Payroll Specialist salary
What a payroll specialist actually earns, from 70 live job postings blended with the official US OEWS (Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics) wage anchor. Pick a market for its median and range, then read the seniority split, the trend, and the country comparison below. Updated 2026-10-02.
247 open payroll specialist jobs →
What the number means
A payroll specialist earns a blended US median near 82,133 dollars, with the typical middle running from 64,842 dollars to 99,461 dollars. The official OEWS median is 52,240 dollars, under the posted figure, because the advertised roles skew senior or well-funded. The official trend has moved up about 20 percent since 2019. Demand is rated high, and 18% of postings are fully remote. The nearest adjacent move on our skill graph is financial controller, at 75 percent coverage; the instrument maps the rest.
Open payroll specialist roles
Live openings, freshest first. Apply at the source.
Payroll Accountant / Lohn- und Gehaltsbuchhalter (mIwId) at LeySelect GmbHEssenTodayApply- Senior International Payroll Analyst at Direct employerRemote - IrelandTodayUnlock
- Payroll Accountant at Direct employerPenangTodayUnlock
- Senior Manager, Payroll at Direct employerManila Office MNS1TodayUnlock
Payroll / Responsable des salaires at Careerplus SALausanne 25, Vaud, Switzerland1d agoApply- Gestionnaire de paie confirmé (H/F) at TeampicnicParis, Paris1d agoApply
Roles that pay more, that these skills already reach
Median pay from each destination’s own postings, with the readiness a payroll specialist profile already covers.
- 391 open financial controller roles$144,037 median · +$61,904 · 75% readiness
- 2252 open hr manager roles$123,463 median · +$41,330 · 47% readiness
- 1843 open financial analyst roles$113,413 median · +$31,280 · 48% readiness
- 2576 open accountant roles$104,101 median · +$21,968 · 64% readiness
Every measured move out of this role, ranked by readiness: alternative careers for a payroll specialist.
Is your offer fair?
Run a specific number through FairElephant, which weighs it against this data, your location, and remote market rates.
Related salaries
- Financial Controller salary$144,037 median
- Bookkeeper salary$61,837 median
- Accountant salary$104,101 median
Quick answers
How much does a payroll specialist make?
The blended US median is about 82,133 dollars, with a typical range from 64,842 dollars to 99,461 dollars, against an official OEWS median of 52,240 dollars.
Is payroll specialist a good career in 2026?
Demand for the role is rated high in our July 2026 corpus, with 18% of postings fully remote. The pay is shown above by seniority and by country.
What can a payroll specialist move into?
The nearest adjacent role on our skill graph is financial controller, at 75 percent skill coverage. Run the instrument for the full set of reachable moves.
Method: bands are the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of live US postings with stated pay, shrunk toward the official OEWS anchor by sample size (the “blended” figure). Trend is the OEWS annual median for SOC (Standard Occupational Classification) code 43-3051. Live corpus 70 observations, 2026-10-02. Definitions in the glossary.