Payroll Specialist salary in Bakersfield-Delano, CA

Pay in Bakersfield-Delano against California and the US

Payroll specialists at the 90th percentile earn $83,860, 2.0 times the 10th percentile; the US ratio is 2.1. The middle half of payroll specialists in Bakersfield-Delano earns $46,480–$71,830. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is $25,350 wide, wider than in California as a whole ($22,640) and the US ($21,610), so what a payroll specialist earns in Bakersfield-Delano depends more on the employer.

What to budget for a payroll specialist here

An offer at the 75th percentile instead of the median adds $15,180 a year in pay and about $19,587 in employer cost. Going down to the 25th percentile saves $10,170 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 $58,260 falls between the median and the 75th percentile in Bakersfield-Delano, and the California statewide median of $65,340 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in Bakersfield-Delano

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 $16,447 to the $56,650 median and brings it to $73,097 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 payroll specialists 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 Bakersfield-Delano

Of the 17 roles we track in Bakersfield-Delano, this one ranks #9 by median pay, between sales development representatives ($62,620) and bookkeepers ($53,170). Project Coordinator is the highest at $104,580.

Measured against the US median, payroll specialists rank #13 of the 17 roles we track in Bakersfield-Delano (-2.8%), between paralegals (+0.8%) and accountants (-4.9%). The typical role here is at +2.2%, so, measured against the US, payroll specialists cost less in Bakersfield-Delano than the area's general pay level would suggest. Payroll specialists hold 2.3% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Bakersfield-Delano, 1.2% across California and 1.0% nationally. The job is a bigger part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in California

Across the 28 areas of California with data for this job, the median runs from $54,890 in Visalia to $80,510 in San Francisco-Oakland, a gap of $25,620 a year. All 7 areas in California with more payroll specialists than Bakersfield-Delano also pay more, among them Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA ($65,040) and San Francisco-Oakland, CA ($80,510).

Bakersfield-Delano against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Bakersfield-Delano is #56 of 482 US areas for this job. It is one of the larger markets for this job, with pay near the middle of the US range. Outside California, Canton-Massillon and Decatur pay just above Bakersfield-Delano and Kansas City and Albany just below. All four are within $170 a year of the median in Bakersfield-Delano. Of the three markets with about as many payroll specialists, none pays as much.

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