Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,614
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$8,826
18.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,630
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$48,440
Kept after tax
$39,614
Worth in national money
$40,630
State rank
31
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Pennsylvania pays this job around $48,440 at the midpoint, 31 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 325 among 492 occupations Pennsylvania publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $48,440, tax leaves $39,614, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $40,630 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $50,860, since top earners drag the number up.
- For bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks the Pennsylvania median is $48,440, ranking 31 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.
- Position 325 of 492 in Pennsylvania places bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Because Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks — median $48,440 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $39,614 retained, $40,630 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $50,860 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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 | $34,960 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,440 |
| Top tenth earn over | $69,570 |
| This salary | $48,440 |
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 Pennsylvania | $39,614 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,102 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,666 |
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 | $46,589 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,015 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Pennsylvania earn less than $48,440. The published range is $34,960 up to $69,570, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Pennsylvania the take-home figure of $39,614, from $48,440, 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 325 of 492 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Pennsylvania, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $40,630, the adjusted value of that $48,440 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 325 of 492 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks in Pennsylvania the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $34,960 to $69,570. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Pennsylvania is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $39,614 from $48,440. 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 325 of 492 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Pennsylvania, so $40,630 — the adjusted value of that $48,440 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 325 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $50,860 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $34,960 at the tenth percentile, $69,570 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $40,630.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Pennsylvania then takes its own share, leaving $39,614.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 Pennsylvania is $50,860. 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 ($34,960 to $69,570) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Pennsylvania rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Pennsylvania'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 $40,630 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 $39,614 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.