Plain-English calculators for New Jersey workers: what a paycheck really leaves you, and what the state pays while you’re on family leave or disability. Built only from official NJ and federal figures — no guesswork, no ads.
Tool 1
Enter your pay the way it appears on your offer letter or pay stub. You’ll see every deduction a New Jersey paycheck carries — federal and state tax, Social Security and Medicare, and the three NJ worker contributions most people have never had explained.
| Line | Per paycheck | Per year |
|---|
Estimate only. Assumes this pay stays the same all year; bonuses, overtime, mid-year raises, and other jobs will move the real numbers. Your employer’s payroll system may round or time caps slightly differently.
The three small NJ deductions. Alongside state income tax, New Jersey workers fund three programs straight from their wages. Unemployment Insurance plus the Workforce Development funds take 0.425% of your first $44,800 of 2026 wages (at most $190.40 for the year). Temporary Disability Insurance takes 0.19% and Family Leave Insurance 0.23%, each on your first $171,100 of wages. These are the same programs Tools 2 and 3 below estimate benefits for — the FLI deduction on your stub this year is what pays a coworker’s baby leave next year.
Why the 401(k) line surprises people. A 401(k) contribution lowers your federal taxable wages, but New Jersey taxes 401(k) contributions anyway — NJ never adopted the federal exclusion. Pre-tax medical, dental, and vision premiums through a Section 125 plan sit in between: they do reduce your federal taxable wages and your Social Security/Medicare wages — but New Jersey adds them back, because NJ does not exclude cafeteria-plan premiums from taxable wages. This calculator follows those real rules, which is why the NJ tax line may look higher than you expected.
Social Security stops; Medicare doesn’t. Social Security tax (6.2%) applies only to the first $184,500 of 2026 wages. Medicare (1.45%) has no cap, and once your wages pass $200,000 your employer must add the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax on the excess.
Tool 2 · The flagship
New Jersey pays you while you bond with a new baby or care for a seriously ill family member — 85% of your average weekly wage, up to $1,119 a week in 2026, for up to 12 weeks. Here’s what your leave could actually pay.
| Gross pay for the same weeksWhat you’d normally earn, before tax | $0 |
| Estimated FLI totalBefore any tax withholding | $0 |
| Optional 10% federal withholding | −$0 |
| Estimated amount paid to you | $0 |
| Leave dates | — |
Estimate only. The state calculates your real benefit from your base-year wage records, not your current paycheck, so the confirmed amount can differ — sometimes by a lot if your pay recently changed.
Where the number comes from: your base year. The state looks at the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before your leave starts — your “base year.” Any week in that period where you earned at least $310 (2026) counts as a “base week.” Your average weekly wage is your base-year earnings divided by your base weeks, and your benefit is 85% of that, capped at $1,119 a week for claims starting in 2026. To qualify at all, you generally need 20 base weeks, or at least $15,500 in base-year earnings.
There is no waiting week. Unlike disability, family leave pays from your first approved day. Once your claim is approved, the state issues benefits for each day claimed right away; after the first payment, payments usually arrive about every two weeks, with funds landing on your card within three business days of the payment date.
The money arrives on a debit card. Benefits are paid on a Money Network / My Banking Direct prepaid debit card, mailed to you in a plain, unmarked envelope after your claim is approved — it looks like junk mail, so open everything. Family Leave has no direct deposit, though you can set up an automatic transfer from the card to your own bank account. One card serves your disability, family leave, and unemployment benefits for four years, so don’t throw it away between claims.
You don’t have to take it all at once. Taken in one continuous stretch, you can claim up to 12 weeks (84 days). Spread out — a day here, a week there — the cap is 56 individual days in a 12-month period, and each day pays 1/7 of your weekly benefit. File within 30 days of your first day of leave; bonding claims can be started up to 60 days ahead, and you generally must give your employer 30 days’ notice for a continuous bonding leave.
Taxes, briefly. FLI benefits count as income for federal tax but are not taxed by New Jersey. When you apply, you can elect to have 10% withheld for federal tax (the toggle above shows the effect), and you’ll get a 1099-G for the year. If you don’t elect withholding, set a little aside so April isn’t a surprise.
