New Jersey Paystub Generator

Reading a New Jersey pay stub, line by line

A New Jersey pay stub carries four employee-paid state lines besides income tax — more than almost any other state — and one of them (withholding) is deliberately set higher than the tax you actually owe. Here is what each line means in 2026:

NJ State Income Tax (often printed "NJ SIT" or "NJ Withholding"). New Jersey's Gross Income Tax has seven brackets from 1.4% to 10.75%, fixed in statute and unchanged since 2020. But the number on your stub is not computed from those brackets: employers use the Division of Taxation's Rate A withholding table (single filers), whose rates run 1.5% to 11.8% — on purpose, so most people get a refund. There is no state standard deduction; the only adjustment is a $1,000 allowance per exemption you claim on Form NJ-W4. On a $60,000 salary with one allowance, the stub withholds about $1,954 for the year while the actual tax comes to roughly $1,767.

NJ SUI (sometimes "NJ UI/WF/SWF" or, confusingly, "NJ SUI/SDI"). New Jersey is one of three states where employees contribute to unemployment insurance. For 2026 the worker rate is 0.3825% of the first $44,800 in wages (max $171.36), plus a Workforce Development / Supplemental Workforce Fund line of 0.0425% on the same base (max $19.04). Most payroll systems show the two together as one line: 0.425%, capped at $190.40 for the year. It stops appearing once you pass $44,800 in earnings.

NJ SDI (officially "DI" — Temporary Disability Insurance). 0.19% of wages up to $171,100 in 2026, a maximum of $325.09. This is down from 0.23% in 2025. It funds cash benefits when you can't work because of a non-work illness, injury, or pregnancy.

NJ FLI (Family Leave Insurance). 0.23% of wages up to $171,100, maximum $393.53 — also cut for 2026 (from 0.33%). It funds cash benefits while you are off to bond with a new child or to care for a seriously ill family member. Together, DI + FLI take 0.42% of every dollar until $171,100, which is why they are the only NJ program lines a six-figure earner still sees in December.

What you will NOT see: a city or county income tax. Newark and Jersey City each levy a 1% payroll tax, but the law makes it employer-paid — Jersey City's ordinance expressly forbids deducting it from wages. If a stub shows a "Newark tax" taken from your pay, question it. You also won't see the employer's own UI or TDI contributions, FUTA, or workers' compensation.

Plus the federal lines on every US stub: federal income tax, Social Security (6.2% up to $184,500 in 2026), and Medicare (1.45%, plus 0.9% on wages over $200,000).

New Jersey paycheck facts — 2026

What you actually take home in New Jersey (2026 estimates)

Estimated for a single filer taking the federal standard deduction, including federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, NJ income tax (statutory brackets with the $1,000 exemption), NJ UI/WF/SWF, DI, and FLI:

Your stub will show slightly less than this. Because NJ withholds at Rate A (1.5%–11.8%) rather than the true brackets, a $60,000 earner sees about $187 more withheld over the year than the table above assumes — roughly $7 per biweekly check that comes back as a refund. At $100,000 the over-withholding is closer to $500.

Where the state money goes at $60,000: NJ income tax ≈ $1,767, UI/WF/SWF $190, DI $114, FLI $138 — a total of about $2,210, or 3.7% of gross. The federal lines (income tax + FICA) take the other 16%.

Methodology: 2026 federal brackets and $16,100 standard deduction (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32), FICA per SSA, NJ Gross Income Tax rate schedule (Table A, single) with the $1,000 personal exemption, 2026 worker rates and wage bases from the NJ Department of Labor (UI 0.3825% + WF/SWF 0.0425% to $44,800; DI 0.19% and FLI 0.23% to $171,100). Estimates only — your withholding depends on your W-4/NJ-W4, credits, and pre-tax benefits.

What New Jersey jobs pay (BLS, May 2025)

New Jersey's median hourly wage across all occupations is $28.16 — about 15% above the national median of $24.51, though behind Massachusetts ($30.57), Connecticut ($28.70), and New York ($28.69) among the big Northeast states. A construction laborer earns more per hour here ($30.80) than in California ($28.98) or New York ($26.89).

New Jersey's workforce in numbers

• 9.5 million residents, civilian labor force of 4.9 million, unemployment 4.4% (Census 2025 estimate; BLS, July 2026 preliminary)
• 883,628 self-employed (nonemployer) businesses (Census, 2023) — about one for every 11 residents, and 3.7 times the number of businesses with employees (237,968)
• 3.9 million people on employer payrolls earning $292 billion a year (Census County Business Patterns, 2023)
• Mean annual wage: $78,040 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)

New Jersey pay rules — the answers people actually need

Final paycheck: next regular payday, whether you were fired or quit. New Jersey's Wage Payment Law (N.J.S.A. 34:11-4.3) sets one deadline for everyone — "not later than the regular payday for the pay period during which" you left. There is no "immediately on termination" rule like California's. Commissions and incentive pay can be settled with a reasonable approximation until the exact figure is known, and you can ask for the check by mail.

Pay frequency: at least twice a month, on paydays announced in advance (N.J.S.A. 34:11-4.2). The pay period can end no more than 10 working days before payday. Bona fide executive, supervisory, and other special classifications may be paid monthly. Direct deposit requires your consent (N.J.S.A. 34:11-4.2a).

Is a pay stub required? Yes — every employer must give you a statement of deductions for each pay period (N.J.S.A. 34:11-4.6(c)). If the employer has 10 or more employees, the stub must also show gross wages, net wages, your rate of pay, and hours worked when hours affect your pay. Electronic stubs are allowed unless you ask for paper. Employers must also give written notice of your pay rate and payday at hire and before any change, and keep wage records for six years.

Deductions must be legal or authorized. Beyond taxes and the state programs above, an employer may deduct only what the law requires or what you have authorized in writing for the benefit, savings, union-dues and similar purposes listed in the statute (N.J.S.A. 34:11-4.4).

Minimum wage tiers and the two city payroll taxes (2026)

New Jersey has no city or county minimum wages — the state rate applies everywhere — but the state itself runs several tiers, all indexed to inflation each January 1:

The small-employer and seasonal tiers keep stepping up until they match the main rate in 2028; the farm-worker schedule runs through 2030. The 2027 rate is announced by NJDOL around October 1, 2026.

Newark and Jersey City payroll taxes — employer-only. Both cities charge 1% of payroll for work performed inside city limits (Newark under city ordinance 6S&FE; Jersey City under Ordinance 18-133 since November 2018). The law lets only the employer pay it, and Jersey City's ordinance says outright that no employer "shall deduct or withhold any amount from the remuneration payable to an Employee" because of the tax. Jersey City also exempts wages of its own residents and employers with quarterly payroll under $2,500. So a Jersey City stub has exactly the same lines as a Cherry Hill stub — the city tax is invisible to you.

How New Jersey compares with its neighbors (take-home on $60,000, 2026 est.)

New Jersey's headline rates look steep, but a $60,000 earner keeps more here than across the Hudson or the Delaware — the 1.4%–5.525% brackets that cover the first $75,000 are lower than New York's 5.4% band, and NJ's four program lines add only $442 a year at this income.

Pennsylvania commuters: under the NJ–PA reciprocal agreement, a Pennsylvania resident working in New Jersey pays Pennsylvania income tax, not NJ tax — file Form NJ-165 with your employer and the NJ withholding line disappears (the NJ UI/DI/FLI lines stay, because those follow the place of work).

(New York City resident and Connecticut figures are directional estimates pending those pages' full data workup.)

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