File Clerks in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$33,902
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$5,578
14.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,888
Texas costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Texas — 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
$39,480
Kept after tax
$33,902
Worth in national money
$34,888
State rank
36
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Texas pays file clerks a middle wage of $39,480, 36 of 49 states and about 9.45% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Texas this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, file clerks ranks 390. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- No great distortion either way. Texas costs about what the country costs, so from $39,480, take-home of $33,902 is worth roughly $34,888 in national money. The average comes to $42,450, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Texas's $39,480 median for file clerks places it 36 of 49 states, about 9.45% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Texas reports, file clerks ranks 390 of 493, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Price parity in Texas is near the national base, so for file clerks, whose median is $39,480, the adjusted figure of $34,888 differs little from $33,902 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $42,450 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: File Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,380 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,480 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,800 |
| This salary | $39,480 |
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 Texas | $33,902 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $33,902 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,117 |
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 | $39,480 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,725 |
| Prices in Florida | 103 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 Texas earn under $39,480 and half over. The published range runs $27,380 at the tenth percentile to $61,800 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Texas's $33,902, worked from $39,480. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 390 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Texas, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $34,888, the adjusted value of that $39,480 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 390 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for file clerks in Texas, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $27,380 to $61,800; 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.
- The Texas take-home of $33,902, on $39,480 for work ranking 390 of 493 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 390 of 493 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Texas, so $34,888 — the adjusted value of that $39,480 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 390 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $42,450 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $27,380 at the bottom tenth to $61,800 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Texas sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $34,888 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $33,902 survives, because Texas levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
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 Texas is $42,450. 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 ($27,380) and the ninetieth ($61,800) 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?
Texas'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 $34,888 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Texas levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $33,902 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
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.