Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$59,100
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$16,060
21.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,279
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
$75,160
Kept after tax
$59,100
Worth in national money
$54,279
State rank
11
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. New Jersey's middle earner gets $75,160, putting the state 11 of 51 — about 16.71% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in New Jersey, this sits in the middle: 218 of 490 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $75,160 the take-home is $59,100. But New Jersey costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $54,279 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is lower, $74,600, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- For licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses, New Jersey sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $75,160, ranking 11 of 51 and running about 16.71% 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.
- Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses ranks 218 of 490 occupations in New Jersey by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and New Jersey income tax is $59,100 for licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses, from $75,160. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $54,279. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $74,600 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $63,210 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $75,160 |
| Top tenth earn over | $85,400 |
| This salary | $75,160 |
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 | $59,100 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $61,705 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$9,220 |
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 | $71,457 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$12,229 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $75,160 as a midpoint for New Jersey, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $63,210 and the ninetieth is $85,400 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In New Jersey the take-home figure of $59,100, from $75,160, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 218 of 490 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of New Jersey, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $54,279, the adjusted value of that $75,160 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 218 of 490 in the state.
- The New Jersey median of $75,160 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $63,210 to $85,400. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for New Jersey is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $59,100 from $75,160. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 218 of 490 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New Jersey, so $54,279 — the adjusted value of that $75,160 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 218 of 490 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $63,210 and the top tenth $85,400, so most people doing this work in New Jersey sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $54,279 — 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, $59,100 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($63,210 to $85,400) 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 $54,279 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 $59,100 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.