How much does a first-time surrogate earn in New Jersey?
A first-time gestational surrogate in New Jersey matched through Private Label Surrogacy receives a typical total package of roughly $68,000 to $78,000. That package is built on $60,000 base compensation (proposed, up from $55,000). If you have completed a surrogacy before, your base is $65,000 to $70,000.
New Jersey does not change the number. PLS pays the same base in every state where it recruits, so a surrogate in north or south Jersey receives what a surrogate in Illinois receives. What New Jersey changes is the legal framework around you, and that framework is a good fit for how PLS already works. New Jersey's Gestational Carrier Agreement Act requires medical and psychological evaluations and independent counsel for each side, which PLS screening and practice already include.
Natalie Gaudio-Fricano, a PLS case manager, wrote this page. She has been where you are: a three-time egg donor, then a gestational surrogate who delivered a boy for an international couple in October 2016 after her first transfer worked. She has worked in medicine since 2002. Every PLS figure below is pending final confirmation by Nancy Block, RN, and stays marked until confirmed.
What is in the full compensation package?
The base is the largest piece, not the only one. Here is a worked example for a typical singleton journey.
Worked example, first-time surrogate, one baby: base compensation $60,000; monthly allowance of $300 for about 12 to 14 months from signing to delivery, $3,600 to $4,200; medication start $500; one embryo transfer $1,000; maternity clothing $750; housekeeping at $90 a week from 32 weeks to a 40-week delivery, about $720. That totals roughly $66,500 to $67,200. Documented lost wages for you and your partner, and pumping support if you choose to pump, are what bring most surrogates into the typical $68,000 to $78,000 range.
The full schedule:
| Payment | Amount | What triggers it | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base compensation, first-time | $60,000 (proposed) | Pregnancy confirmed with a heartbeat | Installments through the pregnancy |
| Base compensation, experienced | $65,000 to $70,000 | Pregnancy confirmed with a heartbeat | Installments through the pregnancy |
| Monthly allowance | $300 a month | Signing your agreement | Monthly |
| Medication start | $500 | First injectable medication | At medication start |
| Embryo transfer fee | $1,000 | Each transfer | At transfer |
| Maternity clothing | $750, or $1,000 for multiples | Confirmed pregnancy | One payment |
| Housekeeping | $90 a week | Reaching 32 weeks | Weekly |
| Pumping support | $200 a week | Choosing to pump after delivery | Weekly |
| Multiples | $5,000 added for twins; $10,000 added for triplets | Multiple pregnancy confirmed | With base installments |
| Lost wages, you and your partner | Actual documented wages | Time off for the journey | As incurred |
| Life insurance | Extended policy up to $750,000 | In place before transfer | Premium paid by the intended parents |
Payment triggers and timing: confirm schedule with Nancy.
Travel is separate from compensation. When you go to the intended parents' clinic, they pay from escrow for flights, hotel, meals, mileage, child care, and lost wages for you and a companion.
Support is part of the package too. You get mental-health support from independent licensed professionals and at least six nutrition consults with Julie Bendix, MPH, RD, LD, CLC, a registered dietitian and lactation counselor. Your own attorney reviews the agreement, paid by the intended parents. If your health plan excludes surrogacy, they buy a dedicated policy for you.
When is each payment made and who holds the money?
Money follows milestones, so you are paid as each stage happens:
- You sign. The $300 monthly allowance starts.
- You start injections. The $500 medication-start payment is released.
- Transfer day. The $1,000 transfer fee is paid for each transfer.
- Heartbeat confirmed. Base compensation begins and is paid in installments.
- Week 32. Weekly housekeeping support begins.
- After delivery. The final base installment is paid, plus weekly pumping support if you pump.
If a transfer does not result in a pregnancy, you keep the transfer fee, the medication-start payment and the allowance already earned; base compensation is tied to pregnancy.
None of this money passes through PLS. The intended parents fund an independent licensed escrow agent: $10,000 at match, then the balance before your medications start. The escrow agent pays you under your agreement. That means your compensation is already set aside before you take a single injection.
Ask your attorney to confirm the escrow balance is fully funded before you start medications. Agencies that held client money themselves have failed: Surro Connections collapsed in late 2025, and the SEAM escrow failure involved more than $16 million. In 2025 and 2026 PLS took on three surrogates, pro bono, who were stranded when their agencies failed. More on how escrow works.
What are the requirements to become a surrogate in New Jersey?
To apply with PLS you must be:
- 21 to 43 years old
- A US citizen or permanent resident
- At a BMI under 33
- Someone who has had at least one healthy full-term pregnancy and is raising a child now
- A non-smoker
- Not receiving government assistance
- Living in a stable home
- Not currently taking antidepressants
New Jersey law separately requires a surrogate to be at least 21, to have given birth before, and to complete medical and psychological evaluations. If you meet the PLS criteria, you meet that floor.
Screening has seven steps: application, interview, a medical records review by Mark Silverberg, DDS, MD, a background check, an insurance review, a psychological evaluation by an independent licensed professional, and medical screening at the intended parents' clinic. Dr. Silverberg reads your prenatal and delivery records himself and writes a physician summary for the clinic. Screening takes several weeks once your records arrive.
Where do New Jersey surrogates do monitoring and transfer?
New Jersey surrogates matched through PLS monitor at a local clinic near home; the specific New Jersey clinic cities are being confirmed.
Monitoring means the bloodwork and ultrasounds in the weeks before transfer and in early pregnancy. It happens close to home and the intended parents pay for it.
For medical screening and the embryo transfer, you travel to the intended parents' fertility clinic. That clinic might be in New Jersey, in a neighboring state or across the country. A companion can come with you, and the costs come from escrow. Your pregnancy test is 9 to 11 days after transfer. Once the fertility clinic releases you, prenatal care moves to your own OB near home and you deliver at a local hospital.
What does New Jersey law mean for you as a surrogate?
Under the New Jersey Gestational Carrier Agreement Act, in force since 2018, compensated gestational surrogacy is legal and enforceable. You must have your own independent attorney, and the agreement must be signed before any medications begin. The intended parents then receive a pre-birth parentage order, so you are not named as a parent of the child.
Traditional surrogacy, where the surrogate's own egg is used, is unenforceable in New Jersey. PLS arranges gestational surrogacy only. The embryo is created through IVF, and you have no genetic link to the baby.
For you, the practical result is that your compensation, expenses and insurance are written into an agreement your own lawyer has reviewed, and parentage is settled before you go into labor. Confirm the current requirements with New Jersey counsel; this summary is pending review. The intended-parent side is covered on surrogacy in New Jersey.
How to apply with PLS
- Check eligibility against the criteria above.
- Apply and interview with a PLS case manager.
- Send your records for Dr. Silverberg's review.
- Complete screening: background check, insurance review and the independent psychological evaluation.
- Get matched. Nancy Block runs matching herself. Matching averages about 6 months and depends on intended-parent demand for your state and profile.
After the match, Natalie or Jenni Symons, also a former surrogate who delivered in 2019 and 2021, stays with you through delivery. To compare, see the national surrogate compensation page.
Sources
- New Jersey Gestational Carrier Agreement Act (in force since 2018), New Jersey Legislature. Pending review by New Jersey counsel.
- Private Label Surrogacy surrogate compensation schedule, pending confirmation by Nancy Block, RN.