Waiters and Waitresses in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,369
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$7,591
16.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,320
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
$44,960
Kept after tax
$37,369
Worth in national money
$34,320
State rank
7
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. New Jersey pays waiters and waitresses a middle wage of $44,960, ranking 7 of 51 states and sitting about 27.62% above the national middle.
- Against 490 occupations New Jersey publishes, waiters and waitresses lands at 402. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $44,960, tax leaves $37,369 — and because New Jersey is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $34,320 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $50,260, since top earners drag the number up.
- New Jersey's median for waiters and waitresses is $44,960, about 27.62% above the national figure and 7 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 402 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, $37,369 remains from the New Jersey median of $44,960 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $34,320 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $50,260 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Waiters and Waitresses
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,220 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $44,960 |
| Top tenth earn over | $78,510 |
| This salary | $44,960 |
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 | $37,369 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,305 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,099 |
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 | $43,795 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,166 |
| 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 $44,960. The published range is $32,220 up to $78,510, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind New Jersey's $37,369, worked from $44,960. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 402 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 $34,320, the adjusted value of that $44,960 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 402 of 490 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for waiters and waitresses in New Jersey the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $32,220 to $78,510. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The New Jersey take-home of $37,369, on $44,960 for work ranking 402 of 490 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 402 of 490 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New Jersey, so $34,320 — the adjusted value of that $44,960 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 402 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 $50,260, 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $32,220 and the top tenth $78,510 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $34,320 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 $37,369.
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 $50,260. 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 ($32,220) and the ninetieth ($78,510) 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 $34,320 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 $37,369 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.