Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,122
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$7,588
15.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$47,557
North Dakota costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Dakota — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$49,710
Kept after tax
$42,122
Worth in national money
$47,557
State rank
22
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. North Dakota pays this job around $49,710 at the midpoint, 22 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in North Dakota, this sits in the middle: 315 of 460 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where North Dakota does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $49,710 you keep $42,122, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $47,557 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $51,660, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks the North Dakota median is $49,710, ranking 22 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks ranks 315 of 460 occupations in North Dakota by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After federal, FICA and North Dakota income tax, retained pay for bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks on $49,710 is $42,122. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $47,557 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $51,660 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,340 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,710 |
| Top tenth earn over | $66,040 |
| This salary | $49,710 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in North Dakota | $42,122 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,122 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,210 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $49,710 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,092 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $49,710 as a midpoint for North Dakota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,340 and the ninetieth is $66,040 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In North Dakota the take-home figure of $42,122, from $49,710, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 315 of 460 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $47,557 uses one figure for the whole of North Dakota. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 460 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 315.
- The North Dakota median of $49,710 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,340 to $66,040. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for North Dakota is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $42,122 from $49,710. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 315 of 460 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $47,557, worked from $49,710, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular North Dakota address, on work sitting at 315 of 460 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $51,660, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $37,340 and the top tenth $66,040, so most people doing this work in North Dakota sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. North Dakota is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $47,557 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and North Dakota's own levy, $42,122 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in North Dakota is $51,660. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($37,340 to $66,040) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to North Dakota rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
North Dakota's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $47,557 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $42,122 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Dakota income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.