What Loan Interviewers and Clerks earn in Orange County, CA
The median pay for Loan Interviewers and Clerks in Orange County, CA is $54,430 per year, which works out to $26.17 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA metropolitan area, the labor market that Orange County, CA belongs to. Half of the workers in this occupation earn more than the median and half earn less, which makes it a sturdier yardstick than an average that a few very high earners can pull upward.
The mean wage is $56,170, which is 3.2% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 5,410 people working in this occupation across the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Orange County, CA has roughly 3,165,820 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Loan Interviewers and Clerks in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $39,170 a year ($18.83 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $75,260 or more ($36.18 an hour). That is a gap of $36,090 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $47,330 at the 25th percentile and $62,100 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.9 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $26.17 an hour or $54,430 a year at the median for Orange County, CA. Before any deductions, that is $4,536 a month, $2,093 every two weeks and $1,047 each week. After taxes the same job pays $21.39 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Loan Interviewers and Clerks
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Loan Interviewers and Clerks this way: "Interview loan applicants to elicit information; investigate applicants' backgrounds and verify references; prepare loan request papers; and forward findings, reports, and documents to appraisal department. Review loan papers to ensure completeness, and complete transactions between loan establishment, borrowers, and sellers upon approval of loan."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Verify and examine information and accuracy of loan application and closing documents"; "Interview loan applicants to obtain personal and financial data and to assist in completing applications"; "Assemble and compile documents for loan closings, such as title abstracts, insurance forms, loan forms, and tax receipts"; "Answer questions and advise customers regarding loans and transactions".
Job outlook for Loan Interviewers and Clerks
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to shrink from 169,100 jobs in 2025 to 165,000 in 2035, a change of -2.4%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 10,500 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 6.2% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: high school diploma or equivalent. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: short-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $50,020 for this occupation; the Orange County, CA median of $54,430 is 8.8% above it.
How pay in Orange County, CA compares
Compared with the California average
Pay in Orange County, CA runs $1,293 below the California average of $55,723, a gap of 2.3%. A worker who moved to a better-paying part of California would, on paper, gain that difference before taxes. Within California, Orange County, CA already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Loan Interviewers and Clerks is $51,109 across the contiguous United States. At $54,430, Orange County, CA pays $3,321 more, which is 6.5% above that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Orange County, CA
Among the 633 occupations with published wages in Orange County, CA, Loan Interviewers and Clerks ranks number 424 by median pay, ahead of about 33% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers at $364,730 a year, which is $310,300 more than the median for Loan Interviewers and Clerks.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For Loan Interviewers and Clerks earning the Orange County, CA median of $54,430, they add up to $9,929. The result is $44,501 of take-home pay a year ($3,708 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $18 goes to taxes and $82 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 18.2%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $38,680. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $4,403, an effective 8.1% of gross pay, well below the 12% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $3,375 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $789. FICA totals $4,164, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in California
California income tax on this salary is $1,362 a year, or 2.5% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 31% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $113 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Orange County, CA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Orange County, CA show an average adjusted gross income of $120,090 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 16.7% across all filers. Filers in the $50,000 to under $75,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 7.4%, compared with the 8.1% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Orange County, CA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Orange County, CA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $44,501 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Orange County, CA, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $2,610 a month ($31,320 a year), and at $3,057 for two bedrooms. For Loan Interviewers and Clerks, a one-bedroom absorbs 70.4% of take-home pay and 57.5% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 6.3% of gross pay for Loan Interviewers and Clerks in Orange County, CA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using California residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $3,378 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $751, for $4,129 in total. Gasoline in California averages $4.42 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $2,047.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $40,931 a year in Orange County, CA. Subtract that from $44,501 of take-home pay and $3,570 remains, which is $297 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 6.6% of gross pay, a thin cushion that one unexpected expense could erase.
Local housing and commute data for Orange County, CA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Orange County, CA: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Orange County, CA, set beside the California and national medians.
Property taxes in Orange County, CA
Homeowners in Orange County, CA pay a median of $6,330 a year in real estate taxes, 24% above the California median of $5,124 and 103% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $962,600, the median tax bill is 0.66% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Loan Interviewers and Clerks median of $54,430, a tax bill of that size would equal 11.6% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Orange County, CA
Renters in Orange County, CA pay a median gross rent of $2,434 a month in the Census survey, 20% above the California median of $2,036. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $2,610 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $962,600, 31% above the California median of $734,700. Median household income is $116,289, 17% above the California median of $99,122, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 26.9% of that income.
Commuting in Orange County, CA
Workers in Orange County, CA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 26.7 minutes each way, 7% below the California average of 28.7. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.5 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 18.5% of workers in Orange County, CA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Loan Interviewers and Clerks afford to live in Orange County, CA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $54,430 that ceiling is $1,361 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $2,610 is $1,249 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $50.19 an hour; the median for Loan Interviewers and Clerks is $26.17, which is 48% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $21.39 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 28.2 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $3,057 a month means $1,529 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $12,978 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $16,548.
How fast you can save
At $297 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 34 months (2.8 years). Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 68 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Loan Interviewers and Clerks pay in Orange County, CA
How much do Loan Interviewers and Clerks make per hour in Orange County, CA?
The median is $26.17 per hour, based on $54,430 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $18.83 at the 10th percentile to $36.18 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Loan Interviewers and Clerks take home after taxes in Orange County, CA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $54,430 becomes $44,501 a year. That is $3,708 a month, $1,712 every two weeks or $856 a week.
How much tax do Loan Interviewers and Clerks pay in Orange County, CA?
Total taxes are $9,929 a year, an effective rate of 18.2%: $4,403 federal income tax, $4,164 FICA and $1,362 California income tax.
Do Loan Interviewers and Clerks earn more in Orange County, CA than elsewhere in California?
No. The local median of $54,430 is -2.3% versus the California average of $55,723, a difference of $1,293 a year.
Can Loan Interviewers and Clerks afford a one-bedroom apartment in Orange County, CA?
A one-bedroom costs $2,610 a month against take-home pay of $3,708, which is 70.4% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,361 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Loan Interviewers and Clerks in Orange County, CA?
About $297 a month ($3,570 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $40,931 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Orange County, CA at the 30% guideline?
$50.19 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $31,320 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Loan Interviewers and Clerks is $26.17.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the California rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.