Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$98,641
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$38,799
28.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$90,594
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
$137,440
Kept after tax
$98,641
Worth in national money
$90,594
State rank
6
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. New Jersey's middle earner gets $137,440, putting the state 6 of 51 — about 29.82% ahead of the national figure.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 490 occupations New Jersey reports, this job comes in at 36 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- New Jersey is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $137,440 the take-home is $98,641; in national-average money that behaves like $90,594. The average comes to $145,910, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For education administrators, kindergarten through secondary, New Jersey sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $137,440, ranking 6 of 51 and running about 29.82% 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.
- Education administrators, kindergarten through secondary ranks 36 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 education administrators, kindergarten through secondary in New Jersey, on $137,440, is $98,641; deflated by the state's price level, $90,594. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $145,910 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $103,030 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $137,440 |
| Top tenth earn over | $188,060 |
| This salary | $137,440 |
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 | $98,641 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $105,206 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$17,671 |
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 | $127,835 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$24,854 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $137,440 as a midpoint for New Jersey, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $103,030 and the ninetieth is $188,060 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In New Jersey the take-home figure of $98,641, from $137,440, 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 36 of 490 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $90,594 uses one figure for the whole of New Jersey. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 490 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 36.
- The New Jersey median of $137,440 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $103,030 to $188,060. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for New Jersey is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $98,641 from $137,440. 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 36 of 490 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $90,594, worked from $137,440, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular New Jersey address, on work sitting at 36 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 $145,910 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $103,030 and the top tenth $188,060, so most people doing this work in New Jersey sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $90,594 — 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 $98,641.
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 $145,910. 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 ($103,030 to $188,060) 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 $90,594 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 $98,641 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.
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.