Payroll Specialist salary in Salt Lake City-Murray, UT

Pay in Salt Lake City-Murray against Utah and the US

The middle half of payroll specialists in Salt Lake City-Murray earns $52,000–$66,050. Pay is tightly grouped: the top tenth starts at $76,320, only 1.7 times the bottom tenth, against 2.1 times across the US, so the going rate is easier to read. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $14,050 wide, against $15,180 across Utah and $21,610 nationally: employers in Salt Lake City-Murray 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 $9,620 over the median, the 25th only $4,430 under it. An offer at the 75th percentile adds about $12,413 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 Salt Lake City-Murray, and the Utah statewide median of $56,430 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in Salt Lake City-Murray

At the $56,430 median, a local hire costs about $72,813 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $16,383 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 Salt Lake City-Murray

Of the 17 roles we track in Salt Lake City-Murray, this one ranks #9 by median pay, between sales development representatives ($63,340) and bookkeepers ($51,320). Project Coordinator is the highest at $98,000.

Measured against the US median, payroll specialists rank #13 of the 17 roles we track in Salt Lake City-Murray (-3.1%), between e-commerce order specialists (-2.5%) and project coordinators (-4.2%). The typical role here is at -1.9%, so this job follows the area's general pay level. Payroll specialists hold 0.8% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Salt Lake City-Murray, 0.8% across Utah and 1.0% nationally. The job is a smaller part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Utah

Across the 7 areas of Utah with data for this job, the median runs from $52,490 in St. George to $57,470 in Provo-Orem, a gap of $4,980 a year. No other area in Utah has as many payroll specialists, and 4 of the other 6 pay less.

Salt Lake City-Murray against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Salt Lake City-Murray is #38 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 Utah, Iowa City and Glens Falls pay just above Salt Lake City-Murray and Durham-Chapel Hill and Albany-Schenectady just below. All four are within $70 a year of the median in Salt Lake City-Murray. Of the three markets with about as many payroll specialists, two pay more.

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Sources

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