Project Management Specialists in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$89,679
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$33,301
27.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$82,363
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
$122,980
Kept after tax
$89,679
Worth in national money
$82,363
State rank
2
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for project management specialists is strong here. New Jersey's middle earner gets $122,980, putting the state 2 of 51 — about 20.19% ahead of the national figure.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 490 occupations New Jersey reports, project management specialists comes in at 56 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $122,980, tax leaves $89,679 — and because New Jersey is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $82,363 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $127,900, since top earners drag the number up.
- For project management specialists, New Jersey sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $122,980, ranking 2 of 51 and running about 20.19% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Project management specialists ranks 56 of 490 occupations by median in New Jersey, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- After tax, $89,679 remains from the New Jersey median of $122,980 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $82,363 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $127,900 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Project Management Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $74,410 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $122,980 |
| Top tenth earn over | $190,600 |
| This salary | $122,980 |
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 | $89,679 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $95,323 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$15,731 |
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 | $114,924 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$21,763 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $122,980 as a midpoint for New Jersey, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $74,410 and the ninetieth is $190,600 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $89,679 take-home in New Jersey comes from $122,980. 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 56 of 490.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $82,363 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 56.
- The New Jersey median of $122,980 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $74,410 to $190,600. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $89,679, from $122,980, 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 56 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 2 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $82,363, worked from $122,980, 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 56 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 $127,900 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $74,410 at the bottom tenth to $190,600 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $82,363 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 $89,679.
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 $127,900. 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 ($74,410) and the ninetieth ($190,600) 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 $82,363 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 $89,679 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.