Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,675
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$6,685
16.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,846
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
$41,360
Kept after tax
$34,675
Worth in national money
$31,846
State rank
19
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. New Jersey is 19 of 51 states for landscaping and groundskeeping workers, with a middle wage of $41,360. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within New Jersey this is lower-paid work. Of 490 occupations the state publishes figures for, landscaping and groundskeeping workers ranks 424. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- New Jersey is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $41,360 the take-home is $34,675; in national-average money that behaves like $31,846. The average comes to $43,310, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- New Jersey ranks 19 of 51 for landscaping and groundskeeping workers at $41,360. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation New Jersey reports, landscaping and groundskeeping workers ranks 424 of 490, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Take-home for landscaping and groundskeeping workers in New Jersey, on $41,360, is $34,675; deflated by the state's price level, $31,846. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $43,310 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,450 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $41,360 |
| Top tenth earn over | $55,050 |
| This salary | $41,360 |
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 | $34,675 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $35,413 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,596 |
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 | $40,442 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,558 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $41,360 as a midpoint for New Jersey, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $35,450 and the ninetieth is $55,050 — 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 $34,675, worked from $41,360. 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 424 of 490.
- Two cautions on $31,846, the adjusted value of that $41,360 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 424 of 490 locally.
- The New Jersey median of $41,360 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $35,450 to $55,050. 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 $34,675, on $41,360 for work ranking 424 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 424 of 490 in the state.
- This $31,846 adjusted figure, worked from $41,360, 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 424 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 424 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 $43,310, 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?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $35,450 at the tenth percentile, $55,050 at the ninetieth.
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 $31,846 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 $34,675.
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 $43,310. 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 ($35,450 to $55,050) 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 $31,846 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 $34,675 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.