- The middle half earn between $22.50 and $36.55 an hour.
- New Jersey ranks 13th of the 50 states and DC for median pay in this trade.
- New Jersey pays more than 2 of its 3 neighboring states.
- BLS counts about 2,250 crime scene cleaners on payrolls in New Jersey.
- At the state median wage, a biohazard cleaning business needs to bill about $117.78 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Crime Scene Cleaner pay in New Jersey, bottom to top
BLS has no figure for crime scene cleaners. These are its numbers for hazardous materials removal workers, the closest group, which includes decontamination workers along with asbestos and lead abatement crews. Treat them as a rough guide, not a measure of crime scene work itself.
| Pay level | Hourly | Yearly | National hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $21.03 | $43,750 | $18.49 |
| 25th percentile | $22.50 | $46,790 | $21.50 |
| Median | $26.87 | $55,900 | $23.78 |
| 75th percentile | $36.55 | $76,020 | $29.58 |
| 90th percentile | $51.72 | $107,570 | $39.62 |
| Average (mean) | $31.15 | $64,790 | $27.13 |
Pay spreads out a lot in New Jersey. The bottom tenth earn $21.03 an hour or less while the top tenth earn $51.72 or more, a gap of 2.5 times against 2.1 nationally. Where a crime scene cleaner sits on that range matters as much as the state.
Both ends of the scale beat the national figures: $21.03 against $18.49 at the bottom tenth, and $51.72 against $39.62 at the top.
The average wage, $31.15, sits 16% above the median. A smaller group of higher earners pulls the average up, so the median is the better guide to what a typical crime scene cleaner makes.
How New Jersey compares with other states
Over a full year, the New Jersey median of $55,900 is $6,450 more than the national $49,450.
In the state ranking, New Jersey sits 13th, between California ($26.98) and New Hampshire ($26.59). The range runs from $17.61 in Arkansas to $35.14 in New York.
Against its neighboring states, New Jersey is in the middle: New York pays more, and Delaware and Pennsylvania pay less.
These are wages as paid, not adjusted for what it costs to live in New Jersey. Rent, home prices and taxes decide how far a higher wage goes.
| Neighboring state | Median hourly | Median yearly | Against New Jersey |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Jersey | $26.87 | $55,900 | |
| Delaware | $21.28 | $44,250 | −$5.59 an hour |
| New York | $35.14 | $73,090 | +$8.27 an hour |
| Pennsylvania | $23.01 | $47,860 | −$3.86 an hour |
How many crime scene cleaners work in New Jersey
About 2,250 crime scene cleaners work on payrolls in New Jersey, 4.4% of the 51,710 nationwide, the 6th largest count among the states.
The trade is a bigger part of the local job market than it is nationally: 0.5 of every 1,000 jobs in New Jersey, 1.6 times the national share.
What a biohazard cleaning business in New Jersey should charge
Higher wages in New Jersey go straight into the price. Take a biohazard cleaning business in New Jersey paying the state median of $26.87 and run it through the labor rate calculator with its starting numbers (40-hour weeks, 10 paid days off, 2 unbilled hours a day, 7.65% payroll taxes, $90,000 a year of overhead and 15% profit).
| Step | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Paid hours | 40 × 52 | 2,080 |
| Hours at work | 2,080 − 10 days × 8 | 2,000 |
| Billable hours | 2,000 × 6 ÷ 8 | 1,500 |
| Labor cost | $26.87 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $60,165 |
| Break-even rate | ($60,165 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $100.11 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $100.11 ÷ 0.85 | $117.78 |
That is $117.78 per billable hour, 4.4 times the wage, and $5.43 more than the $112.35 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $36.55 in New Jersey, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $134.78.
A cheaper crew saves less than it seems: at the 25th percentile wage of $22.50, the rate only drops to $110.10.
Overhead, at $60 of every billed hour, and the unbilled hours move this rate more than a raise does. A dollar more in wages adds about $1.76 to the rate.
Run it with your own numbers in the labor rate calculator. It is free and shows every step.
Where these numbers come from
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
The figures are the BLS state estimates for SOC 47-4041, hazardous materials removal workers, across all industries, read straight from the May 2025 state data file. They cover wage and salary workers, not the self-employed. Where BLS did not publish a figure, this page leaves it out.
All states in one table: crime scene cleaner salary by state.