Social and Human Service Assistants in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,958
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$8,462
17.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,698
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
$48,420
Kept after tax
$39,958
Worth in national money
$36,698
State rank
6
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. New Jersey pays this job a middle wage of $48,420, ranking 6 of 51 states and sitting about 5.42% above the national middle.
- Against 490 occupations New Jersey publishes, this job lands at 375. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $48,420, tax leaves $39,958 — and because New Jersey is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $36,698 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $51,770, since top earners drag the number up.
- New Jersey's median for social and human service assistants is $48,420, about 5.42% above the national figure and 6 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Within New Jersey, this work ranks 375 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.
- After tax, $39,958 remains from the New Jersey median of $48,420 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $36,698 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $51,770 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Social and Human Service Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,340 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,420 |
| Top tenth earn over | $72,800 |
| This salary | $48,420 |
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 | $39,958 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,085 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,582 |
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 | $47,017 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,751 |
| 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 $48,420. The published range is $34,340 up to $72,800, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $39,958 take-home in New Jersey comes from $48,420. 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 375 of 490.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $36,698 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 375.
- Reported values are medians; for social and human service assistants in New Jersey the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $34,340 to $72,800. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $39,958, from $48,420, 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 375 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 6 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $36,698, worked from $48,420, 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 375 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 $51,770, 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $34,340 at the bottom tenth to $72,800 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 $36,698 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 $39,958 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $51,770. 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 ($34,340) and the ninetieth ($72,800) 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 $36,698 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 $39,958 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.