What Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education earn in Morris County, NJ
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $50,230: the median annual pay for Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education in Morris County, NJ. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $24.15 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $55,540, which is 10.6% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 28,140 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. Morris County, NJ has roughly 514,528 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education in the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $37,130 a year ($17.85 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $78,740 or more ($37.86 an hour). That is a gap of $41,610 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $42,920 at the 25th percentile and $62,250 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
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education in Morris County, NJ is $24.15. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $50,230, and the same salary is $4,186 a month before taxes or about $1,932 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $19.84 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education this way: "Instruct preschool-aged students, following curricula or lesson plans, in activities designed to promote social, physical, and intellectual growth."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Provide a variety of materials and resources for children to explore, manipulate, and use, both in learning activities and in imaginative play"; "Attend to children's basic needs by feeding them, dressing them, and changing their diapers"; "Teach basic skills, such as color, shape, number and letter recognition, personal hygiene, and social skills"; "Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order".
Job outlook for Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 583,200 jobs in 2025 to 609,400 in 2035, a change of +4.5%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 66,700 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 11.4% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: associate's degree. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $38,140 for this occupation; the Morris County, NJ median of $50,230 is 31.7% above it.
How pay in Morris County, NJ compares
Compared with the New Jersey average
Morris County, NJ pays above the state benchmark. The New Jersey employment-weighted average for Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education is $45,446; the local median of $50,230 beats it by $4,784, or 10.5%. Within New Jersey, Morris County, NJ already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education is $39,850 across the contiguous United States. At $50,230, Morris County, NJ pays $10,380 more, which is 26.1% 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 Morris County, NJ
Among the 671 occupations with published wages in Morris County, NJ, Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education ranks number 517 by median pay, ahead of about 23% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Anesthesiologists at $460,800 a year, which is $410,570 more than the median for Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $50,230 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $8,969 a year, which leaves $41,261, or $3,438 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $18 goes to taxes and $82 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 17.9%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $34,480. 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 $3,899, an effective 7.8% 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 $3,114 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $728. FICA totals $3,843, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in New Jersey
New Jersey income tax on this salary is $1,227 a year, or 2.4% 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 $102 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 Morris County, NJ
IRS Statistics of Income data for Morris County, NJ show an average adjusted gross income of $162,476 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 18.6% across all filers. Filers in the $50,000 to under $75,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 8.1%, compared with the 7.8% 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 Morris County, NJ
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Morris County, NJ: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $41,261 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Morris County, NJ is $1,850 a month, or $22,200 a year. A two-bedroom costs $2,233 a month. For Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education, a one-bedroom absorbs 53.8% of take-home pay and 44.2% 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 6.8% of gross pay for Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education in Morris 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
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $29,681 a year, 72% of take-home pay. That leaves $11,579 a year, or $965 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 23.1% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Morris County, NJ
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Morris 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 Morris County, NJ, set beside the New Jersey and national medians.
Property taxes in Morris County, NJ
Homeowners in Morris 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 $582,500, the median tax bill is 1.72% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education median of $50,230, a tax bill of that size would equal 19.9% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Morris County, NJ
Renters in Morris County, NJ pay a median gross rent of $1,904 a month in the Census survey, 11% 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 $1,850 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 $582,500, 28% above the New Jersey median of $454,400. Median household income is $137,326, 33% above the New Jersey median of $103,556, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 16.2% of that income.
Commuting in Morris County, NJ
Workers in Morris County, NJ who travel to a workplace spend an average of 29.8 minutes each way, 2% below the New Jersey average of 30.5. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 5.0 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 21.8% of workers in Morris County, NJ work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education afford to live in Morris 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 $50,230 that ceiling is $1,256 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,850 is $594 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $35.58 an hour; the median for Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education is $24.15, which is 32% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $19.84 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 21.5 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $2,233 a month means $1,117 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $8,802 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $20,381.
How fast you can save
At $965 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 11 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 22 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education pay in Morris County, NJ
What is the hourly wage for Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education in Morris County, NJ?
The median is $24.15 per hour, based on $50,230 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $17.85 at the 10th percentile to $37.86 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education in Morris County, NJ?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $50,230 becomes $41,261 a year. That is $3,438 a month, $1,587 every two weeks or $793 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education in Morris County, NJ?
Total taxes are $8,969 a year, an effective rate of 17.9%: $3,899 federal income tax, $3,843 FICA and $1,227 New Jersey income tax.
Is pay for Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education in Morris County, NJ above the New Jersey average?
Yes. The local median of $50,230 is +10.5% versus the New Jersey average of $45,446, a difference of $4,784 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education salary in Morris County, NJ?
A one-bedroom costs $1,850 a month against take-home pay of $3,438, which is 53.8% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,256 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education in Morris County, NJ?
About $965 a month ($11,579 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $29,681 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Morris County, NJ at the 30% guideline?
$35.58 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $22,200 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education is $24.15.
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.