Packers and Packagers, Hand Salary

It’s a stretch — at the median salary of $44K, rent takes 68.3% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $2,067/month. The 30% guideline puts the comfortable ceiling at roughly $900/month in rent — so roommates or a 1-bedroom would ease the math significantly.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new packers and packagers, hands typically earn — is $32K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $1,933/month. At HUD’s $2,067/month FMR, rent would take 107% of that take-home — above the 30% guideline, so a 1-bedroom or shared housing is likely necessary starting out.

Local pay is 21% above the national median — $44K here vs. $36K nationally.

New Jersey pays $44K median vs. the U.S. average of $36K — that’s +21%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 99.34), the purchasing-power equivalent is $44K — still ahead of the national median.

The median is $43,840 a year, that works out to about $21 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $32,220, and experienced packers and packagers, hands can clear $47,310. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $3,028/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $2,067/month, which eats 68.3% of your paycheck. That's above the 30% rule of thumb, housing will be a stretch at the median salary, though you can manage with roommates or a smaller place.

New Jersey has a Regional Price Parity of 99.34 (100 is the national average). That's below average, your money stretches further here than the raw salary number suggests. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median packers and packagers, hand salary is worth about $44,131 in national-average purchasing power.

The table above ranks every state by median pay for this role. Keep in mind that the highest-paying states tend to have the highest costs of living, so the top salary doesn't always mean the most money in your pocket.