Nursing Assistants in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,768
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$8,062
17.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,605
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
$46,830
Kept after tax
$38,768
Worth in national money
$35,605
State rank
10
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for nursing assistants is strong here. New Jersey's middle earner gets $46,830, putting the state 10 of 51 — about 10.81% ahead of the national figure.
- Within New Jersey this is lower-paid work. Of 490 occupations the state publishes figures for, nursing assistants ranks 386. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $46,830, tax leaves $38,768 — and because New Jersey is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $35,605 would nationally. Here the average runs under the middle, at $46,810.
- For nursing assistants, New Jersey sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $46,830, ranking 10 of 51 and running about 10.81% 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.
- Against every occupation New Jersey reports, nursing assistants ranks 386 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, $38,768 remains from the New Jersey median of $46,830 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $35,605 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $46,810 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Nursing Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,900 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,830 |
| Top tenth earn over | $55,140 |
| This salary | $46,830 |
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 | $38,768 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,808 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,360 |
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 | $45,536 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,482 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $46,830 as a midpoint for New Jersey, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $38,900 and the ninetieth is $55,140 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind New Jersey's $38,768, worked from $46,830. 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 386 of 490.
- One number stands for prices across all of New Jersey, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $35,605, the adjusted value of that $46,830 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 386 of 490 in the state.
- The New Jersey median of $46,830 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $38,900 to $55,140. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The New Jersey take-home of $38,768, on $46,830 for work ranking 386 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 386 of 490 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New Jersey, so $35,605 — the adjusted value of that $46,830 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 386 of 490 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $38,900 at the bottom tenth to $55,140 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $35,605 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 $38,768.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($38,900 to $55,140) 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 $35,605 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 $38,768 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.