Wisconsin · BLS May 2025

How much does a bookkeeper make in Wisconsin?

Also called bookkeeping clerk, accounting clerk. SOC 43-3031.

A bookkeeper in Wisconsin earns a median of $50,340 a year ($24.20 an hour), about $3,420 a month after federal, state and FICA tax. Figure from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey. The survey counted 25,960 of these jobs in Wisconsin in May 2025.

Median pay · Wisconsin

$50,340A year, or $24 an hour.
Take-home a month$3,420After federal, state and FICA tax at 18.5%
Worth at national prices$53,499Prices here sit at 94.1 against 100
Against the nation0.7% belowNational median $50,670
What bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks earn in Wisconsin, May 2025
PercentileAnnualHourly
10th percentile1 in 10 earn less$36,350$17
25th percentile$44,580$21
MedianHalf earn more, half less$50,340$24
75th percentile$59,380$29
90th percentile1 in 10 earn more$65,460$31
MeanAll pay divided by all jobs$51,720$25

Wage survey · BLS May 2025

How we got this
  1. Median wage in WisconsinBLS OEWS May 2025. Half of the people in this job were paid more than this, half less.$50,340
  2. Median hourly wagePublished separately by BLS, not divided out of the annual figure.$24.20
  3. Take-home after federal, state and FICA tax$3,420 a month at an effective rate of 18.5%.$41,035 a year
  4. Worth at national average pricesPrices in Wisconsin sit at 94.1 against a national 100 (BEA, 2024).$53,499
  5. Against the national medianThe national median is $50,670.0.7% below
  6. Jobs countedA concentration of 1 against the nation's 1.00.25,960
What we assumed
  • Wages are BLS OEWS survey estimates for May 2025, not job postings or offers.
  • OEWS surveys wage and salary workers. The self-employed and business owners are outside it.
  • Take-home assumes one 2026 filer, filing single, taking the standard deduction, with no dependents, pre-tax retirement contributions or local income tax.
  • Regional price parities compare price levels between places in one year. They are not inflation, and they do not adjust for what a household actually buys.
Technical details

Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1

What lands in the bank

Tax year 2026 · Interactive

Estimated on the median salary of $50,340 in Wisconsin, for a single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026. Explore other wage levels and filing statuses below.

$50,340
$35,000$70,000
Filing status:
Gross salary breakdown$50,340
Net 82%
Fed 8%
WI 3%
FICA 8%
Annual take-home$41,035After all taxes
Monthly deposit$3,420Estimated per month
Biweekly paycheck$1,578Every 2 weeks (26/yr)
Effective tax rate18.5%Total tax burden
Federal income tax$3,861 / yr
Wisconsin state income tax$1,593 / yr
FICA (Social Security & Medicare)$3,851 / yr

Run the numbers on your own pay

Same U.S. tax tables as the rest of the site. Change the salary, state, or filing status.

What $50,340 is worth in Wisconsin

Prices in Wisconsin sit at 94.1 against a national average of 100, so $50,340 earned here buys what $53,499 buys at national average prices.

  • Rents. 79.3 against 100, the component that moves most between states.
  • Against local households. The median household in Wisconsin takes in $77,485, so this occupation's median is 0.65 times that, on one income.
  • How common the job is here. As concentrated in Wisconsin as it is nationally.

Compare two places properly →

Reading the numbers

What stands out for bookkeepers in Wisconsin

Rents in Wisconsin index at 79.3 (U.S. = 100) while prices overall index at 94.1, a gap of -14.8 pts. For a renter, housing moves the local cost of living more than anything else.

The median for this job is 0.7 times the median household income in Wisconsin ($77,485). Many households have two earners, so one paycheck at this level falls short of what a typical local household brings in.

Common questions

Bookkeeper pay in Wisconsin, answered

How much does a bookkeeper make in Wisconsin?

The median wage for bookkeepers in Wisconsin is $50,340 a year, or $24.20 an hour.

Half earn more than that and half earn less. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey for May 2025.

What is the average bookkeeper salary in Wisconsin?

BLS’s mean (average) wage for bookkeepers in Wisconsin is $51,720 a year. The median is $50,340.

The mean sits higher when a smaller group of high earners pulls the average up. For a typical paycheck, the median is the better middle.

What is the hourly pay for a bookkeeper in Wisconsin?

The median hourly wage is $24.20. At a full-time year that lines up with about $50,340 a year.

BLS May 2025; hourly and annual figures come from the same survey.

What is the starting salary for a bookkeeper in Wisconsin?

BLS does not publish starting pay. The closest figure it does publish is the low end of the range: in Wisconsin, the lowest-paid 10% of bookkeepers earn under $36,350 a year and a quarter earn under $44,580 ($17.48 and $21.43 an hour).

New hires often start somewhere in that band, but the May 2025 survey does not record experience, so read it as a floor to compare an offer against rather than a typical first salary.

What is the salary range for a bookkeeper in Wisconsin?

The overall salary range for bookkeepers in Wisconsin spans from $36,350 for the bottom 10% to $65,460 for top earners.

The middle 50% earn between $44,580 and $59,380 a year, with the overall median at $50,340.

What is the take-home pay for a bookkeeper in Wisconsin?

On the median wage of $50,340, a single filer taking the 2026 standard deduction keeps an estimated $41,035 a year, or roughly $3,420 a month.

That is after federal, state and FICA tax, an effective rate of 18.5%.

Wisconsin takes $1,593 of it in state income tax.

How much does a bookkeeper make a month in Wisconsin?

On the median annual salary of $50,340, estimated take-home pay is roughly $3,420 a month after federal, state, and FICA taxes.

For workers paid on a standard biweekly schedule (26 pay periods per year), each paycheck is approximately $1,578 net.

Do bookkeepers earn more in Wisconsin than in the rest of the country?

No. The median in Wisconsin is 0.7% below the national median of $50,670.

Nominal pay is only half the comparison: prices in Wisconsin sit at 94.1 against a national 100, so the gap in what the money buys is different from the gap in the salary.

Is $50,340 a good salary in Wisconsin?

It is 0.65 times the median household income of $77,485. A household often has more than one earner, so a single salary at this level goes further than the ratio alone suggests.

Prices in Wisconsin run at 94.1 against a national average of 100, with rents at 79.3, so $50,340 here buys about what $53,499 buys at national average prices.

What do the highest-paid bookkeepers earn in Wisconsin?

The top tenth earn $65,460 a year or more. The 10th-percentile wage is $36,350.

Experience, specialty, employer and the part of Wisconsin someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.

How many bookkeepers are there in Wisconsin?

The survey counted 25,960 of these jobs in Wisconsin for May 2025.

That makes the occupation exactly as concentrated here as nationally. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.

Sources

Where this data comes from

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