Software Developers in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$97,712
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$38,228
28.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$89,740
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
$135,940
Kept after tax
$97,712
Worth in national money
$89,740
State rank
11
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. New Jersey pays software developers a middle wage of $135,940, ranking 11 of 50 states and sitting about 0.03% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in New Jersey. It ranks 37 out of 490 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- New Jersey is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $135,940 the take-home is $97,712; in national-average money that behaves like $89,740. The average comes to $143,800, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- New Jersey's median for software developers is $135,940, about 0.03% above the national figure and 11 of 50 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, software developers ranks 37 of 490 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Take-home for software developers in New Jersey, on $135,940, is $97,712; deflated by the state's price level, $89,740. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $143,800 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Software Developers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $84,880 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $135,940 |
| Top tenth earn over | $207,200 |
| This salary | $135,940 |
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 | $97,712 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $104,181 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$17,470 |
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 | $126,475 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$24,533 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $135,940 as a midpoint for New Jersey, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $84,880 and the ninetieth is $207,200 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $97,712 take-home in New Jersey comes from $135,940. 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 37 of 490.
- One number stands for prices across all of New Jersey, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $89,740, the adjusted value of that $135,940 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 37 of 490 in the state.
- The New Jersey median of $135,940 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $84,880 to $207,200. 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 $97,712, from $135,940, 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 37 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 11 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New Jersey, so $89,740 — the adjusted value of that $135,940 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 37 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 $143,800 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $84,880, the highest tenth $207,200, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $89,740 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 $97,712 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $143,800. 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 ($84,880) and the ninetieth ($207,200) 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 $89,740 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 $97,712 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.