Paycheck Estimator NJ (2026)

Paycheck estimator NJ: 2026 take-home pay

A single New Jersey worker earning $60,000, paid every two weeks, takes home about $1,845.91 per check. About $75.15 goes to NJ income tax and $17.01 to UI, TDI and FLI combined. A married couple on one $100,000 salary takes home about $3,121.97 per check.

New Jersey paycheck deductions for 2026

NJ income tax withholding uses graduated rate tables: Table A for single and married-filing-separately, Table B for married filing jointly and head of household, with rates from 1.5% to 11.8%. Each NJ-W4 allowance subtracts $1,000. New Jersey does not exclude HSA contributions from state wages, so an HSA lowers your federal tax but not your NJ tax; the estimator handles this automatically.

Two-earner households can ask for wage-chart letters C, D or E on the NJ-W4 to withhold more. The estimator uses Tables A and B; if you chose a letter, add extra withholding to match your stub.

New Jersey hourly pay after taxes

At $20 an hour, 40 hours a week, a single NJ worker keeps about $1,323.95 every two weeks after all state and federal deductions.

New for 2026: the tips and overtime deduction

For 2025–2028, federal law (P.L. 119-21) lets workers deduct up to $25,000 of qualified tips and up to $12,500 of qualified overtime pay ($25,000 if married filing jointly). The 2026 Form W-4 lets you put these amounts in Step 4(b) so less federal tax is withheld from each check, instead of waiting for a refund. "Qualified overtime" is only the extra half in time-and-a-half, not the whole overtime check.

Example: a New Jersey worker earning $20 an hour with 5 hours of overtime a week has about $2,600 of qualified overtime a year. With the deduction on the W-4, take-home is about $1,556.92 every two weeks. The estimator turns this on by default; switch it off under Adjust W-4 if you haven't updated your W-4. The deduction phases out above $150,000 of income ($300,000 joint) and does not reduce Social Security or Medicare.

How to use the NJ paycheck estimator

1. Choose Salary or Hourly, then enter your pay. For hourly pay, add your usual hours and any overtime hours per week.
2. Pick how often you're paid (weekly, every 2 weeks, twice a month or monthly) and your filing status from your W-4.
3. Open Adjust W-4, benefits & local tax to add dependents, 401(k), health insurance, HSA or tips.
4. Read your take-home pay per paycheck and per year. Every line shows what was taken out and why.

Common mistakes when estimating a New Jersey paycheck

• Skipping UI, TDI and FLI. They're small but real: about 0.85% of the first $44,800 and 0.42% after that.
• Assuming your HSA lowers NJ tax. It doesn't; New Jersey taxes HSA payroll contributions.
• Mixing up biweekly and semi-monthly. Every 2 weeks is 26 paychecks a year; twice a month is 24. The same salary gives a smaller biweekly check.
• Forgetting pre-tax benefits. A 401(k) lowers income tax but not Social Security or Medicare; health premiums through a cafeteria plan lower both.
• Comparing an estimate with your first paycheck of the year. Year-to-date caps (Social Security, some state insurance) mean later checks can differ.

How we calculate (and how accurate it is)

Federal income tax uses the IRS Publication 15-T (2026) percentage method for 2020-and-later W-4s, worksheet 1A, the same math payroll software uses. Social Security is 6.2% up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500 and Medicare is 1.45%, plus 0.9% above $200,000. New Jersey income tax follows the NJ-WT (2026) Rate Tables A and B with $1,000 per allowance. UI, TDI and FLI use the 2026 NJ Department of Labor rates and caps.

We annualize your pay, apply the tables and divide by your number of paychecks, so results can differ from your employer's per-period tables by a few cents. Tables were last checked against the official sources on October 4, 2026. This is an estimate, not tax advice. For decisions that matter, check with your payroll department or a tax professional.