Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$55,178
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$13,932
20.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,677
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
$69,110
Kept after tax
$55,178
Worth in national money
$50,677
State rank
4
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. New Jersey's middle earner gets $69,110, putting the state 4 of 48 — about 25.63% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in New Jersey, this sits in the middle: 246 of 490 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $69,110, tax leaves $55,178 — and because New Jersey is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $50,677 would nationally. Here the average runs under the middle, at $64,290.
- For morticians, undertakers, and funeral arrangers, New Jersey sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $69,110, ranking 4 of 48 and running about 25.63% 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.
- Morticians, undertakers, and funeral arrangers ranks 246 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.
- After tax, $55,178 remains from the New Jersey median of $69,110 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $50,677 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $64,290 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Arrangers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,000 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $69,110 |
| Top tenth earn over | $94,810 |
| This salary | $69,110 |
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 | $55,178 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $57,449 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,442 |
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 | $65,959 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$10,535 |
| 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 $69,110. The published range is $33,000 up to $94,810, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind New Jersey's $55,178, worked from $69,110. 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 246 of 490.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $50,677 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 246.
- Reported values are medians; for morticians, undertakers, and funeral arrangers in New Jersey the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $33,000 to $94,810. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The New Jersey take-home of $55,178, on $69,110 for work ranking 246 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 246 of 490 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $50,677, worked from $69,110, 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 246 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 $64,290, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $33,000, the highest tenth $94,810, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $50,677 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; New Jersey then takes its own share, leaving $55,178.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 48 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $64,290. 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 ($33,000) and the ninetieth ($94,810) 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 $50,677 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 $55,178 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.