What Painters, Construction and Maintenance earn in Middlesex County, NJ
The median pay for Painters, Construction and Maintenance in Middlesex County, NJ is $61,420 per year, which works out to $29.53 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metropolitan area, the labor market that Middlesex County, NJ belongs to. Half of the workers in this occupation earn more than the median and half earn less, which makes it a sturdier yardstick than an average that a few very high earners can pull upward.
The mean wage is $69,930, which is 13.9% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 11,930 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. Middlesex County, NJ has roughly 871,290 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Painters, Construction and Maintenance in the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $45,400 a year ($21.83 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $111,550 or more ($53.63 an hour). That is a gap of $66,150 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $50,880 at the 25th percentile and $83,060 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 2.5 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: $29.53 an hour or $61,420 a year at the median for Middlesex County, NJ. Before any deductions, that is $5,118 a month, $2,362 every two weeks and $1,181 each week. After taxes the same job pays $23.86 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Painters, Construction and Maintenance
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Painters, Construction and Maintenance this way: "Paint walls, equipment, buildings, bridges, and other structural surfaces, using brushes, rollers, and spray guns. May remove old paint to prepare surface prior to painting. May mix colors or oils to obtain desired color or consistency."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Cover surfaces with dropcloths or masking tape and paper to protect surfaces during painting"; "Fill cracks, holes, or joints with caulk, putty, plaster, or other fillers, using caulking guns or putty knives"; "Apply primers or sealers to prepare new surfaces, such as bare wood or metal, for finish coats"; "Apply paint, stain, varnish, enamel, or other finishes to equipment, buildings, bridges, or other structures, using brushes, spray guns, or rollers".
Job outlook for Painters, Construction and Maintenance
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 326,900 jobs in 2025 to 336,700 in 2035, a change of +3%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 24,900 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 7.6% of current employment each year. About 31.3% of the people in this occupation are self-employed, and wage figures cover wage and salary workers only.
Typical entry-level education: no formal educational credential. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: moderate-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $49,400 for this occupation; the Middlesex County, NJ median of $61,420 is 24.3% above it.
How pay in Middlesex County, NJ compares
Compared with the New Jersey average
A worker in this occupation in Middlesex County, NJ earns $1,333 more than the New Jersey average of $60,087, a premium of 2.2%. Over a year that premium is worth $1,333 before tax and roughly $1,077 after tax. Within New Jersey, Middlesex County, NJ already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Painters, Construction and Maintenance is $52,276 across the contiguous United States. At $61,420, Middlesex County, NJ pays $9,144 more, which is 17.5% above that benchmark. 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 Middlesex County, NJ
Among the 671 occupations with published wages in Middlesex County, NJ, Painters, Construction and Maintenance ranks number 408 by median pay, ahead of about 39% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Anesthesiologists at $460,800 a year, which is $399,380 more than the median for Painters, Construction and Maintenance.
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 Painters, Construction and Maintenance earning the Middlesex County, NJ median of $61,420, they add up to $11,786. The result is $49,634 of take-home pay a year ($4,136 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $19 goes to taxes and $81 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 19.2%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $45,670. 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 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $5,242, an effective 8.5% of gross pay, well below the 12% 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 $3,808 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $891. FICA totals $4,699, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in New Jersey
New Jersey income tax on this salary is $1,846 a year, or 3.0% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 35% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $154 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 Middlesex County, NJ
IRS Statistics of Income data for Middlesex County, NJ show an average adjusted gross income of $101,424 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 14.3% across all filers. Filers in the $50,000 to under $75,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 7.5%, compared with the 8.5% 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 Middlesex County, NJ
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Middlesex County, NJ: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $49,634 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Middlesex 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 Painters, Construction and Maintenance, a one-bedroom absorbs 50.8% of take-home pay and 41.1% 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 5.6% of gross pay for Painters, Construction and Maintenance in Middlesex 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 Middlesex County, NJ. Subtract that from $49,634 of take-home pay and $16,916 remains, which is $1,410 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 27.5% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Middlesex County, NJ
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Middlesex 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 Middlesex County, NJ, set beside the New Jersey and national medians.
Property taxes in Middlesex County, NJ
Homeowners in Middlesex County, NJ pay a median of $9,712 a year in real estate taxes, 1% above the New Jersey median of $9,590 and 211% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $462,900, the median tax bill is 2.10% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Painters, Construction and Maintenance median of $61,420, a tax bill of that size would equal 15.8% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Middlesex County, NJ
Renters in Middlesex County, NJ pay a median gross rent of $1,871 a month in the Census survey, 9% above 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 $462,900, 2% above the New Jersey median of $454,400. Median household income is $111,549, 8% above the New Jersey median of $103,556, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 22.6% of that income.
Commuting in Middlesex County, NJ
Workers in Middlesex County, NJ who travel to a workplace spend an average of 31.2 minutes each way, 2% above the New Jersey average of 30.5. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 5.2 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 18.1% of workers in Middlesex County, NJ work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Painters, Construction and Maintenance afford to live in Middlesex 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 $61,420 that ceiling is $1,535 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $2,103 is $568 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $40.44 an hour; the median for Painters, Construction and Maintenance is $29.53, which is 27% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $23.86 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 20.3 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 $26,414.
How fast you can save
At $1,410 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 8 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 16 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Painters, Construction and Maintenance pay in Middlesex County, NJ
How much do Painters, Construction and Maintenance make per hour in Middlesex County, NJ?
The median is $29.53 per hour, based on $61,420 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $21.83 at the 10th percentile to $53.63 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Painters, Construction and Maintenance take home after taxes in Middlesex County, NJ?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $61,420 becomes $49,634 a year. That is $4,136 a month, $1,909 every two weeks or $954 a week.
How much tax do Painters, Construction and Maintenance pay in Middlesex County, NJ?
Total taxes are $11,786 a year, an effective rate of 19.2%: $5,242 federal income tax, $4,699 FICA and $1,846 New Jersey income tax.
Do Painters, Construction and Maintenance earn more in Middlesex County, NJ than elsewhere in New Jersey?
Yes. The local median of $61,420 is +2.2% versus the New Jersey average of $60,087, a difference of $1,333 a year.
Can Painters, Construction and Maintenance afford a one-bedroom apartment in Middlesex County, NJ?
A one-bedroom costs $2,103 a month against take-home pay of $4,136, which is 50.8% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,535 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Painters, Construction and Maintenance in Middlesex County, NJ?
About $1,410 a month ($16,916 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 Middlesex 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 Painters, Construction and Maintenance is $29.53.
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.