Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$70,272
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$22,338
24.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$64,539
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
$92,610
Kept after tax
$70,272
Worth in national money
$64,539
State rank
8
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- New Jersey is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $92,610, which ranks 8 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 21.52% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 129 among 490 occupations New Jersey publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $92,610, tax leaves $70,272 — and because New Jersey is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $64,539 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $93,700, since top earners drag the number up.
- New Jersey ranks 8 of 51 states publishing a median for police and sheriff's patrol officers, at $92,610 — about 21.52% 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.
- Position 129 of 490 in New Jersey places police and sheriff's patrol officers in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After tax, $70,272 remains from the New Jersey median of $92,610 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $64,539 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $93,700 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $57,740 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $92,610 |
| Top tenth earn over | $134,260 |
| This salary | $92,610 |
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 | $70,272 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $73,981 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$11,593 |
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 | $87,337 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$16,014 |
| 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 police and sheriff's patrol officers in New Jersey earn under $92,610 and half over. The published range runs $57,740 at the tenth percentile to $134,260 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $70,272 take-home in New Jersey comes from $92,610. 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 129 of 490.
- Two cautions on $64,539, the adjusted value of that $92,610 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 129 of 490 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for police and sheriff's patrol officers in New Jersey, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $57,740 to $134,260; 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 $70,272, from $92,610, 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 129 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 8 of 51 for it.
- This $64,539 adjusted figure, worked from $92,610, 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 129 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 129 of 490 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $57,740 and the top tenth $134,260 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $64,539 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 $70,272.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($57,740) and the ninetieth ($134,260) 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 $64,539 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 $70,272 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.