NJ Income Tax Brackets 2026: Rates, Tables and Examples

2026 New Jersey tax brackets for single filers (Table A)

Table A covers single filers and married or civil union partners filing separate returns. The 2026 NJ-1040-ES instructions also use it for estates and trusts.

The Division of Taxation prints these rates twice. The 2025 NJ-1040 instructions use them for returns filed in 2026. The 2026 NJ-1040-ES instructions use them for 2026 income. The two tables are identical, and the Division's rates page files them under “2020 and After.”

Each row works in one step. Multiply your whole New Jersey taxable income by the rate on your row. Then subtract the amount in the last column. The subtraction is what keeps your lower dollars taxed at the lower rates.

• Seven brackets, from 1.4% to 10.75%.
• The 6.37% bracket is the widest. It runs from $75,000 to $500,000.
• Under $100,000 of New Jersey taxable income, you may use the Tax Table in the NJ-1040 booklet instead. At $100,000 or more, the Division says you must use these schedules.

2026 brackets for joint filers and heads of household (Table B)

Table B covers married or civil union couples filing jointly, heads of household, and qualifying widow(er)s or surviving civil union partners. It has eight brackets, not seven.

The extra bracket is 2.45%, on income from $50,000 to $70,000. Three lines sit at twice the single amounts: 3.5% starts at $70,000, 5.525% at $80,000 and 6.37% at $150,000. The top two lines do not double. The 8.97% rate starts at $500,000 and 10.75% at $1,000,000, the same as Table A.

• Your filing status follows your federal return. The instructions say a joint federal return means a joint New Jersey return, and separate federal returns mean separate state returns.
• Head of household uses Table B when you meet the federal rules for that status.
• Civil union partners file as spouses do under New Jersey law, so their New Jersey status may not match the federal one.

How to use the brackets, with worked examples

The schedules turn a bracket calculation into one line. Take New Jersey taxable income from line 42. Find its row. Multiply by the rate, then subtract the amount shown. That is your tax before credits, on line 43.

Here is the long way, to show it gives the same answer. Take a single filer with $60,000. 1.4% of the first $20,000 is $280.00. 1.75% of the next $15,000 is $262.50. 3.5% of the next $5,000 is $175.00. 5.525% of the last $20,000 is $1,105.00. The total is $1,822.50. The short way gives the same figure: $60,000 × 5.525% − $1,492.50 = $1,822.50.

The table runs the short way at six incomes on both tables. It is our arithmetic on the Division's schedules, not a quote and not tax advice. Credits, such as the property tax credit or the child tax credit, come off afterwards.

• Your top rate applies only to the dollars inside your top bracket. One more dollar of income never pushes all your income to a higher rate.
• The booklet's Tax Table lists tax in $50 income bands, in whole dollars. Its figure can differ slightly from the schedule's exact result.
• Taxable income comes after exemptions and deductions. Every filer gets at least the $1,000 exemption, so a $100,000 salary with no other income means less than $100,000 of New Jersey taxable income.

Marginal vs effective rate, and when joint filing costs more

Your marginal rate is the rate on your next dollar. Your effective rate is your tax divided by your taxable income. At $100,000, a single filer's marginal rate is 6.37%, but the effective rate is 4.24%.

With one earner, the joint table costs less. $100,000 of New Jersey taxable income costs $4,243.75 on Table A but $2,750.00 on Table B.

With two equal earners, the joint table can cost more, because its lines are not exactly double the single ones. Our arithmetic: two single filers at $50,000 each owe $2,540.00 together. Filing jointly on $100,000, they owe $2,750.00, which is $210.00 more. At $600,000 each, the gap grows to $16,770.00, because the 8.97% and 10.75% lines do not move.

• New Jersey does not let you pick freely. A joint federal return requires a joint New Jersey return.
• Married filing separately uses Table A for each spouse, but only if you also file separately for federal purposes.
• Weigh the federal and New Jersey results together before choosing; a CPA can run both versions.

What counts as New Jersey taxable income (it is not your federal number)

The brackets apply to New Jersey taxable income, not federal taxable income. New Jersey builds that number its own way.

The NJ-1040 instructions tell you to use “State Wages” from box 16 of your W-2, not federal wages from box 1. Residents report taxable income from everywhere, inside and outside the state.

• Income is sorted into categories. A net loss in one category cannot reduce income in another. The instructions' example: gambling losses cannot be subtracted from wages.
• No carryback or carryover of losses is allowed on the NJ-1040.
• New Jersey taxes some income the IRS does not. Examples: employee contributions to 403(b), 457, SEP and federal Thrift Savings plans, and interest on other states' municipal bonds.
• Contributions to 401(k) plans, up to the federal limit, stay out of New Jersey income.
• Some income is left out entirely. Examples: federal Social Security, Railroad Retirement, U.S. military pensions, life insurance paid at a death, and New Jersey property tax relief benefits.

Why the federal overtime and tips deductions do not reduce this number is in the NJ overtime and tips tax guide.

Exemptions and deductions that come off before the brackets

The Division's Gross Income Tax overview lists New Jersey's deductions, and a standard deduction is not among them. Instead, New Jersey gives fixed exemptions and a short list of deductions.

