Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$45,217
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$10,473
18.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,377
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
$55,690
Kept after tax
$45,217
Worth in national money
$46,377
State rank
28
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Pennsylvania pays payroll and timekeeping clerks around $55,690 at the midpoint, 28 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Payroll and timekeeping clerks ranks 274 among 492 occupations Pennsylvania publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $55,690, tax leaves $45,217, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $46,377 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $56,880, since top earners drag the number up.
- For payroll and timekeeping clerks the Pennsylvania median is $55,690, ranking 28 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Position 274 of 492 in Pennsylvania places payroll and timekeeping clerks in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Because Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for payroll and timekeeping clerks — median $55,690 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $45,217 retained, $46,377 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $56,880 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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 | $39,630 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $55,690 |
| Top tenth earn over | $76,980 |
| This salary | $55,690 |
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 | $45,217 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $46,927 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,914 |
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 | $53,562 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,315 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $55,690 as a midpoint for Pennsylvania, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $39,630 and the ninetieth is $76,980 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Pennsylvania the take-home figure of $45,217, from $55,690, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 274 of 492 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Pennsylvania, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $46,377, the adjusted value of that $55,690 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 274 of 492 in the state.
- The Pennsylvania median of $55,690 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $39,630 to $76,980. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Pennsylvania is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $45,217 from $55,690. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 274 of 492 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Pennsylvania, so $46,377 — the adjusted value of that $55,690 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 274 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $39,630 and the top tenth $76,980, so most people doing this work in Pennsylvania sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Pennsylvania is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $46,377 in national terms.
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 $45,217 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 ($39,630 to $76,980) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to 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 $46,377 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 $45,217 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.