Special Education Teachers, Secondary School in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$64,616
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$19,154
22.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$59,344
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
$83,770
Kept after tax
$64,616
Worth in national money
$59,344
State rank
8
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. New Jersey's middle earner gets $83,770, putting the state 8 of 51 — about 12.81% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 155 among 490 occupations New Jersey publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $83,770, tax leaves $64,616 — and because New Jersey is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $59,344 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $88,760, since top earners drag the number up.
- For special education teachers, secondary school, New Jersey sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $83,770, ranking 8 of 51 and running about 12.81% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Position 155 of 490 in New Jersey places special education teachers, secondary school in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After tax, $64,616 remains from the New Jersey median of $83,770 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $59,344 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $88,760 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, Secondary School
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $65,250 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $83,770 |
| Top tenth earn over | $110,050 |
| This salary | $83,770 |
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 | $64,616 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $67,762 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$10,388 |
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 | $79,298 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$14,349 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of special education teachers, secondary school in New Jersey earn under $83,770 and half over. The published range runs $65,250 at the tenth percentile to $110,050 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $64,616 take-home in New Jersey comes from $83,770. 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 155 of 490.
- Two cautions on $59,344, the adjusted value of that $83,770 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 155 of 490 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for special education teachers, secondary school in New Jersey, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $65,250 to $110,050; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $64,616, from $83,770, 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 155 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 8 of 51 for it.
- This $59,344 adjusted figure, worked from $83,770, 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 155 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 155 of 490 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $88,760, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $65,250 at the tenth percentile, $110,050 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 $59,344 — 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 $64,616 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 $88,760. 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 ($65,250 to $110,050) 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 $59,344 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 $64,616 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.