Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$45,641
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$8,449
15.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,968
Texas costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Texas — 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
$54,090
Kept after tax
$45,641
Worth in national money
$46,968
State rank
32
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Texas sits in the middle of the pack for payroll and timekeeping clerks. The median is $54,090, ranking 32 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 493 occupations Texas reports figures for, this is number 247.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $54,090, tax leaves $45,641, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $46,968 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $55,390, since top earners drag the number up.
- Texas occupies the middle band for payroll and timekeeping clerks: a median of $54,090, ranking 32 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.
- In Texas's occupational distribution, payroll and timekeeping clerks sits at 247 of 493 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Because Texas sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for payroll and timekeeping clerks — median $54,090 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $45,641 retained, $46,968 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $55,390 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 | $36,040 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $54,090 |
| Top tenth earn over | $75,850 |
| This salary | $54,090 |
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 Texas | $45,641 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $45,641 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,850 |
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 | $54,090 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,669 |
| Prices in Florida | 103 vs 97 |
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 Texas earn under $54,090 and half over. The published range runs $36,040 at the tenth percentile to $75,850 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 Texas's $45,641, worked from $54,090. 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 247 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Texas, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $46,968, the adjusted value of that $54,090 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 247 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for payroll and timekeeping clerks in Texas, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,040 to $75,850; 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 Texas take-home of $45,641, on $54,090 for work ranking 247 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 247 of 493 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Texas, so $46,968 — the adjusted value of that $54,090 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 247 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $36,040, the highest tenth $75,850, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Texas sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $46,968 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $45,641 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
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.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($36,040) and the ninetieth ($75,850) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Texas'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 $46,968 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Texas levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $45,641 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
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.