The 10 States With The Highest Payroll Specialist Salaries For 2023

Without fail, in surveys across basically every demographic, the number one most important aspect of a job for most people is the salary — how much do payroll specialists get paid where I live?

And while there are many things to go into how much you, specifically, can expect to make, there’s really good data for average salaries for payroll specialists by state across America broken down by seniority level. So while your city may be slightly different than the state average, these averages give you a rough sense of what to expect for your salary.

The state with the best salary for payroll specialists after this adjustment? That would be Payroll And Timekeeping Clerks.

Here’s a quick snapshot of the top ten states for payroll specialist salaries:

To better understand how payroll specialist salaries change across America, we decided to take a look the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on average pay for payroll specialists by state.

Additionally, we wanted to adjust the salary based on the cost of living in a state — because your salary goes further in North Carolina than it does in California.

Let’s take a look at how we got here and a full ranking of all the states.

How we determined payroll specialist pay by state

As we mentioned earlier, we took the average annual salary data for payroll specialists from the Bureau of Labor Statistics — specifically their ‘Occupational Employment Statistics.’

To make the comparison of salaries apples to apples across states, we also took into account the cost of living in each state.

We then created an index by dividing the average wage for a state by the cost of living relative to average. As an example, the cost of living index in California is 135.9 and the average pay is $56200, so our index value would be:

$56,200 * (100 / 135.9) = $41,353

We then ranked every state on this criteria with the state with the highest salary index ranking as highest average salary for payroll specialists.

Here’s a look at the full ranking for all states.

Detailed List Of Payroll Specialist Salaries By State

Rank	State	Adjusted Salary	Average Wage	Cost Of Living
1	Michigan	$55,325	$49,240	89.0
2	Iowa	$54,681	$49,760	91.0
3	Washington	$54,344	$57,170	105.2
4	Illinois	$53,995	$51,080	94.6
5	Kansas	$53,192	$47,820	89.9
6	Colorado	$52,996	$55,010	103.8
7	Minnesota	$52,519	$52,940	100.8
8	Utah	$52,279	$48,620	93.0
9	Kentucky	$52,099	$47,150	90.5
10	Indiana	$51,854	$46,410	89.5
11	Georgia	$51,586	$47,150	91.4
12	Oklahoma	$51,423	$45,870	89.2
13	Texas	$51,356	$46,580	90.7
14	Wyoming	$51,067	$46,880	91.8
15	Missouri	$50,984	$46,090	90.4
16	Delaware	$50,443	$51,150	101.4
17	Virginia	$49,236	$49,630	100.8
18	Arkansas	$48,851	$42,550	87.1
19	North Carolina	$48,328	$45,380	93.9
20	Arizona	$47,826	$46,870	98.0
21	Pennsylvania	$47,771	$48,440	101.4
22	Nebraska	$47,663	$43,660	91.6
23	Ohio	$47,249	$44,320	93.8
24	Florida	$47,080	$46,280	98.3
25	Wisconsin	$47,024	$45,520	96.8
26	Mississippi	$46,414	$39,870	85.9
27	Rhode Island	$46,371	$55,970	120.7
28	Alabama	$45,581	$41,570	91.2
29	Tennessee	$45,548	$40,720	89.4
30	Louisiana	$44,567	$42,250	94.8
31	Oregon	$44,524	$51,470	115.6
32	New Hampshire	$44,512	$52,080	117.0
33	New Jersey	$44,511	$54,260	121.9
34	New Mexico	$44,124	$42,580	96.5
35	Vermont	$44,037	$53,330	121.1
36	Alaska	$43,234	$56,680	131.1
37	Montana	$43,134	$43,480	100.8
38	Idaho	$43,105	$39,700	92.1
39	Maryland	$43,035	$54,010	125.5
40	Connecticut	$42,474	$54,240	127.7
41	Massachusetts	$41,604	$55,500	133.4
42	New York	$41,458	$54,310	131.0
43	California	$41,353	$56,200	135.9
44	West Virginia	$41,177	$38,460	93.4
45	Maine	$39,792	$44,090	110.8
46	South Dakota	$39,459	$40,920	103.7
47	South Carolina	$38,074	$37,770	99.2
48	Hawaii	$32,066	$53,840	167.9

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Author

Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.

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