Payroll Specialist salary in San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX

Pay in San Antonio-New Braunfels against Texas and the US

Payroll specialists at the 90th percentile earn $73,090, 2.0 times the 10th percentile; the US ratio is 2.1. The middle half of payroll specialists in San Antonio-New Braunfels earns $44,610–$61,490. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $16,880 wide, against $18,720 across Texas and $21,610 nationally: employers in San Antonio-New Braunfels 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 $10,660 over the median, the 25th only $6,220 under it. An offer at the 75th percentile adds about $13,755 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 San Antonio-New Braunfels, and the Texas statewide median of $54,090 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in San Antonio-New Braunfels

At the $50,830 median, a local hire costs about $65,587 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $14,757 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 San Antonio-New Braunfels

Of the 17 roles we track in San Antonio-New Braunfels, this one ranks #8 by median pay, between paralegals ($53,300) and sales development representatives ($50,610). Project Coordinator is the highest at $92,130.

Measured against the US median, payroll specialists rank #14 of the 17 roles we track in San Antonio-New Braunfels (-12.8%), between e-commerce order specialists (-12.6%) and paralegals (-15.2%). The typical role here is at -8.1%, so, measured against the US, payroll specialists cost less in San Antonio-New Braunfels than the area's general pay level would suggest. Payroll specialists hold 0.7% of the jobs in these 17 roles in San Antonio-New Braunfels, 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. All 2 areas in Texas with more payroll specialists than San Antonio-New Braunfels also pay more, among them Dallas-Fort Worth, TX ($60,230) and Houston-Pasadena, TX ($54,090).

San Antonio-New Braunfels against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, San Antonio-New Braunfels is #33 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 Texas, Cape Coral-Fort Myers and Ithaca pay just above San Antonio-New Braunfels and Chambersburg and Hickory-Lenoir just below. All four are within $200 a year of the median in San Antonio-New Braunfels. Of the three markets with about as many payroll specialists, all three pay more.

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