What Mechanical Engineers earn in Hunterdon County, NJ
According to the latest federal wage data for the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metropolitan area, the median pay for Mechanical Engineers in Hunterdon County, NJ is $109,990 a year, or $52.88 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state income tax, the paycheck shrinks to $81,113 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Hunterdon County, NJ.
The mean wage is $117,500, which is 6.8% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 6,960 people working in this occupation across the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Hunterdon County, NJ has roughly 130,160 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Mechanical Engineers in the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $79,520 a year ($38.23 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $165,010 or more ($79.33 an hour). That is a gap of $85,490 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $92,180 at the 25th percentile and $137,060 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 2.1 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $52.88 an hour or $109,990 a year at the median for Hunterdon County, NJ. Before any deductions, that is $9,166 a month, $4,230 every two weeks and $2,115 each week. After taxes the same job pays $39.00 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Mechanical Engineers
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Mechanical Engineers this way: "Perform engineering duties in planning and designing tools, engines, machines, and other mechanically functioning equipment. Oversee installation, operation, maintenance, and repair of equipment such as centralized heat, gas, water, and steam systems."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Read and interpret blueprints, technical drawings, schematics, or computer-generated reports"; "Confer with engineers or other personnel to implement operating procedures, resolve system malfunctions, or provide technical information"; "Research and analyze customer design proposals, specifications, manuals, or other data to evaluate the feasibility, cost, or maintenance requirements of designs or applications"; "Provide feedback to design engineers on customer problems or needs".
Job outlook for Mechanical Engineers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 298,500 jobs in 2025 to 332,000 in 2035, a change of +11.2%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 17,800 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 6.0% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: bachelor's degree. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $104,110 for this occupation; the Hunterdon County, NJ median of $109,990 is 5.6% above it.
How pay in Hunterdon County, NJ compares
Compared with the New Jersey average
A worker in this occupation in Hunterdon County, NJ earns $2,760 more than the New Jersey average of $107,230, a premium of 2.6%. Over a year that premium is worth $2,760 before tax and roughly $2,035 after tax. Within New Jersey, Hunterdon County, NJ already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
Nationally, Mechanical Engineers earn an employment-weighted average of $108,983 across the contiguous United States, so $109,990 in Hunterdon County, NJ is essentially average. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Hunterdon County, NJ
Among the 671 occupations with published wages in Hunterdon County, NJ, Mechanical Engineers ranks number 122 by median pay, ahead of about 82% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Anesthesiologists at $460,800 a year, which is $350,810 more than the median for Mechanical Engineers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For Mechanical Engineers earning the Hunterdon County, NJ median of $109,990, they add up to $28,877. The result is $81,113 of take-home pay a year ($6,759 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $26 goes to taxes and $74 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 26.3%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $94,240. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 22% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $15,647, an effective 14.2% of gross pay, well below the 22% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $6,819 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $1,595. FICA totals $8,414, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in New Jersey
New Jersey income tax on this salary is $4,816 a year, or 4.4% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 31% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $401 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Hunterdon County, NJ
IRS Statistics of Income data for Hunterdon County, NJ show an average adjusted gross income of $156,325 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 18.1% across all filers. Filers in the $100,000 to under $200,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 11.9%, compared with the 14.2% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Hunterdon County, NJ
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Hunterdon County, NJ: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $81,113 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Hunterdon County, NJ, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $2,103 a month ($25,236 a year), and at $2,623 for two bedrooms. For Mechanical Engineers, a one-bedroom absorbs 31.1% of take-home pay and 22.9% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 3.1% of gross pay for Mechanical Engineers in Hunterdon County, NJ. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using New Jersey residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $2,044 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $518, for $2,562 in total. Gasoline in New Jersey averages $3.21 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,484.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $32,717 a year in Hunterdon County, NJ. Subtract that from $81,113 of take-home pay and $48,395 remains, which is $4,033 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 44.0% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Hunterdon County, NJ
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Hunterdon County, NJ: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Hunterdon County, NJ, set beside the New Jersey and national medians.
Property taxes in Hunterdon County, NJ
Homeowners in Hunterdon County, NJ pay a median of $10,001 a year in real estate taxes, 4% above the New Jersey median of $9,590 and 221% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $517,200, the median tax bill is 1.93% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Mechanical Engineers median of $109,990, a tax bill of that size would equal 9.1% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Hunterdon County, NJ
Renters in Hunterdon County, NJ pay a median gross rent of $1,687 a month in the Census survey, 2% below the New Jersey median of $1,720. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $2,103 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $517,200, 14% above the New Jersey median of $454,400. Median household income is $141,715, 37% above the New Jersey median of $103,556, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 17.8% of that income.
Commuting in Hunterdon County, NJ
Workers in Hunterdon County, NJ who travel to a workplace spend an average of 33.0 minutes each way, 8% above the New Jersey average of 30.5. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 5.5 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 21.8% of workers in Hunterdon County, NJ work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Mechanical Engineers afford to live in Hunterdon County, NJ?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $109,990 that ceiling is $2,750 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $2,103 is $647 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $40.44 an hour; the median for Mechanical Engineers is $52.88, which is 31% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $39.00 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 12.4 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $2,623 a month means $1,312 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $9,498 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $57,893.
How fast you can save
At $4,033 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 3 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 6 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Mechanical Engineers pay in Hunterdon County, NJ
How much do Mechanical Engineers make per hour in Hunterdon County, NJ?
The median is $52.88 per hour, based on $109,990 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $38.23 at the 10th percentile to $79.33 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Mechanical Engineers take home after taxes in Hunterdon County, NJ?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $109,990 becomes $81,113 a year. That is $6,759 a month, $3,120 every two weeks or $1,560 a week.
How much tax do Mechanical Engineers pay in Hunterdon County, NJ?
Total taxes are $28,877 a year, an effective rate of 26.3%: $15,647 federal income tax, $8,414 FICA and $4,816 New Jersey income tax.
Do Mechanical Engineers earn more in Hunterdon County, NJ than elsewhere in New Jersey?
Yes. The local median of $109,990 is +2.6% versus the New Jersey average of $107,230, a difference of $2,760 a year.
Can Mechanical Engineers afford a one-bedroom apartment in Hunterdon County, NJ?
A one-bedroom costs $2,103 a month against take-home pay of $6,759, which is 31.1% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $2,750 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Mechanical Engineers in Hunterdon County, NJ?
About $4,033 a month ($48,395 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $32,717 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Hunterdon County, NJ at the 30% guideline?
$40.44 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $25,236 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Mechanical Engineers is $52.88.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the New Jersey rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.