Helpers--Pipelayers, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,920
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$7,440
16.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,908
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
$44,360
Kept after tax
$36,920
Worth in national money
$33,908
State rank
17
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. New Jersey pays this job around $44,360 at the midpoint, 17 of 48 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 490 occupations New Jersey publishes, this job lands at 410. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $44,360, tax leaves $36,920 — and because New Jersey is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $33,908 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $45,580, since top earners drag the number up.
- For helpers--pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters the New Jersey median is $44,360, ranking 17 of 48 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within New Jersey, this work ranks 410 of 490 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After tax, $36,920 remains from the New Jersey median of $44,360 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $33,908 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $45,580 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Helpers--Pipelayers, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,430 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $44,360 |
| Top tenth earn over | $57,780 |
| This salary | $44,360 |
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 | $36,920 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $37,823 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,015 |
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 | $43,236 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,065 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $44,360 as a midpoint for New Jersey, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $38,430 and the ninetieth is $57,780 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $36,920 take-home in New Jersey comes from $44,360. 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 410 of 490.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $33,908 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 410.
- The New Jersey median of $44,360 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $38,430 to $57,780. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $36,920, from $44,360, 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 410 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 17 of 48 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $33,908, worked from $44,360, 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 410 of 490 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $38,430 at the bottom tenth to $57,780 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 $33,908 of national purchasing power.
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 $36,920 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($38,430 to $57,780) 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 $33,908 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 $36,920 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.