New Jersey energy profile

Manufacturing energy costs in New Jersey

New Jersey plants pay 16.24 cents per kWh for industrial power as of Aug 2026, which puts the state 68.5% over the national average and 44 of 51 in the country, counting from the cheapest.

Current prices in New Jersey

  • Industrial electricity: 16.24 cents per kWh (Aug 2026, EIA).
  • Commercial electricity, the rate a warehouse or distribution center in New Jersey typically pays: 18.71 cents per kWh.
  • New Jersey does not report an industrial natural gas price for the latest month; plants there should use their utility contract rate.
  • Just below New Jersey on the price ladder: Georgia at 13.05, Maine at 14.24, Connecticut at 16.18 cents. Just above: New Hampshire at 17.26, District of Columbia at 18.53, Rhode Island at 19.87 cents.

What the rate does to operating cost

  • A 10 kW machine running a 4,000 hour year costs about $6,496 in electricity at New Jersey rates versus $3,856 at the national average; at 50 kW the gap is $32,480 versus $19,280, and at 200 kW it is $129,920 versus $77,120.
  • At this rate, efficiency projects clear their hurdle faster in New Jersey than almost anywhere: every avoided kWh is worth more, so compressed air leak repairs, VFD retrofits, and scheduling around demand charges deserve a fresh look.

Cost to manufacture in New Jersey

  • New Jersey scores 122.2 on the MFG Calcs State Cost-to-Manufacture Index, where the U.S. is 100: the 43rd lowest of 51 (Aug 2026).
  • Its labor factor (manufacturing wages) is 106.8 and its energy factor (industrial electricity) 168.5; the index weighs wages at 75% and electricity at 25% and leaves out taxes, land and incentives.

What factory labor pays in New Jersey

  • Industrial production managers: $70.80/hr median in New Jersey versus $60.61 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Industrial engineers: $49.93/hr median in New Jersey versus $49.25 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Production supervisors: $38.99/hr median in New Jersey versus $35.79 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Industrial machinery mechanics: $35.94/hr median in New Jersey versus $31.02 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Tool and die makers: $35.80/hr median in New Jersey versus $30.79 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Machinists: $30.38/hr median in New Jersey versus $28.24 nationally (OEWS 2025).

Manufacturing jobs in New Jersey

  • New Jersey had 250,000 manufacturing jobs in Sep 2026, the 19th most of 51 (BLS State and Metro Area Employment, not seasonally adjusted).
  • That is down 0.6% from Sep 2025.

Manufacturing base in New Jersey

  • New Jersey has 7,018 manufacturing establishments employing about 225,095 workers (Census County Business Patterns, 2023).
  • Average pay per manufacturing employee is $76,991, 5% above the U.S. average of $73,202.
  • Largest sectors by establishment count: food manufacturing (1,127), fabricated metal products (1,023), printing and related support (701), chemical manufacturing (586), machinery manufacturing (469).

Manufacturing economy in New Jersey

  • Manufacturing added $75.4B to New Jersey's economy in 2025, 8.5% of the state's GDP, the 13th largest of the 50 states and DC (BEA).

Sources and update cadence

  • Prices come from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, jobs from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, establishments and payroll from the Census Bureau and GDP from the Bureau of Economic Analysis; each refreshes automatically when the agency publishes, and this page archives every month and year it shows so the New Jersey history keeps deepening.

Last reviewed 2026-11-13.