Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,526
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$12,514
20.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,088
New York costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New York — 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
$61,040
Kept after tax
$48,526
Worth in national money
$45,088
State rank
12
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. New York pays payroll and timekeeping clerks a middle wage of $61,040, ranking 12 of 51 states and sitting about 4.77% above the national middle.
- Against other work in New York, this sits in the middle: 288 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $61,040 the take-home is $48,526. But New York costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $45,088 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $63,650, because the best-paid pull it up.
- New York's median for payroll and timekeeping clerks is $61,040, about 4.77% above the national figure and 12 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Payroll and timekeeping clerks ranks 288 of 493 occupations in New York 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and New York income tax is $48,526 for payroll and timekeeping clerks, from $61,040. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $45,088. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $63,650 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,140 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,040 |
| Top tenth earn over | $86,470 |
| This salary | $61,040 |
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 New York | $48,526 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,226 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,627 |
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 | $57,681 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,224 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
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 New York earn under $61,040 and half over. The published range runs $45,140 at the tenth percentile to $86,470 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 New York's $48,526, worked from $61,040. 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 288 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $45,088 uses one figure for the whole of New York. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 288.
- Figures are distribution medians for payroll and timekeeping clerks in New York, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $45,140 to $86,470; 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 New York take-home of $48,526, on $61,040 for work ranking 288 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 288 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $45,088, worked from $61,040, 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 New York address, on work sitting at 288 of 493 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 $63,650, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $45,140 and the top tenth $86,470, so most people doing this work in New York sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $45,088 of national purchasing power.
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 New York adds its own income tax on top — which is why $48,526 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.
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 New York is $63,650. 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 ($45,140 to $86,470) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to New York rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
New York's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $45,088 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 $48,526 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New York 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.