Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$51,294
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$12,276
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$47,109
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
$63,570
Kept after tax
$51,294
Worth in national money
$47,109
State rank
4
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. New Jersey's middle earner gets $63,570, putting the state 4 of 51 — about 8.41% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 263 among 490 occupations New Jersey publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $63,570, tax leaves $51,294 — and because New Jersey is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $47,109 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $66,770, since top earners drag the number up.
- For heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, New Jersey sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $63,570, ranking 4 of 51 and running about 8.41% 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.
- Position 263 of 490 in New Jersey places heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers 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.
- After tax, $51,294 remains from the New Jersey median of $63,570 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $47,109 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $66,770 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,950 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $63,570 |
| Top tenth earn over | $90,310 |
| This salary | $63,570 |
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 | $51,294 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,258 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,698 |
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 | $61,125 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,309 |
| 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 $63,570. The published range is $47,950 up to $90,310, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $51,294 take-home in New Jersey comes from $63,570. 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 263 of 490.
- Two cautions on $47,109, the adjusted value of that $63,570 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 263 of 490 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in New Jersey the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $47,950 to $90,310. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $51,294, from $63,570, 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 263 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 4 of 51 for it.
- This $47,109 adjusted figure, worked from $63,570, 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 263 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 263 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 $66,770, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $47,950 at the bottom tenth to $90,310 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 $47,109 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 $51,294.
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 $66,770. 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 ($47,950 to $90,310) 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 $47,109 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 $51,294 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.