Construction Laborers in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$51,661
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$12,399
19.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$47,446
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
$64,060
Kept after tax
$51,661
Worth in national money
$47,446
State rank
2
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- New Jersey is one of the better-paying states for construction laborers. The middle earner takes $64,060, which ranks 2 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 35.95% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Construction laborers ranks 260 among 490 occupations New Jersey publishes pay for.
- New Jersey is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $64,060 the take-home is $51,661; in national-average money that behaves like $47,446. The average comes to $70,400, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- New Jersey ranks 2 of 51 states publishing a median for construction laborers, at $64,060 — about 35.95% 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.
- Position 260 of 490 in New Jersey places construction laborers in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Take-home for construction laborers in New Jersey, on $64,060, is $51,661; deflated by the state's price level, $47,446. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $70,400 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Construction Laborers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,980 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $64,060 |
| Top tenth earn over | $106,140 |
| This salary | $64,060 |
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 | $51,661 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,652 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,766 |
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 | $61,581 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,392 |
| 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 $64,060. The published range is $37,980 up to $106,140, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In New Jersey the take-home figure of $51,661, from $64,060, 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 260 of 490 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $47,446, the adjusted value of that $64,060 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 260 of 490 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for construction laborers in New Jersey the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $37,980 to $106,140. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for New Jersey is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $51,661 from $64,060. 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 260 of 490 locally.
- This $47,446 adjusted figure, worked from $64,060, 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 260 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 260 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 $70,400, 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $37,980 and the top tenth $106,140 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $47,446 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 $51,661 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $70,400. 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 ($37,980) and the ninetieth ($106,140) 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 $47,446 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 $51,661 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.