Counter and Rental Clerks in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,774
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$7,146
16.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,372
Arizona costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arizona — 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
$43,920
Kept after tax
$36,774
Worth in national money
$36,372
State rank
17
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Arizona pays counter and rental clerks a middle wage of $43,920, ranking 17 of 51 states and sitting about 6.34% above the national middle.
- Against 491 occupations Arizona publishes, counter and rental clerks lands at 401. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $43,920, tax leaves $36,774, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $36,372 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $51,060, since top earners drag the number up.
- Arizona's median for counter and rental clerks is $43,920, about 6.34% above the national figure and 17 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Within Arizona, this work ranks 401 of 491 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Because Arizona sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for counter and rental clerks — median $43,920 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $36,774 retained, $36,372 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $51,060 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Counter and Rental Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,980 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $43,920 |
| Top tenth earn over | $72,690 |
| This salary | $43,920 |
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 Arizona | $36,774 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $37,470 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,187 |
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 | $43,054 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,645 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $43,920 as a midpoint for Arizona, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $35,980 and the ninetieth is $72,690 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Arizona the take-home figure of $36,774, from $43,920, 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 401 of 491 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Arizona, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $36,372, the adjusted value of that $43,920 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 401 of 491 in the state.
- The Arizona median of $43,920 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $35,980 to $72,690. 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 Arizona is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $36,774 from $43,920. 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 401 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Arizona, so $36,372 — the adjusted value of that $43,920 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 401 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $51,060, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $35,980, the highest tenth $72,690, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $36,372 of national purchasing power.
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 Arizona's own levy, $36,774 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 Arizona is $51,060. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($35,980) and the ninetieth ($72,690) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Arizona's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $36,372 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $36,774 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arizona 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.