File Clerks in Georgia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$33,676
after federal, FICA and Georgia tax
Tax takes
$7,324
17.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,826
Georgia costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Georgia — 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
$41,000
Kept after tax
$33,676
Worth in national money
$34,826
State rank
30
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Georgia sits in the middle of the pack for file clerks. The median is $41,000, ranking 30 of 49 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Measured against other jobs in Georgia, this one sits low: 393 of 492 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $41,000 you keep $33,676 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $34,826 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $45,010, since top earners drag the number up.
- Georgia occupies the middle band for file clerks: a median of $41,000, ranking 30 of 49. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- File clerks occupies position 393 of 492 in Georgia's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Retained pay in Georgia is $33,676 after the full tax stack, from $41,000. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $34,826 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $45,010 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: File Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,740 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $41,000 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,710 |
| This salary | $41,000 |
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 Georgia | $33,676 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $35,124 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,319 |
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 | $39,199 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,595 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of file clerks in Georgia earn under $41,000 and half over. The published range runs $29,740 at the tenth percentile to $59,710 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Georgia the take-home figure of $33,676, from $41,000, 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 393 of 492 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Georgia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $34,826, the adjusted value of that $41,000 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 393 of 492 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for file clerks in Georgia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $29,740 to $59,710; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Take-home for Georgia is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $33,676 from $41,000. 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 393 of 492 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Georgia, so $34,826 — the adjusted value of that $41,000 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 393 of 492 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 $45,010, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $29,740, the highest tenth $59,710, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $34,826.
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 Georgia's own levy, $33,676 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 Georgia is $45,010. 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 ($29,740) and the ninetieth ($59,710) 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.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Georgia'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 $34,826 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 $33,676 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Georgia 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.