New Jersey residents are working nearly five extra weeks a year just to afford rent, groceries, and a car.
According to a new analysis by InvestorsObserver, the average NJ worker now spends 16.2 extra workdays annually—compared to 2007 numbers—just to cover these three basics. That’s roughly 130 extra hours per year for the same standard of living their parents could afford nearly two decades ago.
Despite earning 66% more per hour since 2007, New Jersey workers are caught. Wage growth simply can’t outpace increasing cost of living.
New Jersey ranks fourth worst in the nation, trailing only Delaware (25.4 extra days), Maryland (18.5), and New York (18.3). The Mid-Atlantic corridor tops the list as housing costs in the region have exploded far beyond wage growth.
In 2007, New Jersey’s median hourly wage was $25.37. In 2025, that climbed to $32.54, but rent climbed further. Housing costs have risen so dramatically that they now consume 10 of those 16.2 extra workdays alone. A shocking display of the squeeze that housing costs alone put on the average New Jersey resident.
A New Jersey worker earning $32.54 per hour in 2025 still can’t keep pace with the cost of living in the state. The housing market, particularly in North Jersey and along the commuter corridors to New York City, has created a gap between wages and affordability that just keeps widening. Some of the highest property taxes in the nation further contribute to this.
Car prices tell a similar story. In 2007, a New Jersey worker spent roughly 35 hours annually saving for a used car. By 2025, those hours had ballooned to over 61—a near 50% increase.
Nationally, the average American now works 66 days per year just to cover rent, groceries, and a used car. In the worst-hit states, workers are losing 2.5 years of their 40-year career to inflation.
For New Jersey residents, the outlook is bleak. Wages are up, but they aren’t keeping up. The state’s gargantuan cost of living has outpaced even substantial wage growth, leaving people working longer hours just to maintain the same standard of living they had in 2007.
It’s exposed a harsh reality: A modest job is no longer enough to get by in New Jersey, and we’re all feeling it.
The New Jersey Digest is a new jersey magazine that has chronicled daily life in the Garden State for over 10 years.