Court, Municipal, and License Clerks in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,189
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$8,921
18.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,691
North Carolina costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Carolina — 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
$49,110
Kept after tax
$40,189
Worth in national money
$42,691
State rank
20
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. North Carolina pays court, municipal, and license clerks around $49,110 at the midpoint, 20 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 489 occupations North Carolina reports figures for, this is number 292.
- Here is where North Carolina does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $49,110 you keep $40,189, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $42,691 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $51,810, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For court, municipal, and license clerks the North Carolina median is $49,110, ranking 20 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.
- In North Carolina's occupational distribution, court, municipal, and license clerks sits at 292 of 489 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- After federal, FICA and North Carolina income tax, retained pay for court, municipal, and license clerks on $49,110 is $40,189. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $42,691 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 $51,810 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Court, Municipal, and License Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,290 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,110 |
| Top tenth earn over | $71,400 |
| This salary | $49,110 |
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 Carolina | $40,189 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,640 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$159 |
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 | $47,304 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$192 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $49,110 as a midpoint for North Carolina, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,290 and the ninetieth is $71,400 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $40,189 take-home in North Carolina comes from $49,110. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 292 of 489.
- Two cautions on $42,691, the adjusted value of that $49,110 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of North Carolina. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 292 of 489 locally.
- The North Carolina median of $49,110 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,290 to $71,400. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $40,189, from $49,110, assumes a single North Carolina filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 292 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 20 of 51 for it.
- This $42,691 adjusted figure, worked from $49,110, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 292 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 292 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $51,810, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $37,290 at the tenth percentile, $71,400 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 $42,691.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and North Carolina adds its own income tax on top — which is why $40,189 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 Carolina is $51,810. 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 ($37,290 to $71,400) 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 Carolina rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
North Carolina'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 $42,691 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 $40,189 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Carolina 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.