What Retail Salespersons earn in Oswego County, NY
According to the latest federal wage data for the Syracuse, NY metropolitan area, the median pay for Retail Salespersons in Oswego County, NY is $35,250 a year, or $16.95 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state income tax, the paycheck shrinks to $29,118 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Oswego County, NY.
The mean wage is $39,480, which is 12.0% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 8,150 people working in this occupation across the Syracuse, NY metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Oswego County, NY has roughly 117,953 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Retail Salespersons in the Syracuse, NY metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $32,240 a year ($15.50 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $50,340 or more ($24.20 an hour). That is a gap of $18,100 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $33,400 at the 25th percentile and $38,420 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.6 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: $16.95 an hour or $35,250 a year at the median for Oswego County, NY. Before any deductions, that is $2,938 a month, $1,356 every two weeks and $678 each week. After taxes the same job pays $14.00 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Retail Salespersons
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Retail Salespersons this way: "Sell merchandise, such as furniture, motor vehicles, appliances, or apparel to consumers."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Greet customers and ascertain what each customer wants or needs"; "Maintain knowledge of current sales and promotions, policies regarding payment and exchanges, and security practices"; "Compute sales prices, total purchases, and receive and process cash or credit payment"; "Watch for and recognize security risks and thefts and know how to prevent or handle these situations".
Job outlook for Retail Salespersons
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to shrink from 3,998,100 jobs in 2025 to 3,984,100 in 2035, a change of -0.3%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 520,600 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 13.0% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: no formal educational credential. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: short-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $35,410 for this occupation; the Oswego County, NY median of $35,250 is 0.5% below it.
How pay in Oswego County, NY compares
Compared with the New York average
Pay in Oswego County, NY runs $2,112 below the New York average of $37,362, a gap of 5.7%. A worker who moved to a better-paying part of New York would, on paper, gain that difference before taxes. Within New York, the highest median we track for this job is $38,280 in Kings County, NY.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Retail Salespersons is $34,080 across the contiguous United States. At $35,250, Oswego County, NY pays $1,170 more, which is 3.4% 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 Oswego County, NY
Among the 469 occupations with published wages in Oswego County, NY, Retail Salespersons ranks number 447 by median pay, ahead of about 5% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Registered Nurses at $86,960 a year, which is $51,710 more than the median for Retail Salespersons.
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 Retail Salespersons earning the Oswego County, NY median of $35,250, they add up to $6,132. The result is $29,118 of take-home pay a year ($2,427 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $17 goes to taxes and $83 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 17.4%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $19,500. 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 $2,102, an effective 6.0% 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 $2,186 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $511. FICA totals $2,697, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in New York
New York income tax on this salary is $1,334 a year, or 3.8% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 63% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $111 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 Oswego County, NY
IRS Statistics of Income data for Oswego County, NY show an average adjusted gross income of $67,268 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 9.9% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 4.8%, compared with the 6.0% 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 Oswego County, NY
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Oswego County, NY: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $29,118 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Oswego County, NY, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,196 a month ($14,352 a year), and at $1,493 for two bedrooms. For Retail Salespersons, a one-bedroom absorbs 49.3% of take-home pay and 40.7% 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 9.7% of gross pay for Retail Salespersons in Oswego County, NY. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using New York residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $2,581 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $653, for $3,235 in total. Gasoline in New York averages $3.17 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,467.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $22,489 a year in Oswego County, NY. Subtract that from $29,118 of take-home pay and $6,629 remains, which is $552 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 18.8% of gross pay, a workable but modest cushion.
Local housing and commute data for Oswego County, NY
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Oswego County, NY: 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 Oswego County, NY, set beside the New York and national medians.
Property taxes in Oswego County, NY
Homeowners in Oswego County, NY pay a median of $3,646 a year in real estate taxes, 45% below the New York median of $6,582 and 17% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $151,700, the median tax bill is 2.40% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Retail Salespersons median of $35,250, a tax bill of that size would equal 10.3% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Oswego County, NY
Renters in Oswego County, NY pay a median gross rent of $967 a month in the Census survey, 40% below the New York median of $1,621. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,196 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 $151,700, 64% below the New York median of $423,800. Median household income is $69,183, 20% below the New York median of $85,974, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 20.7% of that income.
Commuting in Oswego County, NY
Workers in Oswego County, NY who travel to a workplace spend an average of 25.1 minutes each way, 23% below the New York average of 32.6. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.2 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 8.3% of workers in Oswego County, NY work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Retail Salespersons afford to live in Oswego County, NY?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $35,250 that ceiling is $881 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,196 is $315 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $23.00 an hour; the median for Retail Salespersons is $16.95, which is 26% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $14.00 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 19.7 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,493 a month means $747 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $5,394 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $12,023.
How fast you can save
At $552 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 19 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 38 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Retail Salespersons pay in Oswego County, NY
How much do Retail Salespersons make per hour in Oswego County, NY?
The median is $16.95 per hour, based on $35,250 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $15.50 at the 10th percentile to $24.20 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Retail Salespersons take home after taxes in Oswego County, NY?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $35,250 becomes $29,118 a year. That is $2,427 a month, $1,120 every two weeks or $560 a week.
How much tax do Retail Salespersons pay in Oswego County, NY?
Total taxes are $6,132 a year, an effective rate of 17.4%: $2,102 federal income tax, $2,697 FICA and $1,334 New York income tax.
Do Retail Salespersons earn more in Oswego County, NY than elsewhere in New York?
No. The local median of $35,250 is -5.7% versus the New York average of $37,362, a difference of $2,112 a year.
Can Retail Salespersons afford a one-bedroom apartment in Oswego County, NY?
A one-bedroom costs $1,196 a month against take-home pay of $2,427, which is 49.3% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $881 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Retail Salespersons in Oswego County, NY?
About $552 a month ($6,629 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $22,489 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Oswego County, NY at the 30% guideline?
$23.00 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $14,352 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Retail Salespersons is $16.95.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Syracuse, NY 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 York 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.