How to Survive in New Jersey on $200 a Day

By Joe Schilp | Joe’s Blog

Single family homeMost people probably never think about the cost of living in New Jersey, but when you get right down to it, if you’re part of a typical Middle Class family of four, it will cost you approximately $200 a day just to live in New Jersey.

I know, that sounds outrageous, right?  But go ahead, add up your expenses and you’ll be stunned to see that it costs you roughly $200/day – probably more – just to live here. 

Middle class New Jersey residents, your expenses are:

  • $12,000/year for mortgage (probably more)
  • $8,000/year for property taxes[1]
  • $2,500/year for car insurance
  • $3,600/year for car payments
  • $1,800/year for cable/modem/phone
  • $1,000/year for home/fire insurance
  • $7,800/year (probably more) for groceries
  • $2,400/year for cell/data service
  • $3,000/year for gas/electric
  • $2,000/year for health insurance
  • $1,933 state income taxes (based on average salary of $62,000 in NJ)
  • $13,000 federal income taxes (based on average salary of $62,000 in NJ minus $5,000 in deductions)
  • $2,000/year for gasoline
  • $200/year for tolls (most commuters spend a LOT more, but some people spend none)
  • $420/year for water
  • $350/year for garbage
  • $3,600/year for life insurance
  • $3,000/year for child activities (sports, dance, pool, camp lessons, etc.)
  • $3,000/year for clothes, shoes, winter wear, etc.
  • $1,000/year medical/dental bills/prescriptions

Add it up and you’re at roughly $72,000 a year, or, $200 a day.  That’s also roughly $10,000 more than the average income in New Jersey.  And that does not include a vacation, movies, day trips, pet care, home maintenance, auto maintenance, and school tuition if one chooses non-public schooling for their children. 

The bottom line is that it’s too darned expensive to live in New Jersey, and neither political party – Democrat or Republican – has done a damned thing to bring those expenses under control.  To the contrary, government is a major part of the problem because over 1/3 of those expenses are government related (check your cable bill, insurance bill, phone bill, etc. – there are gov’t fees tacked on to all of ‘em). 

So what can be done by the politicians in Trenton to solve this problem?  The state’s economy is a mess, in large part because so much of a family’s income is consumed by government.  If people had the ability to keep more of their hard-earned income, they would accumulate less debt and spend more money on things like home improvement, day trips and eating out.  These are all expenses that are spent at local businesses, and when local businesses see increases in revenue, more jobs are created and the state sees increases in tax revenue. 

The bottom line is that the state has to spend less money, and Governor Chris Christie knows this.  

He campaigned on it!  

TWICE!  

Both in 2009 and 2013, his campaign stressed that his opponent (Corzine in 2009, Buono in 2013) raised taxes 120+ times; and yet, after nearly 5 years in office, Christie has not lowered a single one of those tax increases.  It seems that while Christie was against those tax increases, he has no problem spending the money raised with those taxes. 

In fact, the state government is spending so much money that Christie has proposed balancing the budget by failing to meet the state’s pension payment commitment, essentially kicking the can down the road, just like his predecessors.  And those state pensions are a problem, too.  Allow me to explain…

Government workers’ pensions are based on their 3 highest salary years.  In the past, many people worked over 20 years as a part time employee, then cashed in on political connections to score a high-paying full-time job for three years and – Voila! – we’re stuck paying retirees 6-figure pensions for “serving” the people primarily as a part-timer for their government careers.

It’s time for Chris Christie to make a hard choice.  It’s time for him to tell retired state workers that if they worked primarily as a part-timer, their pensions need to be slashed.  It won’t be a popular decision, but it needs to be done.  It is simply unfair to taxpayers to have to pay this bill to people whose pension was not earned honestly.

And that should be the starting point of Christie’s efforts to cut spending.  It is unconscionable that people are forced to spend $200 a day just to live a middle class life.  It’s simply unsustainable.  New Jersey will never have an economic recovery if the citizens of this state do not have more disposable income.

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[1] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-13/new-jersey-property-taxes-increased-by-average-1-7-last-year.html

Joe Schilp
About Joe Schilp 18 Articles
A husband, father and Piscataway resident, Joe Schilp joined the Rutgers University Exercise Science and Sport Studies Department as adjunct faculty member in 2010 after 20 years in the sports and event presentation industry.

14 Comments

  1. Some of these are luxuries and seem to cost more than they should, and that’s not because it’s NJ.

    $2,500/year for car insurance – I pay less than that for TWO cars with 100/300 and comprehensive/collision. It helps that one car is older.

    $3,600/year for car payments – No need to own a car that isn’t paid off. Driving an older car is perfectly fine. One of ours is 10 years old and I drive it daily. No payments is its best feature.

    $1,800/year for cable/modem/phone – Cable TV is a luxury. One can get all the networks with an antenna in full digital HD quality and use streaming if you really want to see other stuff. Home phone is also not needed if you have a cell phone. I don’t really have a traditional home phone. I have a cheap VOIP line for $5/month. Internet can be as cheap as $30/month, depending on the provider. Even FiOS and optimum range from around $45-$50/month.

    $2,400/year for cell/data service – Also a luxury. Prepaid cellphones can save you big bucks if you really don’t make a lot of calls. $200 a month is rather high! We have four devices on our plan and don’t pay that much. When we had two iPhones with AT&T we paid less than $100/month.

    $3,000/year for gas/electric – $250/month seems rather high. But I guess utility rates are higher in other parts of NJ.

  2. YOU may pay less for insurance, but plenty of people pay more. It’s an average. And if you have a 17 year-old driver in the house, it’s a LOT more.

    And $250/month is not high at all.

  3. Regardless of the other expenses that are not exclusive to NJ, the fact is, for a family of 4, you’re looking at about $200 a day simply to survive. And while you may think some numbers are high, the mortgage number is probably lower than most middle class residents. Surely, if you purchased a home after 1999, your mortgage is a LOT more than $1000 a month.

  4. And as you pointed out, Joe, even if you shaved $10,000 from your budget, the average income earner is still only breaking even. It’s no way to live…

  5. Like a rat fleeing a sinking ship I left 7 years ago for Colorado. 3 bdrm Twnhse (1525′) taxes 910/yr; car ins: 720 w full coverage;ALL utilities $1776/yr. 350 days of sun/yr…..Need I say more?

  6. But how does your salary stack up ? Different areas with a lower cost of living also typically have a lower average salary.

  7. Taxes have not increased so significantly to be the sine qua non culprit. What is missing from this discussion is the three decades of wage stagnation. $62,000 was a decent mid-level salary when I graduated from college in the early 90s. Real wages have not increased and in some sectors they’ve decreased. All while corporations are hitting record profits. Something rotten in the state of NJ, and all other US states for that matter.

  8. One of the main reasons I left the state and joined the military. Now that I’m done with my service time; I found an amazing job in the oil field in Colorado. Weld County has no short term or long term debt. Taxes are low. NJ needs to approve the oil pipeline from NY to it’s own refineries; it will bring large revenues, great paying jobs, and a way to pay off some debt. Look out west; the success and minimal environmental impacts are proven scientific points.

  9. We left the state & moved to Indiana. We just couldn’t hack it in NJ with three kids. Best thing we ever did was leave; we now live comfortably & were able to build our first home; something that never would have happened in NJ.

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