What Art Directors earn in Ocean County, NJ
The median pay for Art Directors in Ocean County, NJ is $142,990 per year, which works out to $68.75 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 Ocean 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 $161,120, which is 12.7% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 8,980 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. Ocean County, NJ has roughly 654,362 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Art Directors in the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $85,040 a year ($40.88 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $271,220 or more ($130.39 an hour). That is a gap of $186,180 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $108,780 at the 25th percentile and $198,160 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 3.2 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: $68.75 an hour or $142,990 a year at the median for Ocean County, NJ. Before any deductions, that is $11,916 a month, $5,500 every two weeks and $2,750 each week. After taxes the same job pays $48.92 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Art Directors
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Art Directors this way: "Formulate design concepts and presentation approaches for visual productions and media, such as print, broadcasting, video, and film. Direct workers engaged in artwork or layout design."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Formulate basic layout design or presentation approach and specify material details, such as style and size of type, photographs, graphics, animation, video, and sound"; "Review and approve art materials, copy materials, and proofs of printed copy developed by staff members"; "Manage own accounts and projects, working within budget and scheduling requirements"; "Confer with creative, art, copywriting, or production department heads to discuss client requirements and presentation concepts and to coordinate creative activities".
Job outlook for Art Directors
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 140,200 jobs in 2025 to 146,000 in 2035, a change of +4.2%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 12,200 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 8.7% of current employment each year. About 62.1% of the people in this occupation are self-employed, and wage figures cover wage and salary workers only.
Typical entry-level education: bachelor's degree. Work experience in a related occupation: 5 years or more. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $114,850 for this occupation; the Ocean County, NJ median of $142,990 is 24.5% above it.
How pay in Ocean County, NJ compares
Compared with the New Jersey average
A worker in this occupation in Ocean County, NJ earns $3,573 more than the New Jersey average of $139,417, a premium of 2.6%. Over a year that premium is worth $3,573 before tax and roughly $2,542 after tax. Within New Jersey, Ocean County, NJ already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Art Directors is $123,005 across the contiguous United States. At $142,990, Ocean County, NJ pays $19,985 more, which is 16.3% 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 Ocean County, NJ
Among the 671 occupations with published wages in Ocean County, NJ, Art Directors ranks number 61 by median pay, ahead of about 91% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Anesthesiologists at $460,800 a year, which is $317,810 more than the median for Art Directors.
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 Art Directors earning the Ocean County, NJ median of $142,990, they add up to $41,242. The result is $101,748 of take-home pay a year ($8,479 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $29 goes to taxes and $71 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 28.8%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $127,240. 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 24% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $23,385, an effective 16.4% of gross pay, well below the 24% 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 $8,865 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $2,073. FICA totals $10,939, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in New Jersey
New Jersey income tax on this salary is $6,919 a year, or 4.8% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 30% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $577 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 Ocean County, NJ
IRS Statistics of Income data for Ocean County, NJ show an average adjusted gross income of $90,154 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 13.0% across all filers. Filers in the $100,000 to under $200,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 11.2%, compared with the 16.4% 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 Ocean County, NJ
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Ocean County, NJ: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $101,748 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Ocean County, NJ, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,847 a month ($22,164 a year), and at $2,283 for two bedrooms. For Art Directors, a one-bedroom absorbs 21.8% of take-home pay and 15.5% 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 2.4% of gross pay for Art Directors in Ocean 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 $29,645 a year in Ocean County, NJ. Subtract that from $101,748 of take-home pay and $72,103 remains, which is $6,009 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 50.4% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Ocean County, NJ
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Ocean 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 Ocean County, NJ, set beside the New Jersey and national medians.
Property taxes in Ocean County, NJ
Homeowners in Ocean County, NJ pay a median of $6,562 a year in real estate taxes, 32% below the New Jersey median of $9,590 and 110% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $398,400, the median tax bill is 1.65% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Art Directors median of $142,990, a tax bill of that size would equal 4.6% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Ocean County, NJ
Renters in Ocean County, NJ pay a median gross rent of $1,755 a month in the Census survey, 2% 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 $1,847 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 $398,400, 12% below the New Jersey median of $454,400. Median household income is $89,863, 13% below the New Jersey median of $103,556, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 24.7% of that income.
Commuting in Ocean County, NJ
Workers in Ocean County, NJ who travel to a workplace spend an average of 30.0 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. 12.5% of workers in Ocean County, NJ work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Art Directors afford to live in Ocean 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 $142,990 that ceiling is $3,575 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,847 is $1,728 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $35.52 an hour; the median for Art Directors is $68.75, which is 94% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $48.92 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 8.7 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $2,283 a month means $1,142 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $8,466 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $80,569.
How fast you can save
At $6,009 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 2 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 4 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Art Directors pay in Ocean County, NJ
How much do Art Directors make per hour in Ocean County, NJ?
The median is $68.75 per hour, based on $142,990 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $40.88 at the 10th percentile to $130.39 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Art Directors take home after taxes in Ocean County, NJ?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $142,990 becomes $101,748 a year. That is $8,479 a month, $3,913 every two weeks or $1,957 a week.
How much tax do Art Directors pay in Ocean County, NJ?
Total taxes are $41,242 a year, an effective rate of 28.8%: $23,385 federal income tax, $10,939 FICA and $6,919 New Jersey income tax.
Do Art Directors earn more in Ocean County, NJ than elsewhere in New Jersey?
Yes. The local median of $142,990 is +2.6% versus the New Jersey average of $139,417, a difference of $3,573 a year.
Can Art Directors afford a one-bedroom apartment in Ocean County, NJ?
A one-bedroom costs $1,847 a month against take-home pay of $8,479, which is 21.8% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $3,575 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Art Directors in Ocean County, NJ?
About $6,009 a month ($72,103 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $29,645 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Ocean County, NJ at the 30% guideline?
$35.52 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $22,164 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Art Directors is $68.75.
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.