File Clerks in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,950
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$7,450
16.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,936
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
$44,400
Kept after tax
$36,950
Worth in national money
$33,936
State rank
16
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. New Jersey pays file clerks a middle wage of $44,400, ranking 16 of 49 states and sitting about 1.83% above the national middle.
- Measured against other jobs in New Jersey, this one sits low: 409 of 490 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $44,400, tax leaves $36,950 — and because New Jersey is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $33,936 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $47,060, since top earners drag the number up.
- New Jersey's median for file clerks is $44,400, about 1.83% above the national figure and 16 of 49 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- File clerks occupies position 409 of 490 in New Jersey's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- After tax, $36,950 remains from the New Jersey median of $44,400 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $33,936 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $47,060 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: File Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,370 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $44,400 |
| Top tenth earn over | $65,100 |
| This salary | $44,400 |
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 | $36,950 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $37,855 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,020 |
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 | $43,273 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,072 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $44,400 as a midpoint for New Jersey, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $33,370 and the ninetieth is $65,100 — 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 $36,950, worked from $44,400. 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 409 of 490.
- One number stands for prices across all of New Jersey, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $33,936, the adjusted value of that $44,400 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 409 of 490 in the state.
- The New Jersey median of $44,400 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $33,370 to $65,100. 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 $36,950, on $44,400 for work ranking 409 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 409 of 490 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New Jersey, so $33,936 — the adjusted value of that $44,400 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 409 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 $47,060 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 $33,370 at the bottom tenth to $65,100 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $33,936 of national purchasing power.
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 $36,950.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $47,060. 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 ($33,370 to $65,100) 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 $33,936 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 $36,950 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.