What Receptionists and Information Clerks earn in Clarke County, VA
According to the latest federal wage data for the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metropolitan area, the median pay for Receptionists and Information Clerks in Clarke County, VA is $41,240 a year, or $19.83 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state income tax, the paycheck shrinks to $33,693 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Clarke County, VA.
The mean wage is $42,630, which is 3.4% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 17,920 people working in this occupation across the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Clarke County, VA has roughly 15,216 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Receptionists and Information Clerks in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $33,600 a year ($16.15 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $54,790 or more ($26.34 an hour). That is a gap of $21,190 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $36,410 at the 25th percentile and $46,560 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: $19.83 an hour or $41,240 a year at the median for Clarke County, VA. Before any deductions, that is $3,437 a month, $1,586 every two weeks and $793 each week. After taxes the same job pays $16.20 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Receptionists and Information Clerks
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Receptionists and Information Clerks this way: "Answer inquiries and provide information to the general public, customers, visitors, and other interested parties regarding activities conducted at establishment and location of departments, offices, and employees within the organization."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Operate telephone switchboard to answer, screen, or forward calls, providing information, taking messages, or scheduling appointments"; "Receive payment and record receipts for services"; "Perform administrative support tasks, such as proofreading, transcribing handwritten information, or operating calculators or computers to work with pay records, invoices, balance sheets, or other documents"; "Greet persons entering establishment, determine nature and purpose of visit, and direct or escort them to specific destinations".
Job outlook for Receptionists and Information Clerks
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to shrink from 947,500 jobs in 2025 to 931,600 in 2035, a change of -1.7%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 105,100 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 11.1% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: high school diploma or equivalent. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: short-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $38,010 for this occupation; the Clarke County, VA median of $41,240 is 8.5% above it.
How pay in Clarke County, VA compares
Compared with the Virginia average
A worker in this occupation in Clarke County, VA earns $2,435 more than the Virginia average of $38,805, a premium of 6.3%. Over a year that premium is worth $2,435 before tax and roughly $1,989 after tax. Within Virginia, Clarke County, VA already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Receptionists and Information Clerks is $38,603 across the contiguous United States. At $41,240, Clarke County, VA pays $2,637 more, which is 6.8% 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 Clarke County, VA
Among the 618 occupations with published wages in Clarke County, VA, Receptionists and Information Clerks ranks number 560 by median pay, ahead of about 9% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $195,190 a year, which is $153,950 more than the median for Receptionists and Information 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 Receptionists and Information Clerks earning the Clarke County, VA median of $41,240, they add up to $7,547. The result is $33,693 of take-home pay a year ($2,808 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $18 goes to taxes and $82 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 18.3%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $25,490. 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 $2,820, an effective 6.8% 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 $2,557 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $598. FICA totals $3,155, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Virginia
Virginia income tax on this salary is $1,572 a year, or 3.8% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 56% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $131 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 Clarke County, VA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Clarke County, VA show an average adjusted gross income of $114,890 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 13.7% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 6.0%, compared with the 6.8% 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 Clarke County, VA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Clarke County, VA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $33,693 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Clarke County, VA, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $2,204 a month ($26,448 a year), and at $2,438 for two bedrooms. For Receptionists and Information Clerks, a one-bedroom absorbs 78.5% of take-home pay and 64.1% 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 8.3% of gross pay for Receptionists and Information Clerks in Clarke County, VA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Virginia residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,523 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $597, for $2,119 in total. Gasoline in Virginia averages $3.09 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,429.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $33,432 a year in Clarke County, VA. Subtract that from $33,693 of take-home pay and $261 remains, which is $22 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 0.6% of gross pay, a thin cushion that one unexpected expense could erase.
Local housing and commute data for Clarke County, VA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Clarke County, VA: 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 Clarke County, VA, set beside the Virginia and national medians.
Property taxes in Clarke County, VA
Homeowners in Clarke County, VA pay a median of $2,657 a year in real estate taxes, 5% below the Virginia median of $2,790 and 15% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $550,100, the median tax bill is 0.48% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Receptionists and Information Clerks median of $41,240, a tax bill of that size would equal 6.4% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Clarke County, VA
Renters in Clarke County, VA pay a median gross rent of $1,371 a month in the Census survey, 13% below the Virginia median of $1,579. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $2,204 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 $550,100, 43% above the Virginia median of $383,700. Median household income is $117,111, 26% above the Virginia median of $93,170, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 22.6% of that income.
Commuting in Clarke County, VA
Workers in Clarke County, VA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 32.2 minutes each way, 18% above the Virginia average of 27.3. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 5.4 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 21.4% of workers in Clarke County, VA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Receptionists and Information Clerks afford to live in Clarke County, VA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $41,240 that ceiling is $1,031 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $2,204 is $1,173 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $42.38 an hour; the median for Receptionists and Information Clerks is $19.83, which is 53% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $16.20 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 31.4 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $2,438 a month means $1,219 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $11,820 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $12,081.
How fast you can save
At $22 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 459 months (38.3 years). Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 918 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Receptionists and Information Clerks pay in Clarke County, VA
How much do Receptionists and Information Clerks make per hour in Clarke County, VA?
The median is $19.83 per hour, based on $41,240 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $16.15 at the 10th percentile to $26.34 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Receptionists and Information Clerks take home after taxes in Clarke County, VA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $41,240 becomes $33,693 a year. That is $2,808 a month, $1,296 every two weeks or $648 a week.
How much tax do Receptionists and Information Clerks pay in Clarke County, VA?
Total taxes are $7,547 a year, an effective rate of 18.3%: $2,820 federal income tax, $3,155 FICA and $1,572 Virginia income tax.
Do Receptionists and Information Clerks earn more in Clarke County, VA than elsewhere in Virginia?
Yes. The local median of $41,240 is +6.3% versus the Virginia average of $38,805, a difference of $2,435 a year.
Can Receptionists and Information Clerks afford a one-bedroom apartment in Clarke County, VA?
A one-bedroom costs $2,204 a month against take-home pay of $2,808, which is 78.5% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,031 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Receptionists and Information Clerks in Clarke County, VA?
About $22 a month ($261 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $33,432 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Clarke County, VA at the 30% guideline?
$42.38 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $26,448 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Receptionists and Information Clerks is $19.83.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV 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 Virginia 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.