Recreational Therapists in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,922
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$11,478
19.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,931
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
$60,400
Kept after tax
$48,922
Worth in national money
$44,931
State rank
21
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. New Jersey pays recreational therapists around $60,400 at the midpoint, 21 of 48 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in New Jersey, this sits in the middle: 287 of 490 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- New Jersey is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $60,400 the take-home is $48,922; in national-average money that behaves like $44,931. The average comes to $65,780, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For recreational therapists the New Jersey median is $60,400, ranking 21 of 48 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.
- Recreational therapists ranks 287 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.
- Take-home for recreational therapists in New Jersey, on $60,400, is $48,922; deflated by the state's price level, $44,931. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $65,780 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Recreational Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $49,810 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $60,400 |
| Top tenth earn over | $85,580 |
| This salary | $60,400 |
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 | $48,922 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,711 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,255 |
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 | $58,173 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,774 |
| 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 $60,400. The published range is $49,810 up to $85,580, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In New Jersey the take-home figure of $48,922, from $60,400, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 287 of 490 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $44,931, the adjusted value of that $60,400 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 287 of 490 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for recreational therapists in New Jersey the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $49,810 to $85,580. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for New Jersey is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $48,922 from $60,400. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 287 of 490 locally.
- This $44,931 adjusted figure, worked from $60,400, 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 287 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 287 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 $65,780, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $49,810 and the top tenth $85,580, 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?
The number and the value are different things. New Jersey costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $44,931 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 $48,922 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 48 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 $65,780. 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 ($49,810 to $85,580) 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 $44,931 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 $48,922 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.