Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,671
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$8,539
17.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,216
Arizona costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arizona — 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
$50,210
Kept after tax
$41,671
Worth in national money
$41,216
State rank
45
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for payroll and timekeeping clerks is on the low side in Arizona. The middle earner gets $50,210. That is 45 of 51 states, and about 13.82% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Arizona, this sits in the middle: 297 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $50,210, tax leaves $41,671, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $41,216 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $52,140, since top earners drag the number up.
- For payroll and timekeeping clerks, Arizona sits in the lower band at $50,210, ranking 45 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 13.82%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Payroll and timekeeping clerks ranks 297 of 491 occupations in Arizona by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Because Arizona sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for payroll and timekeeping clerks — median $50,210 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $41,671 retained, $41,216 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $52,140 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,870 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $50,210 |
| Top tenth earn over | $69,980 |
| This salary | $50,210 |
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 Arizona | $41,671 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,524 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,544 |
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 | $49,149 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,077 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
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 payroll and timekeeping clerks in Arizona earn under $50,210 and half over. The published range runs $33,870 at the tenth percentile to $69,980 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 Arizona's $41,671, worked from $50,210. 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 297 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $41,216 uses one figure for the whole of Arizona. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 297.
- Figures are distribution medians for payroll and timekeeping clerks in Arizona, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $33,870 to $69,980; 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 Arizona take-home of $41,671, on $50,210 for work ranking 297 of 491 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 297 of 491 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $41,216, worked from $50,210, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Arizona address, on work sitting at 297 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $52,140, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $33,870 at the tenth percentile, $69,980 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $41,216 of national purchasing power.
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 Arizona's own levy, $41,671 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 Arizona is $52,140. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($33,870 to $69,980) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Arizona rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Arizona's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $41,216 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $41,671 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arizona 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.