Payroll Specialist salary in Oklahoma City, OK

Pay in Oklahoma City against Oklahoma and the US

Payroll specialists at the 90th percentile earn $73,110, 2.3 times the 10th percentile; the US ratio is 2.1. The middle half of payroll specialists in Oklahoma City earns $39,940–$61,350. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $21,410 wide, against $22,300 across Oklahoma and $21,610 nationally: employers in Oklahoma City pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for a payroll specialist here

Pay climbs faster above the median than below it here: the 75th percentile is $13,520 over the median, the 25th only $7,890 under it. An offer at the 75th percentile adds about $17,445 a year in employer cost. 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 Oklahoma City, and the Oklahoma statewide median of $49,920 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in Oklahoma City

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 $13,886 to the $47,830 median and brings it to $61,716 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 Oklahoma City

Of the 17 roles we track in Oklahoma City, this one ranks #9 by median pay, between sales development representatives ($55,190) and bookkeepers ($47,150). Project Coordinator is the highest at $85,400.

Measured against the US median, payroll specialists rank #14 of the 17 roles we track in Oklahoma City (-17.9%), between recruiters (-16.8%) and executive assistants (-19.7%). The typical role here is at -12.0%, so, measured against the US, payroll specialists cost less in Oklahoma City than the area's general pay level would suggest. Payroll specialists hold 1.6% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Oklahoma City, 1.4% across Oklahoma and 1.0% nationally. The job is a bigger part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Oklahoma

Across the 7 areas of Oklahoma with data for this job, the median runs from $44,030 in the Northeast Oklahoma nonmetro area to $52,710 in Tulsa, a gap of $8,680 a year. No other area in Oklahoma has as many payroll specialists, and 4 of the other 6 pay less.

Oklahoma City against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Oklahoma City is #29 of 482 US areas for this job. It is one of the larger markets for this job, yet its pay sits in the bottom quarter of US areas. Outside Oklahoma, Cleveland and Springfield pay just above Oklahoma City and Jackson and Columbia just below. All four are within $210 a year of the median in Oklahoma City. Of the three markets with about as many payroll specialists, all three pay more.

Questions

Sources

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