Payroll analyst vs payroll processor

The differences between payroll analysts and payroll processors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a payroll analyst and a payroll processor. Additionally, a payroll analyst has an average salary of $54,217, which is higher than the $44,307 average annual salary of a payroll processor.

The top three skills for a payroll analyst include customer service, payroll system and payroll data. The most important skills for a payroll processor are customer service, data entry, and ADP.

Payroll analyst vs payroll processor overview

	Payroll Analyst	Payroll Processor
Yearly salary	$54,217	$44,307
Hourly rate	$26.07	$21.30
Growth rate	-3%	-3%
Number of jobs	15,555	11,795
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 60%	Bachelor's Degree, 44%
Average age	48	48
Years of experience	4	4

What does a payroll analyst do?

A payroll analyst is primarily in charge of overseeing a company's payroll processes and transactions, ensuring efficiency and timeliness. Their responsibilities typically revolve around coordinating with human resources for accurate and complete timesheets and employee data, managing calendars and schedules, calculating wages and deductions, and performing consistent audits. There are also instances when a payroll analyst must perform clerical tasks such as processing documents, prepare progress reports, and respond to employee inquiries. Furthermore, it is essential to report to managers should there be any issues and concerns.

What does a payroll processor do?

A payroll processor is an individual who processes the payroll of employees for an organization by validating work hours and attendance of employees. Payroll processors must research for discrepancies in payroll information and documentation before processing them, as well as calculate payroll deductions. They assist payroll processing clerks and other team members with all the processes that are related to payroll. The payroll processor must also edit payroll worksheets for the data entry department as well as audit bonus payments for reporting.

Payroll analyst vs payroll processor salary

Payroll analysts and payroll processors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Payroll Analyst	Payroll Processor
Average salary	$54,217	$44,307
Salary range	Between $39,000 And $74,000	Between $33,000 And $58,000
Highest paying City	Olympia, WA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Washington	New Jersey
Best paying company	Varian Medical Systems	Venable
Best paying industry	Technology	Finance

Differences between payroll analyst and payroll processor education

There are a few differences between a payroll analyst and a payroll processor in terms of educational background:

	Payroll Analyst	Payroll Processor
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 60%	Bachelor's Degree, 44%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Payroll analyst vs payroll processor demographics

Here are the differences between payroll analysts' and payroll processors' demographics:

	Payroll Analyst	Payroll Processor
Average age	48	48
Gender ratio	Male, 24.2% Female, 75.8%	Male, 16.1% Female, 83.9%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.1% Unknown, 6.1% Hispanic or Latino, 18.6% Asian, 6.1% White, 57.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.5%	Black or African American, 9.6% Unknown, 6.1% Hispanic or Latino, 18.2% Asian, 6.0% White, 58.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.5%
LGBT Percentage	10%	10%

Differences between payroll analyst and payroll processor duties and responsibilities

Payroll analyst example responsibilities.

Manage all activities relate to base pay, overtime, PTO, garnishments and payroll tax.
Perform monthly accounting functions including journal entries, general ledger account reconciliations, benefit and salary accruals, and headcount reconciliations.
Create PowerPoint slides to train new timekeepers and managers in KRONOS.
Lead functional tester in support of timekeeping, payroll and labor upgrades and conversion projects.
Support the third-party web applications like KRONOS and custom-built time entry systems to input the time data
Enter new hires, terminations, and employee maintenance changes into HRIS & ADP including process employee benefit elections.

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Payroll processor example responsibilities.

Manage PTO and cafeteria benefits program.
Assist KRONOS editors as need in the KRONOS timekeeping system.
Input, verify and correct time records using the KRONOS and Lawson software.
Test new software upgrades to payroll HRIS system before implementing to payroll team.
Process, balance and facilitate the transmission of incoming and outgoing ACH files.
Input hours into PeopleSoft and balance batches for assign pay groups according to establish schedule.

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Payroll analyst vs payroll processor skills

Common payroll analyst skills

Customer Service, 11%
Payroll System, 6%
Payroll Data, 4%
Human Resources, 4%
Reconciliations, 4%
Data Entry, 3%

Common payroll processor skills

Customer Service, 12%
Data Entry, 9%
ADP, 5%
Payroll System, 5%
Kronos, 5%
Human Resources, 4%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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