Lawyers in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$113,510
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$47,920
29.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$104,250
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
$161,430
Kept after tax
$113,510
Worth in national money
$104,250
State rank
9
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- New Jersey is one of the better-paying states for lawyers. The middle earner takes $161,430, which ranks 9 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 1.1% above the national middle.
- Within New Jersey this is well-paid work. Of 490 occupations with published figures in the state, lawyers ranks 22 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $161,430, tax leaves $113,510 — and because New Jersey is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $104,250 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $184,090, since top earners drag the number up.
- New Jersey ranks 9 of 51 states publishing a median for lawyers, at $161,430 — about 1.1% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Ranked against every occupation New Jersey publishes a median for, lawyers sits 22 of 490 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- After tax, $113,510 remains from the New Jersey median of $161,430 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $104,250 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $184,090 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Lawyers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $93,810 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $161,430 |
| Top tenth earn over | $328,270 |
| This salary | $161,430 |
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 | $113,510 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $121,603 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$20,889 |
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 | $149,589 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$29,698 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $161,430 as a midpoint for New Jersey, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $93,810 and the ninetieth is $328,270 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $113,510 take-home in New Jersey comes from $161,430. 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 22 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 $104,250, the adjusted value of that $161,430 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 22 of 490 in the state.
- The New Jersey median of $161,430 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $93,810 to $328,270. 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 $113,510, from $161,430, 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 22 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 9 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New Jersey, so $104,250 — the adjusted value of that $161,430 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 22 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 $184,090 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $93,810 at the bottom tenth to $328,270 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $104,250 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and New Jersey's own levy, $113,510 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $184,090. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($93,810) and the ninetieth ($328,270) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
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 $104,250 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 $113,510 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.