File Clerks in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,722
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$7,538
17.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$37,946
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
$43,260
Kept after tax
$35,722
Worth in national money
$37,946
State rank
23
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. North Carolina is 23 of 49 states for file clerks, with a middle wage of $43,260. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against 489 occupations North Carolina publishes, file clerks lands at 378. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $43,260 you keep $35,722 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $37,946 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $44,130, since top earners drag the number up.
- North Carolina ranks 23 of 49 for file clerks at $43,260. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Within North Carolina, this work ranks 378 of 489 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.
- Retained pay in North Carolina is $35,722 after the full tax stack, from $43,260. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $37,946 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $44,130 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: File Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,520 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $43,260 |
| Top tenth earn over | $56,790 |
| This salary | $43,260 |
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 | $35,722 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,939 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$67 |
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 | $41,745 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$81 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in North Carolina earn less than $43,260. The published range is $31,520 up to $56,790, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $35,722 take-home in North Carolina comes from $43,260. 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 378 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of North Carolina, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $37,946, the adjusted value of that $43,260 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 378 of 489 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for file clerks in North Carolina the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,520 to $56,790. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $35,722, from $43,260, 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 378 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 23 of 49 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for North Carolina, so $37,946 — the adjusted value of that $43,260 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 378 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $31,520 at the tenth percentile, $56,790 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 $37,946.
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; North Carolina then takes its own share, leaving $35,722.
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($31,520 to $56,790) 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 $37,946 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 $35,722 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.
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.