Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$63,612
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$18,588
22.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$58,422
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
$82,200
Kept after tax
$63,612
Worth in national money
$58,422
State rank
7
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 $82,200, which ranks 7 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 14.1% above the national middle.
- Against other work in New Jersey, this sits in the middle: 162 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 $82,200 the take-home is $63,612; in national-average money that behaves like $58,422. The average comes to $87,100, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- New Jersey ranks 7 of 51 states publishing a median for secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education, at $82,200 — about 14.1% 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.
- Secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education ranks 162 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 secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education in New Jersey, on $82,200, is $63,612; deflated by the state's price level, $58,422. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $87,100 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $63,040 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $82,200 |
| Top tenth earn over | $108,230 |
| This salary | $82,200 |
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 | $63,612 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $66,658 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$10,174 |
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 | $77,870 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$14,053 |
| 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 $82,200. The published range is $63,040 up to $108,230, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $63,612 take-home in New Jersey comes from $82,200. 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 162 of 490.
- Two cautions on $58,422, the adjusted value of that $82,200 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 162 of 490 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education in New Jersey the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $63,040 to $108,230. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $63,612, from $82,200, 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 162 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 7 of 51 for it.
- This $58,422 adjusted figure, worked from $82,200, 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 162 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 162 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 $87,100, 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?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $63,040 at the tenth percentile, $108,230 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in New Jersey run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $58,422 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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, $63,612 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $87,100. 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 ($63,040 to $108,230) 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 $58,422 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 $63,612 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.