Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$64,143
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$18,887
22.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$58,910
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
$83,030
Kept after tax
$64,143
Worth in national money
$58,910
State rank
12
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- New Jersey is one of the better-paying states for zoologists and wildlife biologists. The middle earner takes $83,030, which ranks 12 of 47 states with published figures. That is about 8.14% above the national middle.
- Against other work in New Jersey, this sits in the middle: 157 of 490 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $83,030, tax leaves $64,143 — and because New Jersey is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $58,910 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $92,150, since top earners drag the number up.
- New Jersey ranks 12 of 47 states publishing a median for zoologists and wildlife biologists, at $83,030 — about 8.14% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Zoologists and wildlife biologists ranks 157 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.
- After tax, $64,143 remains from the New Jersey median of $83,030 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $58,910 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $92,150 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $59,420 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $83,030 |
| Top tenth earn over | $128,790 |
| This salary | $83,030 |
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 | $64,143 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $67,242 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$10,287 |
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 | $78,625 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$14,209 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $83,030 as a midpoint for New Jersey, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $59,420 and the ninetieth is $128,790 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $64,143 take-home in New Jersey comes from $83,030. 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 157 of 490.
- Two cautions on $58,910, the adjusted value of that $83,030 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 157 of 490 locally.
- The New Jersey median of $83,030 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $59,420 to $128,790. 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 $64,143, from $83,030, 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 157 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 12 of 47 for it.
- This $58,910 adjusted figure, worked from $83,030, 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 157 of 490 in the state. The occupation ranks 157 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 $92,150, 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 $59,420 and the top tenth $128,790 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $58,910 — 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 $64,143 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 47 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 $92,150. 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 ($59,420) and the ninetieth ($128,790) 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 $58,910 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 $64,143 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.