File Clerks in Ohio
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,441
after federal, FICA and Ohio tax
Tax takes
$6,209
15.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$37,512
Ohio costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Ohio — 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
$40,650
Kept after tax
$34,441
Worth in national money
$37,512
State rank
31
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Ohio sits in the middle of the pack for file clerks. The median is $40,650, ranking 31 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 Ohio, this one sits low: 397 of 494 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Here is where Ohio does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $40,650 you keep $34,441, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $37,512 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $41,880, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Ohio occupies the middle band for file clerks: a median of $40,650, ranking 31 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 397 of 494 in Ohio'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.
- After federal, FICA and Ohio income tax, retained pay for file clerks on $40,650 is $34,441. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $37,512 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 $41,880 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: File Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,190 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $40,650 |
| Top tenth earn over | $57,410 |
| This salary | $40,650 |
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 Ohio | $34,441 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $34,842 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,657 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $40,150 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,004 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Ohio earn less than $40,650. The published range is $27,190 up to $57,410, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Ohio the take-home figure of $34,441, from $40,650, 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 397 of 494 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $37,512, the adjusted value of that $40,650 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Ohio. 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 397 of 494 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for file clerks in Ohio the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $27,190 to $57,410. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Ohio is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $34,441 from $40,650. 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 397 of 494 locally.
- This $37,512 adjusted figure, worked from $40,650, 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 397 of 494 in the state. The occupation ranks 397 of 494 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 $41,880, 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $27,190 and the top tenth $57,410 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Ohio sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $37,512 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Ohio's own levy, $34,441 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 49 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 Ohio is $41,880. 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 ($27,190) and the ninetieth ($57,410) 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?
Ohio'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 $37,512 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 $34,441 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Ohio 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.