Over the past decade, wages in New Jersey have gone up—but in many cases, not enough to keep pace with the rising cost of living. NJ21st looked at state and federal labor data to see how different industries have fared since 2013, adjusting for inflation using local cost-of-living data from the New York–Newark metro area.

Some sectors did well. Others, not so much.

Information, Finance, and Food Service all saw strong wage growth even after inflation. In the Information sector, for example, the average annual wage jumped from $96,489 in 2013 to $169,066 in 2024. After adjusting for inflation, that’s a real increase of more than 34%. Finance and Insurance saw an 18% gain. Arts and Entertainment came in around 19%. And even Accommodation and Food Services—often near the bottom of the wage scale—saw real gains of 18%, likely helped by minimum wage hikes and staffing shortages.

But other sectors fell behind.

Transportation and Warehousing workers actually lost ground. Wages rose from $51,023 to $66,257 over the decade, but when adjusted for inflation, that’s effectively a drop of $137. Management of Companies barely moved at all—just a 0.25% real increase. Utilities, Education, and Wholesale Trade hovered in the 2–4% range, which barely keeps up with the cost of living.

Here’s how it looks when you line it all up:

We used Consumer Price Index data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics specific to the NY–NJ–PA metro region. From 2013 to 2024, prices rose about 30.15%. That means any wage gain less than that didn’t actually improve buying power.

Here’s the math we used:

• Adjust 2013 wages to 2024 dollars (using CPI)
  (example: $51,023 × 1.3015 = $66,394)

• Subtract from 2024 wage
  ($66,257 – $66,394 = –$137 real change)

• Calculate the percent change 
  (–$137 ÷ $66,394 ≈ –0.21%)

So…not all pay increases are created equal. A 30% bump over 10 years might sound fine—until you realize that everyday costs went up just as fast. Real wage growth is what matters, and in some sectors, it hasn’t happened.

Then consider that, in some industries, paychecks may have technically gone up, but they still don’t stretch very far. To make that clearer, we looked at how much buying power each 2024 wage really has — basically, how far that money actually goes once you factor in cost of living.

Take Retail. Wages went up about 13% after inflation, which sounds great — until you realize it still pays so little that it barely covers the basics. Even with the increase, retail workers remain near the bottom when it comes to what their paycheck can buy. Compare that to tech or finance, where workers not only saw big raises but also earn enough to stay well ahead of rising costs.

When you zoom out to include housing and tax burdens, the picture becomes a bit more concerning.

For many households, wages are rising just enough to keep from falling behind—but not enough to pull ahead.

And it raises bigger questions: Are public wage scales and contracts being indexed to reality? Are rising housing costs outpacing the economy most residents live in? What role do outsourcing, AI. automation, gig work, and state policy decisions play in suppressing wage growth across sectors?

If you work in one of these industries and haven’t seen a meaningful raise in years, we want to hear from –  [email protected]

See Full Wage Breakdown by Sector

Sources/References

New Jersey Wage Data
https://www.nj.gov/labor/lpa/employ/indoccpwage/indoccpwage_index.html

Metro-Area (NY/NJ/PA) Inflation
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CUURA101SA0

 BLS Northeast Region CPI Releases
https://www.bls.gov/regions/northeast/news-release/consumerpriceindex_newyork.htm

BLS CPI Databases
https://www.bls.gov/cpi/

New Jersey Department of Community Affairs Property Tax Reports
https://www.nj.gov/dca/dlgs/Property_Tax_info.shtml

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