New Jersey showed an average weekly wage increase of 3.2% from September 2023 to September 2024 which was next to the lowest increase of 3.0% for Michigan for the same period as illustrated below in the Graph from the BLS. Clicking on the graph below will link to the BLS site where the Individual Percent Changes are identified for each state.
According the the Cost of Living By State 2025 New Jersey is the 8th highest in terms of cost of living yet New Jersey was near the bottom of rankings for Weekly Wage Growth from 2024 to 2025. Compensation planning requires reliance on a number of Salary and Benefit Surveys refreshed at least every 3 years to keep abreast of competitive compensation trends. Differences in Cost of Living do not necessarily indicate the same differences in Compensation levels or progression over time from one location to another.
The CompGeo Pro Total Compensation Forecast Library contains Salary and Benefit Forecasts from 2027 – 2030 covering a wide range of Occupations across hundreds of locations in the U.S.