Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,138
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$8,522
17.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,863
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
$48,660
Kept after tax
$40,138
Worth in national money
$36,863
State rank
8
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- New Jersey is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $48,660, which ranks 8 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 5.94% above the national middle.
- Within New Jersey this is lower-paid work. Of 490 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 371. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $48,660 the take-home is $40,138. But New Jersey costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $36,863 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $50,630, because the best-paid pull it up.
- New Jersey ranks 8 of 51 states publishing a median for medical secretaries and administrative assistants, at $48,660 — about 5.94% 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.
- Against every occupation New Jersey reports, medical secretaries and administrative assistants ranks 371 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and New Jersey income tax is $40,138 for medical secretaries and administrative assistants, from $48,660. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $36,863. ⚠️ 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 $50,630 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,310 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,660 |
| Top tenth earn over | $62,400 |
| This salary | $48,660 |
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 | $40,138 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,278 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,615 |
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 | $47,240 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,791 |
| 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 medical secretaries and administrative assistants in New Jersey earn under $48,660 and half over. The published range runs $38,310 at the tenth percentile to $62,400 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $40,138 take-home in New Jersey comes from $48,660. 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 371 of 490.
- Two cautions on $36,863, the adjusted value of that $48,660 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 371 of 490 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for medical secretaries and administrative assistants in New Jersey, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $38,310 to $62,400; 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.
- Retained pay of $40,138, from $48,660, 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 371 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 8 of 51 for it.
- This $36,863 adjusted figure, worked from $48,660, 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 371 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 371 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 $50,630, 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?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $38,310 and the top tenth $62,400, 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?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $36,863 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and New Jersey adds its own income tax on top — which is why $40,138 of this wage survives to your account.
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 $50,630. 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 ($38,310 to $62,400) 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 $36,863 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 $40,138 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.