Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$26,392
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$4,938
15.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,069
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$31,330
Kept after tax
$26,392
Worth in national money
$27,069
State rank
34
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pennsylvania sits in the middle of the pack for hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks. The median is $31,330, ranking 34 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Measured against other jobs in Pennsylvania, this one sits low: 473 of 492 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $31,330 the take-home is $26,392, which is worth about $27,069 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $32,140, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Pennsylvania occupies the middle band for hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks: a median of $31,330, ranking 34 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks occupies position 473 of 492 in Pennsylvania'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.
- Pennsylvania's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks on its $31,330 median: $26,392 retained after tax becomes $27,069 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $32,140 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $23,970 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $31,330 |
| Top tenth earn over | $37,400 |
| This salary | $31,330 |
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 Pennsylvania | $26,392 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $27,354 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,080 |
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 | $30,133 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,307 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Pennsylvania earn less than $31,330. The published range is $23,970 up to $37,400, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Pennsylvania's $26,392, worked from $31,330. 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 473 of 492.
- Two cautions on $27,069, the adjusted value of that $31,330 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Pennsylvania. 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 473 of 492 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks in Pennsylvania the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $23,970 to $37,400. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Pennsylvania take-home of $26,392, on $31,330 for work ranking 473 of 492 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 473 of 492 in the state.
- This $27,069 adjusted figure, worked from $31,330, 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 473 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 473 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $23,970 at the bottom tenth to $37,400 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $27,069.
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 Pennsylvania adds its own income tax on top — which is why $26,392 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($23,970 to $37,400) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Pennsylvania rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Pennsylvania'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 $27,069 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 $26,392 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.