What Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders earn in Sussex County, NJ
The median pay for Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders in Sussex County, NJ is $54,790 per year, which works out to $26.34 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 Sussex 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 $57,420, which is 4.8% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 8,060 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. Sussex County, NJ has roughly 145,807 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders in the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $35,980 a year ($17.30 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $79,260 or more ($38.11 an hour). That is a gap of $43,280 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $46,120 at the 25th percentile and $66,530 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 2.2 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 Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders in Sussex County, NJ is $26.34. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $54,790, and the same salary is $4,566 a month before taxes or about $2,107 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $21.48 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders this way: "Operate or tend equipment to control chemical changes or reactions in the processing of industrial or consumer products. Equipment used includes devulcanizers, steam-jacketed kettles, and reactor vessels."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Adjust controls to regulate temperature, pressure, feed, or flow of liquids or gases and times of prescribed reactions, according to knowledge of equipment and processes"; "Observe safety precautions to prevent fires or explosions"; "Monitor gauges, recording instruments, flowmeters, or products to ensure that specified conditions are maintained"; "Control or operate equipment in which chemical changes or reactions take place during the processing of industrial or consumer products".
Job outlook for Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 140,800 jobs in 2025 to 145,800 in 2035, a change of +3.6%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 13,900 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 9.9% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: high school diploma or equivalent. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: moderate-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $58,040 for this occupation; the Sussex County, NJ median of $54,790 is 5.6% below it.
How pay in Sussex County, NJ compares
Compared with the New Jersey average
The local median of $54,790 sits below the New Jersey employment-weighted average of $56,797. The shortfall is $2,007 a year, or 3.5%, so Sussex County, NJ is a lower-paying market for this job than the state as a whole. Within New Jersey, Sussex County, NJ already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders is $59,993 across the contiguous United States. At $54,790, Sussex County, NJ pays $5,203 less, which is 8.7% 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 Sussex County, NJ
Among the 671 occupations with published wages in Sussex County, NJ, Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders ranks number 489 by median pay, ahead of about 27% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers at $335,270 a year, which is $280,480 more than the median for Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $54,790 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 $10,117 a year, which leaves $44,673, or $3,723 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 18.5%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $39,040. 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 $4,446, an effective 8.1% 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 $3,397 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $794. FICA totals $4,191, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in New Jersey
New Jersey income tax on this salary is $1,479 a year, or 2.7% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 33% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $123 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 Sussex County, NJ
IRS Statistics of Income data for Sussex County, NJ show an average adjusted gross income of $101,312 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 13.7% across all filers. Filers in the $50,000 to under $75,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 7.8%, compared with the 8.1% 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 Sussex County, NJ
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Sussex County, NJ: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $44,673 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Sussex County, NJ is $1,850 a month, or $22,200 a year. A two-bedroom costs $2,233 a month. For Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders, a one-bedroom absorbs 49.7% of take-home pay and 40.5% 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 6.3% of gross pay for Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders in Sussex 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, 66% of take-home pay. That leaves $14,991 a year, or $1,249 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 27.4% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Sussex County, NJ
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Sussex 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 Sussex County, NJ, set beside the New Jersey and national medians.
Property taxes in Sussex County, NJ
Homeowners in Sussex County, NJ pay a median of $8,568 a year in real estate taxes, 11% below the New Jersey median of $9,590 and 175% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $369,400, the median tax bill is 2.32% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders median of $54,790, a tax bill of that size would equal 15.6% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Sussex County, NJ
Renters in Sussex County, NJ pay a median gross rent of $1,585 a month in the Census survey, 8% 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 $1,850 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 $369,400, 19% below the New Jersey median of $454,400. Median household income is $116,186, 12% above the New Jersey median of $103,556, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 19.1% of that income.
Commuting in Sussex County, NJ
Workers in Sussex County, NJ who travel to a workplace spend an average of 36.3 minutes each way, 19% above the New Jersey average of 30.5. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 6.0 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 14.9% of workers in Sussex County, NJ work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders afford to live in Sussex 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 $54,790 that ceiling is $1,370 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,850 is $480 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 Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders is $26.34, which is 26% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $21.48 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 19.9 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 $23,793.
How fast you can save
At $1,249 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 9 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 18 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders pay in Sussex County, NJ
What is the hourly wage for Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders in Sussex County, NJ?
The median is $26.34 per hour, based on $54,790 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $17.30 at the 10th percentile to $38.11 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders in Sussex County, NJ?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $54,790 becomes $44,673 a year. That is $3,723 a month, $1,718 every two weeks or $859 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders in Sussex County, NJ?
Total taxes are $10,117 a year, an effective rate of 18.5%: $4,446 federal income tax, $4,191 FICA and $1,479 New Jersey income tax.
Is pay for Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders in Sussex County, NJ above the New Jersey average?
No. The local median of $54,790 is -3.5% versus the New Jersey average of $56,797, a difference of $2,007 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders salary in Sussex County, NJ?
A one-bedroom costs $1,850 a month against take-home pay of $3,723, which is 49.7% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,370 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders in Sussex County, NJ?
About $1,249 a month ($14,991 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 Sussex 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 Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders is $26.34.
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.