How New Jersey takes tax out of a paycheck
New Jersey adds its own income tax and three small payroll contributions to the federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare that the federal take-home pay calculator explains. For wages paid in 2026:
take-home = W − pre-tax − federal − FICA − New Jersey income tax − UI/WF/SWF − DI − FLI
- New Jersey income tax uses one of two rate tables printed in the 2026 Form NJ-1040-ES. Table A is for single filers and married people filing separately; Table B is for married couples filing jointly, heads of household and qualifying widow(er)s. Rates run from 1.4% to 10.75%, in 7 rows on Table A and 8 rows on Table B. Each row says to multiply taxable income by the row's rate and subtract a fixed amount; this page uses the same straight lines and checks, every time it is built, that the amounts it would subtract match the printed Subtract column.
- Taxable income has no standard deduction. New Jersey instead allows a regular exemption of $1,000 for you, plus $1,000 for your spouse on a joint return, so single filers subtract $1,000 and joint filers $2,000. The extra exemptions for age 65, blindness, disability, veterans and dependents are not included.
- Low incomes pay no New Jersey income tax. The Division of Taxation sets a threshold on the year's New Jersey gross income, before exemptions: $10,000 or less for single filers and married people filing separately, $20,000 or less for joint filers, heads of household and surviving spouses. At or under it the tax is zero. The sources describe no phase-in above it, so this calculator reads them the way the rate table is written: over the line, the table applies to all taxable income, and the first dollar over brings the whole table's tax at once. That is UtilsKit's reading, not a statement from the Division of Taxation.
- What counts as wages differs from federal tax. A 401(k) deferral is left out of New Jersey income, but premiums paid through a cafeteria plan by salary reduction are not: Technical Bulletin TB-39(R) says New Jersey does not adopt the federal treatment of cafeteria plans, so your full salary before the reduction is taxed.
- UI/WF/SWF, DI and FLI are worker contributions to unemployment insurance (with the workforce funds), temporary disability insurance and family leave insurance. In 2026 the Department of Labor sets them at 0.3825% plus 0.0425%, together 0.425% of the first $44,800 of wages; 0.19% for DI; and 0.23% for Family Leave Insurance, both on the first $171,100. They are figured on all of your pay, including 401(k) deferrals and cafeteria-plan premiums, paycheck by paycheck, and each one stops once your wages for the year reach its wage base.
The calculator figures the tax owed on the year's wages and spreads the income tax evenly over your paychecks; the three contributions follow your year-to-date pay. Employer withholding is figured from withholding tables rather than the year's tax, so a pay stub can differ from the even split. The printed Subtract on row 4 of Table B is $1,154.50; the rows on either side of it, and the New Jersey Tax Table in the NJ-1040 instructions, continue the line at $1,155.00, which is what this page uses. Property tax deductions and credits and the New Jersey earned income and child tax credits are not included.
Like the federal take-home calculator, this page figures tax for one earner with one job. Married filing jointly here assumes your spouse has no wages, so the $32,200 federal joint standard deduction and the joint brackets all go to one salary, and for a couple who both work federal income tax is underestimated: at $85,000 each, the page shows $5,840.00 of federal tax on one salary, against $9,870.00 as that salary's half of the couple's joint tax. Table B also gives that one salary its lower rows, so the New Jersey income tax line shows $1,810.75 against $3,329.55 as the salary's half of the couple's joint New Jersey tax. The UI/WF/SWF, DI and FLI lines are right for each of you, because each worker pays them on their own wages. The Additional Medicare Tax threshold for a joint return also counts the couple's combined wages, which are not added up here.
The calculator does not check the yearly limit the IRS sets on 401(k) contributions, which for 2026 is $24,500, plus $8,000 of catch-up from age 50, or $11,250 instead in a year you turn 60 to 63. Whatever you enter in the 401(k) field is treated as a pre-tax deferral, so an amount above the limit makes federal income tax look lower than it will be. New Jersey leaves 401(k) contributions out of income only up to the federal limit, so an amount above it makes the New Jersey income tax line look lower too.
Worked example: $85,000 in New Jersey, single, paid biweekly
- Taxable income: $85,000 − $1,000 exemption = $84,000.00, which falls on row 5 of Table A (over $75,000).
- New Jersey income tax: $84,000.00 × 6.37% − $2,126.25 = $3,224.55, $124.02 a paycheck.
- UI/WF/SWF: 0.425% × $44,800 = $190.40 for the year. Paycheck 14 is the last one it comes out of; from then on the salary is past the wage base.
- DI: 0.19% × $85,000 = $161.50, and FLI: 0.23% × $85,000 = $195.50, taken from every paycheck because the salary stays under $171,100.
- Federal income tax $9,870.00, Social Security $5,270.00 and Medicare $1,232.50, the same as in any state.
