Transportation Security Screeners in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$58,608
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$15,792
21.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,826
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
$74,400
Kept after tax
$58,608
Worth in national money
$53,826
State rank
2
of 45 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 $74,400, ranking 2 of 45 states and sitting about 11.43% above the national middle.
- Against other work in New Jersey, this sits in the middle: 226 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 $74,400 the take-home is $58,608; in national-average money that behaves like $53,826. The average lands at $73,490, below the middle of the range.
- New Jersey's median for transportation security screeners is $74,400, about 11.43% above the national figure and 2 of 45 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Transportation security screeners ranks 226 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 transportation security screeners in New Jersey, on $74,400, is $58,608; deflated by the state's price level, $53,826. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $73,490 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Transportation Security Screeners
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $58,860 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $74,400 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,600 |
| This salary | $74,400 |
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 | $58,608 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $61,170 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$9,123 |
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 | $70,757 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$12,016 |
| 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 transportation security screeners in New Jersey earn under $74,400 and half over. The published range runs $58,860 at the tenth percentile to $81,600 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $58,608 take-home in New Jersey comes from $74,400. 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 226 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 $53,826, the adjusted value of that $74,400 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 226 of 490 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for transportation security screeners in New Jersey, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $58,860 to $81,600; 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 $58,608, from $74,400, 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 226 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 2 of 45 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New Jersey, so $53,826 — the adjusted value of that $74,400 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 226 of 490 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $58,860 at the tenth percentile, $81,600 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $53,826 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; New Jersey then takes its own share, leaving $58,608.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 45 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($58,860 to $81,600) 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 $53,826 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 $58,608 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.