A payroll associate is an individual who is responsible for managing employee and staff payrolls, timesheets, as well as entering payroll and salary documentation. These individuals calculate employee federal, state, and social security taxes, as well as the employer's social security, unemployment, and workers compensation benefits. They also update payroll records and manage exemptions, insurance coverage, and retirement deductions.
Payroll associates typically work in an office environment during a typical workweek and often report to the accounting department of a company. They work to prepare reports by compiling summaries of employee earnings, taxes, deductions, vacation, and disability. The payroll associate must ensure that employees are paid on time and accurately and should possess excellent organizational, math, accounting, computer, and communication skills.
In addition to maintaining and processing payroll information, payroll clerks also must be adept at using computers and spreadsheets and should have a basic understanding of bank transfers and financials as well. Most payroll clerks may have an equivalent of a High School diploma or an advanced degree, but these may not be necessary provided the individual has comparable skills and knowledge for the job. Depending on the company or organization, many payroll clerks can expect to make up to $44,000 per year in the US.
Payroll Associate Overview
Working as a Payroll Associate
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a payroll associate. For example, did you know that they make an average of $19.17 an hour? That's $39,882 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 72,100 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Payroll Associate Do
There are certain skills that many payroll associates have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed communication skills, math skills and organizational skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a payroll associate, we found that a lot of resumes listed 34.0% of payroll associates included payroll, while 10.0% of resumes included customer service, and 7.3% of resumes included adp. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the payroll associate job title. But what industry to start with? Most payroll associates actually find jobs in the retail and professional industries.
How To Become a Payroll Associate
If you're interested in becoming a payroll associate, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 44.7% of payroll associates have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 7.6% of payroll associates have master's degrees. Even though most payroll associates have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a payroll associate. When we researched the most common majors for a payroll associate, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or associate degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on payroll associate resumes include high school diploma degrees or master's degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a payroll associate. In fact, many payroll associate jobs require experience in a role such as payroll administrator. Meanwhile, many payroll associates also have previous career experience in roles such as payroll specialist or administrative assistant.
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Payroll Associate Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a payroll associate can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as payroll administrator, progress to a title such as office manager and then eventually end up with the title senior human resources manager.
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Average Salary for a Payroll Associate
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Thomas Management LLC Payroll Associate Payroll Associate | Thomas Management LLC Thomas Management LLC | 01/22/2021 01/22/2021 | $40,00001/22/2021 $40,000 |
Adecco Staffing Payroll Associate Payroll Associate | Adecco Staffing Adecco Staffing | 01/21/2021 01/21/2021 | $37,56601/21/2021 $37,566 |
Aerotek Payroll Associate Payroll Associate | Aerotek Aerotek | 01/18/2021 01/18/2021 | $37,10701/18/2021 $37,107 |
Washington University of St. Louis Payroll Associate-Endocrinology, Metabolism & Lipid Research Payroll Associate-Endocrinology, Metabolism & Lipid Research | Washington University of St. Louis Washington University of St. Louis | 01/14/2021 01/14/2021 | $36,48101/14/2021 $36,481 |
Raytheon Technologies Corp Payroll Associate Payroll Associate | Raytheon Technologies Corp Raytheon Technologies Corp | 12/24/2020 12/24/2020 | $52,17512/24/2020 $52,175 |
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Top Colleges for Payroll Associates
1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
2. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
3. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
4. SUNY at Binghamton
Vestal, NY • Public
5. Villanova University
Villanova, PA • Private
6. San Diego State University
San Diego, CA • Public
7. Bentley University
Waltham, MA • Private
8. SUNY Farmingdale
Farmingdale, NY • Public
9. Boston University
Boston, MA • Private
10. SUNY Stony Brook
Stony Brook, NY • Public
Top Skills For a Payroll Associate
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 34.0% of payroll associates listed payroll on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and math skills are important as well.
- Payroll, 34.0%
- Customer Service, 10.0%
- ADP, 7.3%
- Data Entry, 6.0%
- Special Projects, 4.4%
- Other Skills, 38.3% See All Payroll Associate Skills
Best States For a Payroll Associate
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a payroll associate. The best states for people in this position are New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Payroll associates make the most in New Jersey with an average salary of $54,723. Whereas in Massachusetts and Connecticut, they would average $46,801 and $46,625, respectively. While payroll associates would only make an average of $46,076 in Rhode Island, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. New Jersey
$54,723
Avg. Salary
2. Minnesota
$45,810
Avg. Salary
3. Massachusetts
$46,802
Avg. Salary