Payroll Specialist salary in Dallas-Fort Worth, TX

Pay in Dallas-Fort Worth against Texas and the US

Payroll specialists at the 90th percentile earn $78,390, 2.2 times the 10th percentile; the US ratio is 2.1. The middle half of payroll specialists in Dallas-Fort Worth earns $48,290–$69,720. The mean ($58,450) 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 $21,430 wide, between the figure for Texas ($18,720) and the US figure ($21,610).

What to budget for a payroll specialist here

An offer at the 75th percentile instead of the median adds $9,490 a year in pay and about $12,245 in employer cost. Going down to the 25th percentile saves $11,940 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 25th percentile and the median in Dallas-Fort Worth, and the Texas statewide median of $54,090 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in Dallas-Fort Worth

At the $60,230 median, a local hire costs about $77,716 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $17,486 here. 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 Dallas-Fort Worth

Of the 17 roles we track in Dallas-Fort Worth, this one ranks #9 by median pay, between paralegals ($63,220) and HR assistants ($52,150). Project Coordinator is the highest at $98,900.

Measured against the US median, payroll specialists rank #4 of the 17 roles we track in Dallas-Fort Worth (+3.4%), between data entry specialists (+4.3%) and HR assistants (+3.0%). The typical role here is at -0.2%, so, measured against the US, payroll specialists cost more in Dallas-Fort Worth than the area's general pay level would suggest. Payroll specialists hold 0.8% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Dallas-Fort Worth, 0.8% across Texas and 1.0% nationally. The job is a smaller part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Texas

Across the 30 areas of Texas with data for this job, the median runs from $40,810 in McAllen-Edinburg to $60,230 in Dallas-Fort Worth, a gap of $19,420 a year. No other area in Texas has as many payroll specialists, and all 29 others pay less.

Dallas-Fort Worth against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Dallas-Fort Worth is #5 of 482 US areas, one of the ten largest markets for this job. Outside Texas, Appleton and Lincoln pay just above Dallas-Fort Worth and Norwich-New London and Dayton-Kettering just below. All four are within $130 a year of the median in Dallas-Fort Worth. Of the three markets closest in size, two pay more.

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Sources

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