Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten and Elementary School in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,067
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$16,593
21.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$55,167
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
$76,660
Kept after tax
$60,067
Worth in national money
$55,167
State rank
12
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 $76,660, ranking 12 of 51 states and sitting about 17.72% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 490 occupations New Jersey reports figures for, this is number 210.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $76,660, tax leaves $60,067 — and because New Jersey is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $55,167 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $80,520, since top earners drag the number up.
- New Jersey's median for special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school is $76,660, about 17.72% above the national figure and 12 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.
- In New Jersey's occupational distribution, special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school sits at 210 of 490 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- After tax, $60,067 remains from the New Jersey median of $76,660 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $55,167 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $80,520 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten and Elementary School
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $61,710 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $76,660 |
| Top tenth earn over | $103,680 |
| This salary | $76,660 |
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 | $60,067 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $62,760 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$9,418 |
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 | $72,832 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$12,655 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $76,660 as a midpoint for New Jersey, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $61,710 and the ninetieth is $103,680 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In New Jersey the take-home figure of $60,067, from $76,660, 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 210 of 490 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $55,167, the adjusted value of that $76,660 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 210 of 490 locally.
- The New Jersey median of $76,660 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $61,710 to $103,680. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for New Jersey is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $60,067 from $76,660. 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 210 of 490 locally.
- This $55,167 adjusted figure, worked from $76,660, 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 210 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 210 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 $80,520, 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?
The range here is narrow. From $61,710 at the bottom tenth to $103,680 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $55,167 — 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 $60,067 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 $80,520. 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 ($61,710 to $103,680) 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 $55,167 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 $60,067 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.