Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,702
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$5,658
16.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,904
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — 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
$35,360
Kept after tax
$29,702
Worth in national money
$31,904
State rank
23
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Wisconsin is 23 of 51 states for hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks, with a middle wage of $35,360. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Wisconsin this is lower-paid work. Of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ranks 460. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $35,360 you keep $29,702 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $31,904 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $34,310.
- Wisconsin ranks 23 of 51 for hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks at $35,360. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Wisconsin reports, hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ranks 460 of 491, 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.
- Retained pay in Wisconsin is $29,702 after the full tax stack, from $35,360. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $31,904 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $34,310 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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 | $29,650 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,360 |
| Top tenth earn over | $38,100 |
| This salary | $35,360 |
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 Wisconsin | $29,702 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,592 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$423 |
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 | $34,252 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$512 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $35,360 as a midpoint for Wisconsin, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $29,650 and the ninetieth is $38,100 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $29,702 take-home in Wisconsin comes from $35,360. 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 460 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Wisconsin, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $31,904, the adjusted value of that $35,360 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 460 of 491 in the state.
- The Wisconsin median of $35,360 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $29,650 to $38,100. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $29,702, from $35,360, assumes a single Wisconsin 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 460 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 23 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Wisconsin, so $31,904 — the adjusted value of that $35,360 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 460 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $29,650 at the bottom tenth to $38,100 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Wisconsin is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $31,904 in national terms.
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; Wisconsin then takes its own share, leaving $29,702.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($29,650 to $38,100) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Wisconsin rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Wisconsin'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 $31,904 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 $29,702 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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.