Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,722
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$5,208
14.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,298
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
$34,930
Kept after tax
$29,722
Worth in national money
$27,298
State rank
43
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. New Jersey pays this job a middle wage of $34,930, 43 of 50 states and about 8.8% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within New Jersey this is lower-paid work. Of 490 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 481. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $34,930, tax leaves $29,722 — and because New Jersey is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $27,298 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $37,760, since top earners drag the number up.
- New Jersey's $34,930 median for meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers places it 43 of 50 states, about 8.8% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation New Jersey reports, meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers ranks 481 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.
- After tax, $29,722 remains from the New Jersey median of $34,930 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $27,298 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $37,760 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,220 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $34,930 |
| Top tenth earn over | $51,110 |
| This salary | $34,930 |
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 | $29,722 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,246 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,828 |
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 | $34,278 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,629 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers in New Jersey earn under $34,930 and half over. The published range runs $32,220 at the tenth percentile to $51,110 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind New Jersey's $29,722, worked from $34,930. 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 481 of 490.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $27,298 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 481.
- Figures are distribution medians for meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers in New Jersey, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $32,220 to $51,110; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The New Jersey take-home of $29,722, on $34,930 for work ranking 481 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 481 of 490 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $27,298, worked from $34,930, 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 481 of 490 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $37,760, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $32,220 at the bottom tenth to $51,110 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $27,298 — 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, $29,722 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $37,760. 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 ($32,220 to $51,110) 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 $27,298 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 $29,722 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.