What Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks earn in Passaic County, NJ
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $63,500: the median annual pay for Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks in Passaic County, NJ. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $30.53 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $66,110, which is 4.1% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 7,770 people working in this occupation across the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Passaic County, NJ has roughly 521,012 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks in the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $45,730 a year ($21.99 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $88,940 or more ($42.76 an hour). That is a gap of $43,210 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $53,070 at the 25th percentile and $75,790 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.9 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $30.53 an hour or $63,500 a year at the median for Passaic County, NJ. Before any deductions, that is $5,292 a month, $2,442 every two weeks and $1,221 each week. After taxes the same job pays $24.61 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks this way: "Compile and record employee time and payroll data. May compute employees' time worked, production, and commission. May compute and post wages and deductions, or prepare paychecks."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Process and issue employee paychecks and statements of earnings and deductions"; "Compute wages and deductions, and enter data into computers"; "Compile employee time, production, and payroll data from time sheets and other records"; "Review time sheets, work charts, wage computation, and other information to detect and reconcile payroll discrepancies".
Job outlook for Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to shrink from 159,600 jobs in 2025 to 134,300 in 2035, a change of -15.9%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 11,400 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 7.1% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: high school diploma or equivalent. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: moderate-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $58,260 for this occupation; the Passaic County, NJ median of $63,500 is 9.0% above it.
How pay in Passaic County, NJ compares
Compared with the New Jersey average
A worker in this occupation in Passaic County, NJ earns $1,552 more than the New Jersey average of $61,948, a premium of 2.5%. Over a year that premium is worth $1,552 before tax and roughly $1,251 after tax. Within New Jersey, Passaic County, NJ already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks is $58,032 across the contiguous United States. At $63,500, Passaic County, NJ pays $5,468 more, which is 9.4% above that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Passaic County, NJ
Among the 671 occupations with published wages in Passaic County, NJ, Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks ranks number 385 by median pay, ahead of about 43% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Anesthesiologists at $460,800 a year, which is $397,300 more than the median for Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks earning the Passaic County, NJ median of $63,500, they add up to $12,310. The result is $51,190 of take-home pay a year ($4,266 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $19 goes to taxes and $81 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 19.4%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $47,750. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $5,492, an effective 8.6% of gross pay, well below the 12% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $3,937 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $921. FICA totals $4,858, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in New Jersey
New Jersey income tax on this salary is $1,961 a year, or 3.1% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 36% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $163 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Passaic County, NJ
IRS Statistics of Income data for Passaic County, NJ show an average adjusted gross income of $73,650 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 12.6% across all filers. Filers in the $50,000 to under $75,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 7.2%, compared with the 8.6% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Passaic County, NJ
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Passaic County, NJ: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $51,190 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Passaic County, NJ, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,987 a month ($23,844 a year), and at $2,282 for two bedrooms. For Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks, a one-bedroom absorbs 46.6% of take-home pay and 37.5% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 5.4% of gross pay for Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks in Passaic County, NJ. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using New Jersey residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $2,044 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $518, for $2,562 in total. Gasoline in New Jersey averages $3.21 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,484.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $31,325 a year in Passaic County, NJ. Subtract that from $51,190 of take-home pay and $19,865 remains, which is $1,655 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 31.3% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Passaic County, NJ
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Passaic County, NJ: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Passaic County, NJ, set beside the New Jersey and national medians.
Property taxes in Passaic County, NJ
Homeowners in Passaic County, NJ pay a median of $10,001 a year in real estate taxes, 4% above the New Jersey median of $9,590 and 221% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $459,500, the median tax bill is 2.18% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks median of $63,500, a tax bill of that size would equal 15.7% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Passaic County, NJ
Renters in Passaic County, NJ pay a median gross rent of $1,621 a month in the Census survey, 6% below the New Jersey median of $1,720. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,987 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $459,500, 1% above the New Jersey median of $454,400. Median household income is $87,522, 15% below the New Jersey median of $103,556, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 27.2% of that income.
Commuting in Passaic County, NJ
Workers in Passaic County, NJ who travel to a workplace spend an average of 26.5 minutes each way, 13% below the New Jersey average of 30.5. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.4 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 11.5% of workers in Passaic County, NJ work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks afford to live in Passaic County, NJ?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $63,500 that ceiling is $1,588 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,987 is $400 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $38.21 an hour; the median for Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks is $30.53, which is 20% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $24.61 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 18.6 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $2,282 a month means $1,141 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $10,152 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $30,017.
How fast you can save
At $1,655 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 7 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 14 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks pay in Passaic County, NJ
How much do Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks make per hour in Passaic County, NJ?
The median is $30.53 per hour, based on $63,500 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $21.99 at the 10th percentile to $42.76 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks take home after taxes in Passaic County, NJ?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $63,500 becomes $51,190 a year. That is $4,266 a month, $1,969 every two weeks or $984 a week.
How much tax do Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks pay in Passaic County, NJ?
Total taxes are $12,310 a year, an effective rate of 19.4%: $5,492 federal income tax, $4,858 FICA and $1,961 New Jersey income tax.
Do Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks earn more in Passaic County, NJ than elsewhere in New Jersey?
Yes. The local median of $63,500 is +2.5% versus the New Jersey average of $61,948, a difference of $1,552 a year.
Can Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks afford a one-bedroom apartment in Passaic County, NJ?
A one-bedroom costs $1,987 a month against take-home pay of $4,266, which is 46.6% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,588 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks in Passaic County, NJ?
About $1,655 a month ($19,865 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $31,325 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Passaic County, NJ at the 30% guideline?
$38.21 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $23,844 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks is $30.53.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the New Jersey rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.