Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,514
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$8,986
17.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,128
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
$50,500
Kept after tax
$41,514
Worth in national money
$38,128
State rank
32
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. New Jersey is 32 of 50 states for this job, with a middle wage of $50,500. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in New Jersey, this sits in the middle: 353 of 490 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $50,500 the take-home is $41,514. But New Jersey costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $38,128 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $56,050, because the best-paid pull it up.
- New Jersey ranks 32 of 50 for paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators at $50,500. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators ranks 353 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and New Jersey income tax is $41,514 for paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators, from $50,500. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $38,128. ⚠️ 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 $56,050 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,300 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $50,500 |
| Top tenth earn over | $72,890 |
| This salary | $50,500 |
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 | $41,514 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,757 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,872 |
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 | $48,954 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,102 |
| 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 paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators in New Jersey earn under $50,500 and half over. The published range runs $42,300 at the tenth percentile to $72,890 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $41,514 take-home in New Jersey comes from $50,500. 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 353 of 490.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $38,128 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 353.
- Figures are distribution medians for paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators in New Jersey, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $42,300 to $72,890; 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 $41,514, from $50,500, 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 353 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 32 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $38,128, worked from $50,500, 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 353 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 $56,050 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $42,300 and the top tenth $72,890, 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 $38,128 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and New Jersey's own levy, $41,514 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $56,050. 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 ($42,300 to $72,890) 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 $38,128 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 $41,514 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.