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Payroll Specialist salary: median $66,000 a year

Payroll Specialist listings that state pay run from $55,000 to $75,000 for the middle half, based on 101 current job listings. 459 payroll specialist roles are open now.

Payroll Specialist pay range

From 101 open listings that state pay. Annual, in US dollars.

Lower quarter
$55,000
Median
$66,000
Upper quarter
$75,000

Do AI skills change payroll specialist pay?

For Finance roles in general, as of November 9, 2026. This is the function’s figure, not one for payroll specialist alone: one title rarely has enough listings on both sides.

Among Finance listings, those that ask for an AI skill advertise +13.9% (about $20k) compared with similar listings that do not, matched on level and industry.

Listings that ask for an AI skill
$169,000
median, from 625 paid listings
Listings that never mention AI
$115,500
median, from 1,268 paid listings

Advertised pay only: the midpoint of the range an employer posted, on live U.S. postings read from the full text. “Asks for an AI skill” means the posting names a specific AI skill; “no AI” means it never mentions AI. A difference in what is advertised is not a promise of what you would be paid, and it does not show that learning a skill causes a raise.

See the AI-skill pay table for every function · Check your own pay against these listings

More pay data: Finance pay by level, skills that pay more and pay by employer size.

Payroll Specialist salary by state

States with at least 8 listings that state pay.

Between jobs? Unemployment benefits and severance rules in these states, or in every state.

Open payroll specialist jobs

Verified against the employer’s own career site within the last week.

Showing the newest 15 of about 459 verified open jobs here. Search all jobs

All 459 payroll specialist jobs

Finance jobs in the rankings

Rankings about finance jobs

Finance jobs · Top Finance employers · All rankings

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Related salaries

Payroll Specialist salary questions

How much does a payroll specialist make?
Among 101 open payroll specialist listings that state pay, the median is $66,000 a year, and half of listings fall between $55,000 and $75,000.
Where does this payroll specialist pay data come from?
From current job listings on employers’ own career sites that state a pay range. Hourly pay is converted at 2,080 hours a year, and a listing’s midpoint is used. Listed pay is what employers advertise, not what people are paid.
Which state pays payroll specialists the most?
Of the states with enough listings, California has the highest median listed pay at $90,000.

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