- Take-home pay: $85,000 − $20,144.45 = $64,855.55 a year, $2,494.44 a paycheck on average over 26 paychecks. The first paycheck brings home $2,487.88 and the last $2,501.77, the difference being the UI/WF/SWF that stops after paycheck 14.
What is different about a New Jersey paycheck
A 401(k) lowers the income tax, not the contributions
Putting $6,000 into a traditional 401(k) lowers New Jersey income tax by $382.20, to $2,842.35. UI/WF/SWF, DI and FLI stay at $190.40, $161.50 and $195.50, because the Department of Labor counts deferrals withheld from pay as wages.
Cafeteria-plan premiums do not lower New Jersey tax at all
The same $6,000 paid as health premiums through a cafeteria plan lowers federal income tax from $9,870.00 to $8,550.00 and Social Security and Medicare with it, but the New Jersey income tax line stays at $3,224.55: the premiums come out of a salary reduction, and New Jersey taxes the salary before the reduction.
Head of household uses the joint table
On Table B the same $85,000 salary owes $1,866.00 of New Jersey income tax as a head of household, against $3,224.55 on Table A as a single filer. Federal tax has a separate head of household table; New Jersey puts heads of household on the joint one.
At or below the threshold there is no income tax
A single filer paid $10,000 for the year owes $0.00 of New Jersey income tax but still pays $42.50 of UI/WF/SWF, $19.00 of DI and $23.00 of FLI, which the threshold does not cover. At $10,500 the income tax is $133.00, the full Table A amount on $9,500.00 of taxable income. A 401(k) deferral that brings gross income back to $10,000 brings the tax back to zero; cafeteria-plan premiums do not, because they stay in New Jersey gross income.
A high salary reaches every wage base
At $200,000 paid monthly, UI/WF/SWF stops after paycheck 3, and DI and FLI stop after paycheck 11, at their 2026 maximums of $325.09 and $393.53. A salary twice as high pays exactly the same amounts.
Frequently asked questions
Why do my paychecks get bigger later in the year?
Because the contributions have wage bases. UI/WF/SWF stops once your pay for the year passes $44,800, which at $85,000 is after paycheck 14; DI and FLI stop at $171,100; and Social Security stops at its own federal wage base. Each stop shows up in the paycheck table as a column going to zero.
Does New Jersey have a standard deduction?
No. Taxable income is your New Jersey wages minus $1,000 for each regular exemption, so once gross income passes $10,000, a single filer pays 1.4% from almost the first dollar. Deductions such as medical expenses over 2% of income or property tax are claimed on the NJ-1040 and are not part of this calculator.
Why does my health premium lower my federal tax but not my New Jersey tax?
Federal law lets a cafeteria plan pay premiums out of pay before tax. New Jersey has only a narrow exclusion that does not cover salary-reduction plans or premium conversion, so for the state those premiums are paid out of taxed wages, which is one reason New Jersey wages on a Form W-2 can be higher than federal wages.
What are UI/WF/SWF, DI and FLI on my pay stub?
Worker contributions set by the Department of Labor each year: unemployment insurance together with the Workforce Development and Supplemental Workforce Funds, temporary disability insurance, and family leave insurance. For 2026 they come to at most $190.40, $325.09 and $393.53.
We are married, file jointly and both work. Is the result right for us?
Not for federal income tax, which is understated by $4,030.00 for each $85,000 salary, nor for the New Jersey income tax line, understated by $1,518.80, because the low rows of Table B are applied to one salary alone. The UI/WF/SWF, DI and FLI lines are right for each earner.
Which year do these figures apply to?
Wages paid in 2026: the 2026 NJ-1040-ES rate tables and exemption, the Department of Labor's worker rates and wage bases for January 1 to December 31, 2026, and the 2026 federal figures.
Sources
- New Jersey Division of Taxation, 2026 Form NJ-1040-ES: tax rate tables and exemptions
- New Jersey Division of Taxation, NJ-1040 instructions: Tax Table, 401(k) Plans and cafeteria plans
- New Jersey Division of Taxation, Gross Income Tax Overview: filing threshold and exemptions
- New Jersey Division of Taxation, Technical Bulletin TB-39(R): Cafeteria Plans
- New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Rate information: 2026 worker rates and wage bases
- New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Employer Accounts Guide: what counts as wages
- IRS, Revenue Procedure 2025-32: 2026 federal tax rate tables and standard deduction
- IRS, Publication 15 (2026): Social Security and Medicare rates and 401(k) deferrals
- IRS, Publication 15-B (2026), Table 2-1: cafeteria plan benefits
- Social Security Administration, Contribution and Benefit Base
- IRS, Questions and answers for the Additional Medicare Tax
- IRS, Notice 2025-67: 2026 limits for 401(k) deferrals and catch-up contributions
- IRS, Retirement topics: Catch-up contributions