• Medical expenses above 2% of New Jersey gross income, qualified Archer MSA contributions, and health insurance costs of the self-employed.
• Alimony and separate maintenance you pay, if the person receiving it reports it as income.
• Qualified conservation contributions and the organ and bone marrow donor deduction.
• The Health Enterprise Zone deduction, for eligible primary care medical or dental practices in or within five miles of a Health Enterprise Zone.
• College affordability deductions, if gross income was $200,000 or less. They allow up to $10,000 of NJBEST contributions, $2,500 of NJCLASS loan payments and $10,000 of tuition at a New Jersey school.
• The property tax deduction, covered below, comes off last.

How the NJBEST deduction works, and its $200,000 income test, is in the NJ 529 tax deduction guide.

Who pays no New Jersey income tax

The Division's overview sets two filing thresholds. Filers with income of $10,000 or less for the whole year pay no tax: single filers, married people filing separately, and estates and trusts. So do filers with $20,000 or less: married couples filing jointly, heads of household and surviving spouses.

The test uses income for the entire year, not only the part earned while living in New Jersey.

• You still file if New Jersey tax was withheld and you are due a refund.
• You also file if you paid 2025 estimated tax and are due a refund. The same goes if you qualify for the New Jersey Earned Income Tax Credit or another credit and are due a refund.
• Homeowners or tenants 65 or older or disabled who are under the threshold may still claim a property tax credit, on Form NJ-1040-HW.

Retirees: Social Security, pensions and the $150,000 line

Social Security is not taxed in New Jersey. The NJ-1040 instructions list Social Security and Railroad Retirement benefits as nontaxable retirement income, not reported on the return.

Taxable pensions, annuities and IRA withdrawals go on line 20a. Many retirees can exclude some or all of that income. You qualify if you, or your spouse on a joint return, were 62 or older on the last day of the tax year. Being blind or disabled on that day also qualifies. Your income on line 27 must also be $150,000 or less.

• Over $150,000 of income on line 27, there is no exclusion. The 2026 NJ-1040-ES instructions keep the same $150,000 limit for 2026 estimates.
• If you did not use your whole exclusion, Worksheet D may let you use the rest on line 28b.
• A Special Exclusion applies only if you will never be able to receive Social Security or Railroad Retirement benefits. It is $6,000 for joint filers, heads of household and qualifying widow(er)s, and $3,000 for single or separate filers.
• Each spouse 65 or older also gets the extra $1,000 exemption.

Homeowners and renters: the property tax deduction or credit

Did you pay property taxes on your main home in New Jersey, directly or through rent? Then you may take a property tax deduction or a refundable property tax credit. You take one, not both.

The deduction is up to $15,000 of property taxes. It is $7,500 if you and your spouse file separately but kept the same main home. The credit is $50, or $25 for spouses filing separately.

The deduction comes off before the brackets, so its value depends on your rate. Our arithmetic: a single filer in the 6.37% bracket who deducts $10,000 of property taxes saves $637.00. That is far more than the $50 credit.

• Renters count 18% of the rent paid as property taxes.
• Worksheet H in the instructions compares the deduction and the credit and tells you which line to use.
• If you own the home with someone who is not your spouse, use only your share of the taxes.

ANCHOR, Stay NJ and Senior Freeze are separate relief payments, not lines on this return. Amounts and payment dates are in the ANCHOR check status guide.

What changed for 2026, and what has not (checked October 30, 2026)

The brackets did not change. The 2026 NJ-1040-ES instructions, the Division's guide to 2026 income, print the same Tables A and B as the 2025 return. The Division's current NJ-1040 booklet is still the 2025 edition.

Two laws signed June 30, 2026 change some 2026 returns without touching the rates. Two identical bills would replace the brackets, but they are not law. Each status below was read on the New Jersey Legislature's site on October 30, 2026.

• Under P.L.2026, c.26, the child tax credit is $1,250 at New Jersey taxable income of $30,000 or less. It steps down to $1,000 (to $40,000), $750 (to $50,000), $500 (to $60,000) and $250 (to $80,000). Before 2026 and after 2028 the amounts are $1,000, $800, $600, $400 and $200. Married filers must file jointly to claim it, unless they file as head of household or surviving spouse.
• The alternative business calculation lets a taxpayer net a loss in one business income category against gains in the others. It is an exception to the no-netting rule above.
• This page lists no rates from A1850 or S3311, because neither bill is law.

Where the brackets meet the rest of your New Jersey taxes

Brackets are one input. The same income also sets your estimated payments and any BAIT credit from a business you own. It also shapes the moves you can still make before December 31.

A CPA is worth considering in three cases: your income crosses a bracket line, a married couple's federal and New Jersey choices pull apart, or you own part of a business. Whoever you hire, check the license in New Jersey's own record first.

Quarterly payments, the $400 test and the January 15, 2027 deadline are in the NJ estimated tax payments guide.

What you can still change before December 31, 2026 is in the tax planning services guide.

If a partnership or S corporation pays tax for you, the credit is explained in the NJ BAIT tax guide.

To confirm a CPA's license, status and any Board action, use the NJ CPA license lookup guide.

Questions to ask before acting.