Photographers in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,037
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$6,483
16.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,260
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
$40,520
Kept after tax
$34,037
Worth in national money
$31,260
State rank
26
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. New Jersey pays photographers around $40,520 at the midpoint, 26 of 49 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 490 occupations New Jersey publishes, photographers lands at 430. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $40,520 the take-home is $34,037. But New Jersey costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $31,260 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $53,410, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For photographers the New Jersey median is $40,520, ranking 26 of 49 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within New Jersey, this work ranks 430 of 490 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and New Jersey income tax is $34,037 for photographers, from $40,520. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $31,260. ⚠️ 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 $53,410 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Photographers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,990 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $40,520 |
| Top tenth earn over | $91,780 |
| This salary | $40,520 |
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 | $34,037 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $34,738 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,487 |
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 | $39,648 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,427 |
| 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 $40,520. The published range is $34,990 up to $91,780, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $34,037 take-home in New Jersey comes from $40,520. 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 430 of 490.
- Two cautions on $31,260, the adjusted value of that $40,520 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 430 of 490 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for photographers in New Jersey the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $34,990 to $91,780. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $34,037, from $40,520, 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 430 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 26 of 49 for it.
- This $31,260 adjusted figure, worked from $40,520, 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 430 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 430 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 $53,410, 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 $34,990, the highest tenth $91,780, 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 $31,260 of national purchasing power.
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 $34,037 of this wage survives to your account.
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 49 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 $53,410. 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 ($34,990) and the ninetieth ($91,780) 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 $31,260 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 $34,037 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.