What Childcare Workers earn in Camden County, NJ
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $34,520: the median annual pay for Childcare Workers in Camden County, NJ. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $16.60 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $34,820, which is 0.9% above the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 7,960 people working in this occupation across the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Camden County, NJ has roughly 527,257 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Childcare Workers in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $28,550 a year ($13.73 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $40,350 or more ($19.40 an hour). That is a gap of $11,800 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $32,220 at the 25th percentile and $36,920 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.4 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: $16.60 an hour or $34,520 a year at the median for Camden County, NJ. Before any deductions, that is $2,877 a month, $1,328 every two weeks and $664 each week. After taxes the same job pays $14.11 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Childcare Workers
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Childcare Workers this way: "Attend to children at schools, businesses, private households, and childcare institutions. Perform a variety of tasks, such as dressing, feeding, bathing, and overseeing play."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Support children's emotional and social development, encouraging understanding of others and positive self-concepts"; "Care for children in institutional setting, such as group homes, nursery schools, private businesses, or schools for people with disabilities"; "Sanitize toys and play equipment"; "Discipline children and recommend or initiate other measures to control behavior, such as caring for own clothing and picking up toys and books".
Job outlook for Childcare Workers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to shrink from 1,010,300 jobs in 2025 to 990,400 in 2035, a change of -2%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 150,300 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 14.9% of current employment each year. About 24.2% of the people in this occupation are self-employed, and wage figures cover wage and salary workers only.
Typical entry-level education: high school diploma or equivalent. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: short-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $34,980 for this occupation; the Camden County, NJ median of $34,520 is 1.3% below it.
How pay in Camden County, NJ compares
Compared with the New Jersey average
Pay in Camden County, NJ runs $2,715 below the New Jersey average of $37,235, a gap of 7.3%. A worker who moved to a better-paying part of New Jersey would, on paper, gain that difference before taxes. Within New Jersey, the highest median we track for this job is $37,870 in Bergen County, NJ.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Childcare Workers is $33,694 across the contiguous United States. At $34,520, Camden County, NJ pays $826 more, which is 2.5% 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 Camden County, NJ
Among the 636 occupations with published wages in Camden County, NJ, Childcare Workers ranks number 616 by median pay, ahead of about 3% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $173,470 a year, which is $138,950 more than the median for Childcare Workers.
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 Childcare Workers earning the Camden County, NJ median of $34,520, they add up to $5,171. The result is $29,349 of take-home pay a year ($2,446 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $15 goes to taxes and $85 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 15.0%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $18,770. 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 $2,014, an effective 5.8% 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 $2,140 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $501. FICA totals $2,641, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in New Jersey
New Jersey income tax on this salary is $517 a year, or 1.5% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 26% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $43 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 Camden County, NJ
IRS Statistics of Income data for Camden County, NJ show an average adjusted gross income of $85,736 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 13.3% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 4.8%, compared with the 5.8% 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 Camden County, NJ
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Camden County, NJ: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $29,349 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Camden County, NJ, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,558 a month ($18,696 a year), and at $1,860 for two bedrooms. For Childcare Workers, a one-bedroom absorbs 63.7% of take-home pay and 54.2% 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 10.0% of gross pay for Childcare Workers in Camden 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 $26,177 a year in Camden County, NJ. Subtract that from $29,349 of take-home pay and $3,171 remains, which is $264 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 9.2% of gross pay, a thin cushion that one unexpected expense could erase.
Local housing and commute data for Camden County, NJ
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Camden 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 Camden County, NJ, set beside the New Jersey and national medians.
Property taxes in Camden County, NJ
Homeowners in Camden County, NJ pay a median of $8,134 a year in real estate taxes, 15% below the New Jersey median of $9,590 and 161% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $287,100, the median tax bill is 2.83% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Childcare Workers median of $34,520, a tax bill of that size would equal 23.6% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Camden County, NJ
Renters in Camden County, NJ pay a median gross rent of $1,402 a month in the Census survey, 18% 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 $1,558 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 $287,100, 37% below the New Jersey median of $454,400. Median household income is $88,755, 14% below the New Jersey median of $103,556, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 21.1% of that income.
Commuting in Camden County, NJ
Workers in Camden County, NJ who travel to a workplace spend an average of 27.4 minutes each way, 10% below the New Jersey average of 30.5. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.6 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 15.5% of workers in Camden County, NJ work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Childcare Workers afford to live in Camden 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 $34,520 that ceiling is $863 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,558 is $695 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $29.96 an hour; the median for Childcare Workers is $16.60, which is 45% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $14.11 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 25.5 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,860 a month means $930 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $7,536 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $10,707.
How fast you can save
At $264 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 38 months (3.2 years). Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 76 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Childcare Workers pay in Camden County, NJ
How much do Childcare Workers make per hour in Camden County, NJ?
The median is $16.60 per hour, based on $34,520 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $13.73 at the 10th percentile to $19.40 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Childcare Workers take home after taxes in Camden County, NJ?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $34,520 becomes $29,349 a year. That is $2,446 a month, $1,129 every two weeks or $564 a week.
How much tax do Childcare Workers pay in Camden County, NJ?
Total taxes are $5,171 a year, an effective rate of 15.0%: $2,014 federal income tax, $2,641 FICA and $517 New Jersey income tax.
Do Childcare Workers earn more in Camden County, NJ than elsewhere in New Jersey?
No. The local median of $34,520 is -7.3% versus the New Jersey average of $37,235, a difference of $2,715 a year.
Can Childcare Workers afford a one-bedroom apartment in Camden County, NJ?
A one-bedroom costs $1,558 a month against take-home pay of $2,446, which is 63.7% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $863 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Childcare Workers in Camden County, NJ?
About $264 a month ($3,171 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $26,177 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Camden County, NJ at the 30% guideline?
$29.96 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $18,696 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Childcare Workers is $16.60.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD 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.