New Jersey Paycheck Calculator

New Jersey stacks four separate employee payroll deductions on top of income tax — unemployment, workforce development, temporary disability and family leave — and it is one of the very few states with no standard deduction at all. The good news for 2026 is that both the TDI and FLI rates were cut.

Tax year 2026 · Updated 2026-08-29 · Federal withholding follows IRS Publication 15-T · New Jersey tax authority

How New Jersey taxes your paycheck

Form NJ-W4 drives income tax withholding across seven brackets for single filers and eight for joint filers, including a 2.45% band that exists only for married and head-of-household filers. There is no standard deduction; a $1,000 personal exemption and $1,500 per dependent are the only reductions. Separately, four contributions come out: UI at 0.3825% and workforce development at 0.0425% on the first $44,800, TDI at 0.19% and FLI at 0.23% on the first $171,100. The four together cap out at about $909 for the year.

Every New Jersey paycheck starts with the same two federal layers. Federal income tax is calculated with the IRS percentage method from Publication 15-T: your pay is annualized, adjusted for the entries on your Form W-4, run through the withholding schedule for your filing status, then divided back down to a per-paycheck figure. On top of that, Social Security and Medicare take a combined 7.65% — 6.2% for Social Security on wages up to $184,500 in 2026, and 1.45% for Medicare with no ceiling at all. Only after those two layers does anything state-specific apply.

New Jersey income tax rates for 2026

New Jersey uses graduated brackets. New Jersey has no standard deduction and a joint-only 2.45% bracket.

Joint filers use a different schedule, which is where a great deal of the difference between two households on identical salaries comes from.

Local income taxes in New Jersey

No New Jersey city, county or school district levies an income tax on wages. Whatever your stub shows beyond federal tax, FICA and your own benefit elections, it is not a local income tax — which makes New Jersey simpler to model than neighbouring states that stack city taxes on top of the state rate. If you commute into another state for work, though, that state's local taxes can still reach you; our guide to working in two states covers how that works.

Other deductions from a New Jersey paycheck

Beyond income tax, New Jersey withholds for state social-insurance programmes. These are separate line items on your pay stub and they are not income tax — they buy you disability, family leave or unemployment coverage.

New Jersey take-home pay at different salaries

The table below runs the full 2026 calculation — federal withholding under Publication 15-T, Social Security, Medicare, New Jersey income tax and any state premiums — at ten common salary levels. It assumes a single filer, standard withholding with no Step 2 checkbox, no dependents and no pre-tax benefits, so treat it as a baseline rather than a personal figure.

A single filer earning $75,000 in New Jersey keeps about $58,491 a year, or $2,249.66 on a bi-weekly schedule — an effective total tax rate of 22% once federal tax, FICA and state tax are counted. Married filers generally keep more at the same gross because the federal joint schedule is wider; you can model that by switching the filing status in the calculator, or compare states side by side with the state paycheck comparison tool.

What actually changes your New Jersey paycheck

The single biggest factor for New Jersey commuters is where the work happens. New York taxes wages earned in New York and New Jersey grants a resident credit, so a Hudson-crossing commuter's real rate is set by New York, not New Jersey. Pennsylvania is the only reciprocity partner — a Philadelphia-area resident working across the river files Form NJ-165 and pays only their home state.

Three federal levers matter everywhere, and they are usually worth more than any state-specific trick. The first is Step 2 of your Form W-4: if you hold two jobs or your spouse works, leaving it blank tells the tables to assume your job is the household's only income, which under-withholds badly. Our W-4 walkthrough walks through it line by line. The second is pre-tax benefits — health premiums, an FSA or an HSA come out before Social Security and Medicare as well as income tax, so they are worth more per dollar than a 401(k) deferral. The third is the 401(k) paycheck calculator, which shows exactly how much take-home you give up for each percentage point you defer.

New Jersey minimum wage and hourly pay

The New Jersey minimum wage for 2026 is $15.92 an hour. New Jersey indexes annually; seasonal and very small employers pay a lower tier.

If you are paid by the hour rather than on salary, the New Jersey hourly paycheck calculator handles overtime, multiple rates and unpaid breaks. Here is what a full-time schedule of 40 hours a week looks like across a range of hourly rates in New Jersey.

Working across state lines from New Jersey

New Jersey has reciprocity agreements with Pennsylvania. A resident of one of those states who works in New Jersey files the appropriate exemption certificate and has no New Jersey income tax withheld — their home state taxes the wages instead. Reciprocity covers state income tax only: where a city or county tax applies, it is generally still withheld from non-residents.

Our guide to multi-state withholding covers the mechanics — resident credits, part-year returns, and what to do when you move mid-year.

Frequently asked questions

Related calculators

If you are paid hourly, start with the New Jersey hourly calculator instead. To see what a raise or a bonus does, the bonus tax calculator applies the 22% supplemental rate the IRS allows employers to use, and the gross-up calculator solves the problem in reverse when you need a specific amount to land in someone's account.