Bookkeeper salary in the Southwestern Pennsylvania nonmetro area

Pay in the Southwestern Pennsylvania nonmetro area against Pennsylvania and the US

The middle half of bookkeepers in the Southwestern Pennsylvania nonmetro area earns $36,770–$52,730. Pay is tightly grouped: the top tenth starts at $57,960, only 1.9 times the bottom tenth, against 2.1 times across the US, so the going rate is easier to read. The mean ($45,060) is no higher than the median, so few high earners skew the figures here. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $15,960 wide, against $17,070 across Pennsylvania and $17,950 nationally: employers in the Southwestern Pennsylvania nonmetro area pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for a bookkeeper here

An offer at the 75th percentile instead of the median adds $7,610 a year in pay and about $9,819 in employer cost. Going down to the 25th percentile saves $8,350 in pay. These percentiles describe what people in the job earn locally, not experience levels, so place your offer by the tasks and seniority you need.

For scale, the US median of $50,670 falls between the median and the 75th percentile in the Southwestern Pennsylvania nonmetro area, and the Pennsylvania statewide median of $48,440 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in the Southwestern Pennsylvania nonmetro area

Pay is only part of it. Benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², which adds about $13,099 to the $45,120 median and brings it to $58,219 a year. Recruiting, equipment and office space come on top. Benefit levels vary by employer, so treat this as an estimate.

We place executive assistants, customer support and e-commerce staff today; for bookkeepers we answer within one business day whether we can help. Enter the monthly pay you have in mind to compare it with a local hire. The fee field shows our standard fee³; Deel's contractor plan is the default payroll tool⁴.

Other roles in the Southwestern Pennsylvania nonmetro area

Of the 17 roles we track in the Southwestern Pennsylvania nonmetro area, this one ranks #11 by median pay, between HR assistants ($48,310) and customer support specialists ($40,320). Project Coordinator is the highest at $94,870.

Measured against the US median, bookkeepers rank #7 of the 17 roles we track in the Southwestern Pennsylvania nonmetro area (-11.0%), between payroll specialists (-10.3%) and office managers (-14.4%). The typical role here is at -14.5%, so, measured against the US, bookkeepers cost more in the Southwestern Pennsylvania nonmetro area than the area's general pay level would suggest. Bookkeepers hold 13.7% of the jobs in these 17 roles in the Southwestern Pennsylvania nonmetro area, 8.5% across Pennsylvania and 8.7% nationally. The job is a bigger part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Pennsylvania

Across the 20 areas of Pennsylvania with data for this job, the median runs from $41,730 in Johnstown to $53,500 in Lebanon, a gap of $11,770 a year. Of the 7 areas in Pennsylvania with more bookkeepers than the Southwestern Pennsylvania nonmetro area, 1 pays less: the Central Pennsylvania nonmetro area ($44,620).

the Southwestern Pennsylvania nonmetro area against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, the Southwestern Pennsylvania nonmetro area is #184 of 521 US areas for this job. It is a mid-sized market, and its pay is in the bottom quarter of US areas. Outside Pennsylvania, Hickory-Lenoir and Weirton-Steubenville pay just above the Southwestern Pennsylvania nonmetro area and Lawton and Longview just below. All four are within $50 a year of the median in the Southwestern Pennsylvania nonmetro area. Of the three markets with about as many bookkeepers, all three pay more.

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How these pages are built: methodology and data sources. Last updated 2026-11-12.