Mechanical Drafters in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$64,366
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$19,014
22.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$59,115
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
$83,380
Kept after tax
$64,366
Worth in national money
$59,115
State rank
3
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. New Jersey pays mechanical drafters a middle wage of $83,380, ranking 3 of 47 states and sitting about 16.53% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Mechanical drafters ranks 156 among 490 occupations New Jersey publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $83,380, tax leaves $64,366 — and because New Jersey is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $59,115 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $86,540, since top earners drag the number up.
- New Jersey's median for mechanical drafters is $83,380, about 16.53% above the national figure and 3 of 47 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Position 156 of 490 in New Jersey places mechanical drafters in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After tax, $64,366 remains from the New Jersey median of $83,380 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $59,115 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $86,540 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Mechanical Drafters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $55,890 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $83,380 |
| Top tenth earn over | $121,250 |
| This salary | $83,380 |
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 | $64,366 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $67,488 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$10,335 |
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 | $78,943 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$14,275 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in New Jersey earn less than $83,380. The published range is $55,890 up to $121,250, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In New Jersey the take-home figure of $64,366, from $83,380, 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 156 of 490 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $59,115 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 156.
- Reported values are medians; for mechanical drafters in New Jersey the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $55,890 to $121,250. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for New Jersey is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $64,366 from $83,380. 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 156 of 490 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $59,115, worked from $83,380, 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 156 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 $86,540, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $55,890 and the top tenth $121,250 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. New Jersey costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $59,115 rather than its face figure.
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, $64,366 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 47 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $86,540. 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 ($55,890) and the ninetieth ($121,250) 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 $59,115 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 $64,366 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.