Orderlies in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,615
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$6,055
15.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,955
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
$38,670
Kept after tax
$32,615
Worth in national money
$29,955
State rank
20
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- New Jersey sits in the middle of the pack for orderlies. The median is $38,670, ranking 20 of 47 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Measured against other jobs in New Jersey, this one sits low: 446 of 490 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $38,670, tax leaves $32,615 — and because New Jersey is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $29,955 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $40,090, since top earners drag the number up.
- New Jersey occupies the middle band for orderlies: a median of $38,670, ranking 20 of 47. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Orderlies occupies position 446 of 490 in New Jersey's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- After tax, $32,615 remains from the New Jersey median of $38,670 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $29,955 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $40,090 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Orderlies
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,770 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,670 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,980 |
| This salary | $38,670 |
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 | $32,615 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,251 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,263 |
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 | $37,879 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,156 |
| 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 orderlies in New Jersey earn under $38,670 and half over. The published range runs $34,770 at the tenth percentile to $45,980 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $32,615 take-home in New Jersey comes from $38,670. 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 446 of 490.
- Two cautions on $29,955, the adjusted value of that $38,670 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 446 of 490 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for orderlies in New Jersey, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $34,770 to $45,980; 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 $32,615, from $38,670, 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 446 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 20 of 47 for it.
- This $29,955 adjusted figure, worked from $38,670, 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 446 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 446 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 $40,090 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 $34,770 at the bottom tenth to $45,980 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 $29,955 rather than its face figure.
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 $32,615 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 47 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 $40,090. 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 ($34,770 to $45,980) 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 $29,955 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 $32,615 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.