New Jersey Income Tax Calculator
Estimate your full New Jersey take-home pay — federal tax, New Jersey’s eight-bracket schedule (which is genuinely different for married filers), the property tax deduction, and FICA — plus a Tax Health Score, raise calculator, and relocation comparison.
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How New Jersey Income Tax Actually Works
New Jersey has run a progressive income tax since 1976 under the Gross Income Tax Act, and for 2025 it applies seven brackets for single filers (1.4% to 10.75%) and eight for married couples filing jointly, heads of household, and qualifying widow(er)s. This is a genuine structural difference from most progressive states: New Jersey doesn’t just double the bracket widths for joint filers, it adds an entirely separate bracket schedule with different breakpoints, which is part of why married couples in New Jersey sometimes see meaningfully different effective rates than a flat-doubling state like New York would produce at the same combined income.
New Jersey is also unusual in having no real standard deduction — instead, it uses a personal exemption of $1,000 per taxpayer ($2,000 for joint filers) plus $1,500 per dependent. Where New Jersey gives back meaningfully is the property tax deduction: homeowners (and renters, through an 18% of rent equivalent) can deduct up to $15,000 of property taxes paid directly from New Jersey gross income before tax is calculated — a genuinely valuable benefit in a state with the highest property taxes in the country, averaging around 2.23% of home value.
A credit worth knowing about for 2025 specifically: the New Jersey Child Tax Credit offers up to $1,000 per dependent age 5 or younger, available to residents with New Jersey taxable income of $80,000 or less — but it’s explicitly unavailable to anyone filing as married filing separately, regardless of income. New Jersey also fully exempts Social Security, Railroad Retirement, and military pension income from state tax, and offers a substantial retirement income exclusion of up to $100,000 (married filing jointly) or $75,000 (single) for qualifying retirees, on top of that.
Frequently Asked Questions
New Jersey applies a progressive schedule for 2025 with seven brackets for single filers (1.4% to 10.75%) and eight brackets for married filing jointly, head of household, and qualifying widow(er) filers, with different income breakpoints than the single-filer schedule.
Yes. New Jersey homeowners can deduct up to $15,000 of property taxes paid directly from gross income before state tax is calculated; renters can claim an equivalent deduction based on 18% of rent paid.
Yes — New Jersey offers up to $1,000 per dependent age 5 or younger for residents with New Jersey taxable income of $80,000 or less. It is not available to taxpayers filing as married filing separately.
No. Social Security, Railroad Retirement, and military pension income are fully exempt from New Jersey tax. Qualifying retirees can also exclude up to $100,000 (married filing jointly) or $75,000 (single) of other retirement income.
No. New Jersey does not levy local or municipal income taxes, though property taxes are set at the municipal level and vary widely, with some New Jersey towns among the highest in the nation.
Yes. Under a reciprocal agreement, Pennsylvania residents working in New Jersey (and vice versa) only pay income tax to their state of residence on wage income, avoiding double taxation on cross-border commuting.
Methodology: Calculations use New Jersey’s 2025 progressive tax schedules (separate brackets for single vs. married/HOH filers per NJ Division of Taxation), the personal exemption ($1,000/$2,000) and $1,500 per-dependent exemption, the property tax deduction (up to $15,000), the 2025 IRS federal tax brackets and Child Tax Credit rules (IRS.gov), and 2025 Social Security (6.2% to the $176,100 wage base) and Medicare (1.45% + 0.9% additional Medicare tax) rates. New Jersey permits no local income tax. This tool provides estimates for planning purposes only and is not tax, legal, or financial advice. Last reviewed for accuracy: June 2026.