What Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education earn in Gloucester County, NJ
According to the latest federal wage data for the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metropolitan area, the median pay for Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education in Gloucester County, NJ is $36,750 a year, or $17.67 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state income tax, the paycheck shrinks to $31,088 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Gloucester County, NJ.
The mean wage is $41,250, which is 12.2% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 15,260 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. Gloucester County, NJ has roughly 306,954 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 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $30,350 a year ($14.59 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $59,280 or more ($28.50 an hour). That is a gap of $28,930 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $35,470 at the 25th percentile and $44,030 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 2.0 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: $17.67 an hour or $36,750 a year at the median for Gloucester County, NJ. Before any deductions, that is $3,063 a month, $1,413 every two weeks and $707 each week. After taxes the same job pays $14.95 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 Gloucester County, NJ median of $36,750 is 3.6% below it.
How pay in Gloucester County, NJ compares
Compared with the New Jersey average
Pay in Gloucester County, NJ runs $8,696 below the New Jersey average of $45,446, a gap of 19.1%. 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 $50,230 in Bergen County, NJ.
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 $36,750, Gloucester County, NJ pays $3,100 less, which is 7.8% below 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 Gloucester County, NJ
Among the 636 occupations with published wages in Gloucester County, NJ, Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education ranks number 595 by median pay, ahead of about 6% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $173,470 a year, which is $136,720 more than the median for Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education.
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 Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education earning the Gloucester County, NJ median of $36,750, they add up to $5,662. The result is $31,088 of take-home pay a year ($2,591 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 15.4%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $21,000. 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 $2,282, an effective 6.2% 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 $2,279 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $533. FICA totals $2,811, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in New Jersey
New Jersey income tax on this salary is $569 a year, or 1.5% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 25% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $47 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 Gloucester County, NJ
IRS Statistics of Income data for Gloucester County, NJ show an average adjusted gross income of $93,899 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 12.9% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 5.2%, compared with the 6.2% 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 Gloucester County, NJ
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Gloucester County, NJ: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $31,088 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Gloucester 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 Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education, a one-bedroom absorbs 60.1% of take-home pay and 50.9% 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 9.3% of gross pay for Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education in Gloucester 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 Gloucester County, NJ. Subtract that from $31,088 of take-home pay and $4,911 remains, which is $409 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 13.4% of gross pay, a workable but modest cushion.
Local housing and commute data for Gloucester County, NJ
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Gloucester 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 Gloucester County, NJ, set beside the New Jersey and national medians.
Property taxes in Gloucester County, NJ
Homeowners in Gloucester County, NJ pay a median of $8,055 a year in real estate taxes, 16% below the New Jersey median of $9,590 and 158% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $310,400, the median tax bill is 2.60% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education median of $36,750, a tax bill of that size would equal 21.9% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Gloucester County, NJ
Renters in Gloucester County, NJ pay a median gross rent of $1,531 a month in the Census survey, 11% 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 $310,400, 32% below the New Jersey median of $454,400. Median household income is $105,115, 2% above the New Jersey median of $103,556, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 17.8% of that income.
Commuting in Gloucester County, NJ
Workers in Gloucester County, NJ who travel to a workplace spend an average of 28.2 minutes each way, 8% below the New Jersey average of 30.5. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.7 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 14.9% of workers in Gloucester 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 Gloucester 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 $36,750 that ceiling is $919 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,558 is $639 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 Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education is $17.67, which is 41% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $14.95 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 24.1 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 $12,447.
How fast you can save
At $409 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 25 months (2.1 years). Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 50 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education pay in Gloucester County, NJ
How much do Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education make per hour in Gloucester County, NJ?
The median is $17.67 per hour, based on $36,750 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $14.59 at the 10th percentile to $28.50 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education take home after taxes in Gloucester County, NJ?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $36,750 becomes $31,088 a year. That is $2,591 a month, $1,196 every two weeks or $598 a week.
How much tax do Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education pay in Gloucester County, NJ?
Total taxes are $5,662 a year, an effective rate of 15.4%: $2,282 federal income tax, $2,811 FICA and $569 New Jersey income tax.
Do Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education earn more in Gloucester County, NJ than elsewhere in New Jersey?
No. The local median of $36,750 is -19.1% versus the New Jersey average of $45,446, a difference of $8,696 a year.
Can Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education afford a one-bedroom apartment in Gloucester County, NJ?
A one-bedroom costs $1,558 a month against take-home pay of $2,591, which is 60.1% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $919 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education in Gloucester County, NJ?
About $409 a month ($4,911 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 Gloucester 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 Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education is $17.67.
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.