Compared with the local labor market
Social Worker 2 pay vs. New Jersey
Across all employers in New Jersey, the median wage for Social Workers, All Other — about 640 people — is $76,640. Human Services pays a median base salary of $52,931 for this role, 31% below that figure — about the 23rd percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Human Services sits in the local pay range
$42,710
$54,340
$76,640
$96,520
$114,880
Human Services median · $52,931
The bar is the range of annual wages for Social Workers, All Other across every employer in New Jersey, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Human Services’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Social Workers, All Other — about 62,930 people — is $71,900. Human Services’s median base salary is 26% below that national figure, about the 26th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
$43,620
$51,900
$71,900
$97,040
$115,610
Human Services median · $52,931
Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the New Jersey range relative to the national one.
Median total compensation for this role at Human Services is $53,494, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.
Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.
Compare departments
This role across New Jersey
Social Worker 2 is held in 3 New Jersey departments. In Human Services, the median of $50,568 ranks #3 of 3.
Highest-paying departments for this role
Median total compensation for the Social Worker 2 role in other New Jerseydepartments (highest first). Each bar links to that department’s page for this role.