Tool 3
FLI covers time off for someone else’s health or a new baby. TDI covers your own non-work-related illness, injury, surgery recovery — including pregnancy and childbirth recovery. Same 85% formula, one important difference: a waiting week.
| Weeks out | 6 |
| Waiting weekFirst 7 days are unpaid unless your leave reaches 22 days — then that week is paid retroactively | — |
| Paid weeks | 6 |
| Estimated total benefit | $0 |
Estimate only. Social Security and Medicare taxes are automatically withheld from TDI benefit payments, so the amount reaching your card will be a bit lower than the total shown. Federal income tax is not withheld unless you ask for it when you apply.
Benefits start on day 8. The first seven days of a disability claim are the “waiting week” and are initially unpaid. If you’re still out on day 22, the state pays that first week retroactively — so for any leave of about three weeks or more, the waiting week effectively disappears, and this estimator counts it as paid. Shorter leaves lose the week.
Pregnancy usually runs TDI, then FLI. Benefits are commonly payable up to four weeks before a due date and six weeks after delivery (eight after a C-section), with a doctor’s certification. When disability ends, bonding leave under FLI can follow at the same weekly benefit rate — the state even mails transition instructions about a month after you give birth.
Same eligibility backbone. TDI uses the same base year, the same $310 base week, and the same 20-base-weeks-or-$15,500 test as FLI, and pays on the same Money Network debit card. Some employers use an approved private disability plan instead of the state plan — if yours does, you file with the insurer, not the state, though the plan must be at least as good.
Every rate, cap, and wage base on this page traces to an official source, checked on October 21, 2026. Figures are for tax year / claims year 2026. If you spot a number that looks off, check it against the source — that’s what they’re here for.
Partly. FLI benefits are taxable income for federal income tax, but New Jersey does not tax them. When you apply, you can choose to have 10% of each payment withheld for federal tax; either way, you’ll receive a Form 1099-G after year-end showing what you were paid. If you skip withholding, consider setting aside roughly a tenth of each payment so tax time doesn’t sting.
Yes. Each parent has their own FLI claim based on their own wages. You can take leave at the same time, or stagger it — many families have one parent home first, then the other — as long as bonding leave happens within the baby’s first 12 months. Two earners in one household can mean close to 24 weeks of paid bonding time between you.
FLI has no waiting period: once your claim is approved, benefits are issued for each day of leave claimed. Payments come on a Money Network debit card that’s mailed after approval (watch for a plain, unmarked envelope). After the initial payment, payments are usually issued every two weeks with about a one-week processing lag, and funds should be available on the card within three business days of the payment date. Incomplete applications — especially a missing medical or employer section — are the main cause of delays, so file early and completely.
FLI itself is only the money. But as of July 17, 2026, New Jersey law gives workers who receive FLI or TDI benefits job protection during their leave if they aren’t already covered by the NJ Family Leave Act or federal FMLA — and that benefit-based protection has no minimum employer size. The NJ Family Leave Act separately covers employers with 15 or more employees (you qualify after 3 months and 250 hours) and provides up to 12 weeks of protected leave in a 24-month period. Most NJ workers collecting FLI in 2026 are protected one way or another, but if your situation is unusual, confirm with your employer or the NJ Department of Labor before you go out.
They’re sibling programs with the same 85% formula and the same $1,119 weekly cap in 2026. TDI pays when you can’t work for a non-job-related medical reason — illness, injury, surgery, pregnancy recovery — for up to 26 weeks, with a one-week waiting period that’s paid back if you’re out at least 22 days. FLI pays when you’re away from work to bond with a new child or care for a family member, for up to 12 weeks, with no waiting period. Parents often use both in sequence: TDI for recovery, then FLI for bonding.
From your base year — the first four of the last five completed quarters before your leave — not your current paycheck. The state totals your earnings in weeks where you earned at least $310 (a “base week”), divides by the number of base weeks to get your average weekly wage, and pays 85% of it up to the cap. A raise last month won’t move your benefit much; a raise a year ago is fully in the numbers. That’s also why this estimator asks for your average weekly wage rather than today’s salary.
Some employers cover disability (and less commonly family leave) through a state-approved private plan instead of the state plan. The benefits must be at least as good as the state’s. If your employer has one, you file your claim with the private insurer rather than the state, and you may not see the state TDI/FLI deductions on your pay stub. Your HR department can tell you which plan covers you.
Yes, and your employer can’t force you to burn paid time off first. If you choose to use accrued sick or vacation days, those days don’t reduce your FLI benefit days — they stack on top, which some parents use to top the 85% benefit up to full pay for part of the leave.