Gov. Murphy doubled his income last year. Here are the details.

Gov. Phil Murphy made about $1.4 million in income last year, doubling his earnings from the year before, when they took a nosedive, according to partial tax returns and a tax summary that his office released Thursday.
The figure — which covers 2023, Murphy’s sixth year in office — is significantly larger than New Jersey’s median household income of $99,781.
Murphy and his wife, First Lady Tammy Murphy — who file their returns jointly — also paid about $598,000 in state and federal taxes last year, according to the documents.
This comes after the couple’s income fell to about $684,000 in 2022. It was the lowest figure the governor — a 67-year-old retired Wall Street executive — reported since taking office in 2018 and in the 13 years he and his wife have publicly revealed their earnings. The Murphys made $5.1 million in 2021.
Murphy’s office has attributed the fluctuations in recent years to changes in the stock market. The couple now earns much of its money from dividends.
Their income last year increased by about $700,000 from the year before, while the taxes they paid — on a rate of 42.23% — increased by about $341,000.
The Murphys also donated about $372,440 to charity in 2023, about $2,300 personally and $370,000 through their foundation. That’s down from the roughly $501,200 they gave in 2022.
They received a tax refund of about $361,000, as well, the documents show.
Meanwhile, the Murphys still claim two of their four adult children as dependents and took a deduction of $29,200 because of it.
Phil Murphy retired from investment backing firm Goldman Sachs in 2000. When he became governor, his stocks and investments were placed in a blind trust, which means someone else — actually his brother-in-law — manages the portfolio.
Murphy, a Democrat, earns only a small part of his money — a taxpayer-funded salary of $175,000 — from his job as governor.
The Murphys’ income has fluctuated dramatically since the governor took office. They reported about $2.2 million in 2018, $3.1 million in 2019, $982,000 in 2020, $5.2 million in 2021, $684,000 in 2022, and $1.4 million in 2023.
Before Murphy took office, the couple’s income was $6.8 million in 2017, $4.6 million in 2016, $7.3 million in 2015, $6.4 million in 2014, $4.9 million in 2013, $3.8 million in 2012, $2.7 million in 2011, and $3.2 million in 2010, according to records.
Murphy on Thursday released only his 1040 tax form and a five-year summary of his tax returns from 2019 to 2023. His office will give reporters a four-hour window in Trenton on Friday to view his full 2023 tax returns. He will not make the full returns, which are usually hundreds of pages long, available to the general public.
The jump in income means Murphy will once again qualify for the so-called millionaires tax he signed into law in New Jersey in 2019, one of his signature policies. It raised state income taxes on wealthy New Jersey residents to pump more money into the state budget. Murphy also ironically failed to meet the threshold for the tax in 2020 and 2022.
The numbers released Thursday don’t reflect the Murphys’ actual net worth, which in previous years has been estimated to be more than $50 million.
The couple has made a combined $13.6 million and paid about $3.8 million in taxes from 2018 to 2023, according to the five-year summary released Thursday.
Public officials are not required to release their tax returns. Murphy’s Republican predecessor, former Gov. Chris Christie, released his full returns online each year.
View Murphy’s 1040 here.
View Murphy’s tax summary here.
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Brent Johnson may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @johnsb01.