New Jersey · BLS May 2025
Also called line cook, cook. SOC 35-2014.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 28,800 cooks, restaurant working in New Jersey. Here is what they are paid, what the median leaves after federal, state and FICA tax, and what that is worth against local prices.
Median pay · New Jersey
$38,460A year, or $18.49 an hour.| Percentile | Annual | Hourly |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentileEntry and lowest-paid | $32,220 | $15.49 |
| 25th percentile | $35,880 | $17.25 |
| MedianHalf earn more, half less | $38,460 | $18.49 |
| 75th percentile | $45,600 | $21.92 |
| 90th percentileMost experienced and senior | $50,010 | $24.04 |
| MeanThe average, pulled up by the top | $40,770 | $19.60 |
Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1
A $38,460 salary in New Jersey, for one single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026.
Prices in New Jersey sit at 108.8 against a national average of 100, so $38,460 earned here buys what $35,348 buys at national average prices.
Common questions
The median wage for restaurant cooks in New Jersey is $38,460 a year, or $18.49 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.
On the median wage of $38,460, one filer taking the standard deduction keeps about $32,454 a year, or roughly $2,705 a month.
That is after federal, state and FICA tax, an effective rate of 15.6%.
New Jersey takes $629 of it in state income tax.
Yes. The median in New Jersey is 2.9% above the national median of $37,390.
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.
It is 0.37 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 $38,460 here buys about what $35,348 buys at national average prices.
The top tenth earn $50,010 a year or more, against $32,220 at the bottom tenth.
Experience, specialism, 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.
The survey counted 28,800 of these jobs in New Jersey for May 2025.
That makes the occupation 26% less concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.
Sources