As someone who has lived in Monmouth Beach, I know you have to make an excellent income to live there in comfort. And living in New Jersey in general doesn’t come cheap either. The state’s median annual household income is about $75,000 To be among the state’s top 1% of earners, according to 24/7 Wall St., you must make at least $570,000 a year.

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In Monmouth Beach, the median annual household income is about $105,000, according to Data USA. While that seems like a lot of money, when it comes to paying all the bills, it really isn’t.

When you add up the cost of home, auto, and school loans, household furnishings and technology, child education expenses, utilities and services, food, clothing, entertainment/vacations, charitable contributions, insurance, taxes and “other things,” what’s left?

In this day and age, you need to make a lot of money just to keep ahead. Here’s a quick review of salaries — from a variety of sources.

As to Monmouth Beach employees, the borough administrator earns about $101,000, the public works director makes about $112,000, the borough clerk makes $81,000, and the chief of police makes about $151,000. The annual salaries for MB police officers ranges from $60,000 to $127,000. The annual salaries for MB public works employees ranges from $39,000 to $81,000. The mayor of Monmouth Beach is paid $3,000 annually; borough commissioners make $1,500. All salaries are from 2016/17, according to Data Universe.

“I’m living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be living apart.”
— E. E. Cummings

At the Monmouth Beach School, the superintendent makes about $140,000. The highest paid teacher earns about $93,000; for the lowest paid teacher it’s about $48,000. At Shore Regional High School, of which MB is a sending district, the superintendent makes about $178,000

The top elected officers in Monmouth County, members of the Board of Chosen Freeholders, make $27,000 per year and members of the NJ state legislature are paid $49,000, however these officeholders almost always have another job.

Working for Monmouth County in high office is a pretty good deal. Last year, according to Data Universe, the county administrator made about $181,000, the county park system director got $183,000, and the county counsel made about $173,000. The county engineer made $168,000, the country warden earned $166,000, and the public works director got about $165,000 as did the county prosecutor.

Here now are some amazing annual earnings of people in other jobs for 2016-17. These might surprise you (or make you grind your teeth a little):

$285 million — Floyd Mayweather, boxer
$239 million — George Clooney, actor.
$147 million — Judith Sheindlin, TV’s Judge Judy.
$124 million — Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, actor.
$110 million — Ed Sheeran, musician.
$108 million — Cristiano Ronaldo, FIFA soccer player.
$90 million — Howard Stern, radio personality.
$86 million — James Patterson, American author.
$85 million — LeBron James, pro basketball player.
$84 million — Rush Limbaugh, radio personality
$83 million — Katy Perry, musician.
$77 million — Roger Federer, pro tennis player.
$62 million — David Copperfield, magician.
$51 million — Jimmy Buffett, musician.
$43 million — Tiger Woods, pro golfer.
$41 million —Sofia Vergara, TV actor.
$36 million —Jimmy Garoppolo, NFL quarterback.
$19 million —Mark Harmon, TV actor .
$2 million — Peter Dinklage, TV actor.

And …

$174,000 — Member of the United States Congress (Senators and Representatives).
$193,400 — Majority Leader of the US Senate.
$199,700 — Untied States presidential cabinet secretaries (State, Defense, Labor, etc.).
$203,441 — Prime Minister of Great Britain.
$223,500 — Speaker of the US House of Representatives.
$226,336 — New York City police commissioner.
$230,700 — Vice President of the United States.
$246,800 — United States Supreme Court Associate Justice.
$258,100 — United States Supreme Court Chief Justice.
$400,000 — President of the United States (Donald Trump).
$538,460 — Prime Minister of Australia.
$3 million — Emperor of Japan.
$107 million — Queen of Great Britain.

Sources: Parade, Forbes