Opticians, Dispensing in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$57,350
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$15,110
20.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$52,671
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
$72,460
Kept after tax
$57,350
Worth in national money
$52,671
State rank
3
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- New Jersey is one of the better-paying states for opticians, dispensing. The middle earner takes $72,460, which ranks 3 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 53.32% above the national middle.
- Against other work in New Jersey, this sits in the middle: 235 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 $72,460, tax leaves $57,350 — and because New Jersey is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $52,671 would nationally. Here the average runs under the middle, at $69,680.
- New Jersey ranks 3 of 51 states publishing a median for opticians, dispensing, at $72,460 — about 53.32% 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.
- Opticians, dispensing ranks 235 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, $57,350 remains from the New Jersey median of $72,460 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $52,671 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $69,680 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: Opticians, Dispensing
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,110 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $72,460 |
| Top tenth earn over | $85,020 |
| This salary | $72,460 |
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 | $57,350 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $59,806 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,873 |
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 | $68,969 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$11,473 |
| 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 opticians, dispensing in New Jersey earn under $72,460 and half over. The published range runs $47,110 at the tenth percentile to $85,020 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 $57,350, worked from $72,460. 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 235 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 $52,671, the adjusted value of that $72,460 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 235 of 490 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for opticians, dispensing in New Jersey, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $47,110 to $85,020; 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 $57,350, on $72,460 for work ranking 235 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 235 of 490 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New Jersey, so $52,671 — the adjusted value of that $72,460 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 235 of 490 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $69,680 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $47,110 at the bottom tenth to $85,020 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $52,671 rather than its face figure.
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 $57,350.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $69,680. 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 ($47,110 to $85,020) 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 $52,671 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 $57,350 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.