New Jersey · BLS May 2025

How much do occupational therapy assistants make in New Jersey?

Occupational therapy assistants in New Jersey earn a median of $74,960 a year ($36.04 an hour), about $4,914 a month after federal, state and FICA tax. Figure from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey. The survey counted 1,080 of these jobs in New Jersey in May 2025.

Median pay · New Jersey

$74,960A year, or $36 an hour.
Take-home a month$4,914After federal, state and FICA tax at 21.3%
Worth at national prices$68,894Prices here sit at 108.8 against 100
Against the nation3.7% aboveNational median $72,300
What occupational therapy assistants earn in New Jersey, May 2025
PercentileAnnualHourly
10th percentile1 in 10 earn less$65,550$32
25th percentile$74,930$36
MedianHalf earn more, half less$74,960$36
75th percentile$79,930$38
90th percentile1 in 10 earn more$100,700$48
MeanAll pay divided by all jobs$77,640$37

Wage survey · BLS May 2025

How we got this
  1. Median wage in New JerseyBLS OEWS May 2025. Half of the people in this job were paid more than this, half less.$74,960
  2. Median hourly wagePublished separately by BLS, not divided out of the annual figure.$36.04
  3. Take-home after federal, state and FICA tax$4,914 a month at an effective rate of 21.3%.$58,971 a year
  4. Worth at national average pricesPrices in New Jersey sit at 108.8 against a national 100 (BEA, 2024).$68,894
  5. Against the national medianThe national median is $72,300.3.7% above
  6. Jobs countedA concentration of 0.76 against the nation's 1.00.1,080
What we assumed
  • Wages are BLS OEWS survey estimates for May 2025, not job postings or offers.
  • OEWS surveys wage and salary workers. The self-employed and business owners are outside it.
  • Take-home assumes one 2026 filer, filing single, taking the standard deduction, with no dependents, pre-tax retirement contributions or local income tax.
  • Regional price parities compare price levels between places in one year. They are not inflation, and they do not adjust for what a household actually buys.
Technical details

Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1

What lands in the bank

Tax year 2026 · Interactive

Estimated on the median salary of $74,960 in New Jersey, for a single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026. Explore other wage levels and filing statuses below.

$74,960
$65,000$105,000
Filing status:
Gross salary breakdown$74,960
Net 79%
Fed 10%
NJ 3%
FICA 8%
Annual take-home$58,971After all taxes
Monthly deposit$4,914Estimated per month
Biweekly paycheck$2,268Every 2 weeks (26/yr)
Effective tax rate21.3%Total tax burden
Federal income tax$7,661 / yr
New Jersey state income tax$2,594 / yr
FICA (Social Security & Medicare)$5,734 / yr

Run the numbers on your own pay

Same U.S. tax tables as the rest of the site. Change the salary, state, or filing status.

What $74,960 is worth in New Jersey

Prices in New Jersey sit at 108.8 against a national average of 100, so $74,960 earned here buys what $68,894 buys at national average prices.

  • Rents. 134.3 against 100, the component that moves most between states.
  • Against local households. The median household in New Jersey takes in $103,556, so this occupation's median is 0.72 times that, on one income.
  • How common the job is here. 24% less concentrated in New Jersey than in the country as a whole.

Compare two places properly →

Reading the numbers

What stands out for occupational therapy assistants in New Jersey

Rents in New Jersey index at 134.3 (U.S. = 100) while prices overall index at 108.8, a gap of +25.5 pts. For a renter, housing moves the local cost of living more than anything else.

Prices in New Jersey index at 108.8 (U.S. = 100), so the $74,960 median buys roughly what $68,894 would at national prices, $6,066 less.

Even the lowest-paid 10% of occupational therapy assistants in New Jersey make at least $65,550 a year.

The top of the pay range is stretched out. Going from the 75th to the 90th percentile adds $20,770, against $4,970 from the median to the 75th. The best-paid 10% of occupational therapy assistants in New Jersey make $100,700 or more.

Common questions

Occupational Therapy Assistants pay in New Jersey, answered

How much do occupational therapy assistants make in New Jersey?

The median wage for occupational therapy assistants in New Jersey is $74,960 a year, or $36.04 an hour.

Half earn more than that and half earn less. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey for May 2025.

What is the average Occupational Therapy Assistants salary in New Jersey?

BLS’s mean (average) wage for occupational therapy assistants in New Jersey is $77,640 a year. The median is $74,960.

The mean sits higher when a smaller group of high earners pulls the average up. For a typical paycheck, the median is the better middle.

What is the hourly pay for occupational therapy assistants in New Jersey?

The median hourly wage is $36.04. At a full-time year that lines up with about $74,960 a year.

BLS May 2025; hourly and annual figures come from the same survey.

What is the starting salary for occupational therapy assistants in New Jersey?

BLS does not publish starting pay. The closest figure it does publish is the low end of the range: in New Jersey, the lowest-paid 10% of occupational therapy assistants earn under $65,550 a year and a quarter earn under $74,930 ($31.52 and $36.03 an hour).

New hires often start somewhere in that band, but the May 2025 survey does not record experience, so read it as a floor to compare an offer against rather than a typical first salary.

What is the salary range for occupational therapy assistants in New Jersey?

The overall salary range for occupational therapy assistants in New Jersey spans from $65,550 for the bottom 10% to $100,700 for top earners.

The middle 50% earn between $74,930 and $79,930 a year, with the overall median at $74,960.

What is the take-home pay for occupational therapy assistants in New Jersey?

On the median wage of $74,960, a single filer taking the 2026 standard deduction keeps an estimated $58,971 a year, or roughly $4,914 a month.

That is after federal, state and FICA tax, an effective rate of 21.3%.

New Jersey takes $2,594 of it in state income tax.

How much does occupational therapy assistants make a month in New Jersey?

On the median annual salary of $74,960, estimated take-home pay is roughly $4,914 a month after federal, state, and FICA taxes.

For workers paid on a standard biweekly schedule (26 pay periods per year), each paycheck is approximately $2,268 net.

Do occupational therapy assistants earn more in New Jersey than in the rest of the country?

Yes. The median in New Jersey is 3.7% above the national median of $72,300.

Nominal pay is only half the comparison: prices in New Jersey sit at 108.8 against a national 100, so the gap in what the money buys is different from the gap in the salary.

Is $74,960 a good salary in New Jersey?

It is 0.72 times the median household income of $103,556. A household often has more than one earner, so a single salary at this level goes further than the ratio alone suggests.

Prices in New Jersey run at 108.8 against a national average of 100, with rents at 134.3, so $74,960 here buys about what $68,894 buys at national average prices.

What do the highest-paid occupational therapy assistants earn in New Jersey?

The top tenth earn $100,700 a year or more. The 10th-percentile wage is $65,550.

Experience, specialty, employer and the part of New Jersey someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.

How many occupational therapy assistants are there in New Jersey?

The survey counted 1,080 of these jobs in New Jersey for May 2025.

That makes the occupation 24% less concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.

Sources

Where this data comes from

Notice a discrepancy with official data? Report an issue to hello@costanswer.com ↗