |
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 | $155,641 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $167,892 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$29,830 |
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 | $209,116 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$40,154 |
| 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 $226,710. The published range is $52,560 up to $326,930, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $155,641 take-home in New Jersey comes from $226,710. 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 4 of 490.
- Two cautions on $142,943, the adjusted value of that $226,710 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 4 of 490 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for commercial pilots in New Jersey the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $52,560 to $326,930. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $155,641, from $226,710, 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 4 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 2 of 48 for it.
- This $142,943 adjusted figure, worked from $226,710, 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 4 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 4 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 $215,210, 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $52,560 at the bottom tenth to $326,930 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $142,943 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 $155,641 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 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 $215,210. 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 ($52,560) and the ninetieth ($326,930) 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 $142,943 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 $155,641 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.