What Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks earn in San Mateo County, CA
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $52,590: the median annual pay for Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks in San Mateo County, CA. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $25.28 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $55,750, which is 6.0% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 7,790 people working in this occupation across the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. San Mateo County, CA has roughly 742,340 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $40,560 a year ($19.50 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $76,750 or more ($36.90 an hour). That is a gap of $36,190 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $45,320 at the 25th percentile and $61,900 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
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks in San Mateo County, CA is $25.28. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $52,590, and the same salary is $4,383 a month before taxes or about $2,023 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $20.74 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks this way: "Verify and maintain records on incoming and outgoing shipments involving inventory. Duties include verifying and recording incoming merchandise or material and arranging for the transportation of products. May prepare items for shipment."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Prepare documents, such as work orders, bills of lading, or shipping orders, to route materials"; "Record shipment data, such as weight, charges, space availability, damages, or discrepancies, for reporting, accounting, or recordkeeping purposes"; "Contact carrier representatives to make arrangements or to issue instructions for shipping and delivery of materials"; "Confer or correspond with establishment representatives to rectify problems, such as damages, shortages, or nonconformance to specifications".
Job outlook for Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to shrink from 827,700 jobs in 2025 to 765,000 in 2035, a change of -7.6%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 61,300 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 7.4% 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 $45,260 for this occupation; the San Mateo County, CA median of $52,590 is 16.2% above it.
How pay in San Mateo County, CA compares
Compared with the California average
San Mateo County, CA pays above the state benchmark. The California employment-weighted average for Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks is $47,112; the local median of $52,590 beats it by $5,478, or 11.6%. Within California, San Mateo County, CA already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks is $44,960 across the contiguous United States. At $52,590, San Mateo County, CA pays $7,630 more, which is 17.0% 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 San Mateo County, CA
Among the 600 occupations with published wages in San Mateo County, CA, Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks ranks number 487 by median pay, ahead of about 19% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $232,890 a year, which is $180,300 more than the median for Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $52,590 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $9,457 a year, which leaves $43,133, or $3,594 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $18 goes to taxes and $82 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 18.0%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $36,840. 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 $4,182, an effective 8.0% 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 $3,261 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $763. FICA totals $4,023, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in California
California income tax on this salary is $1,252 a year, or 2.4% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 30% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $104 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 San Mateo County, CA
IRS Statistics of Income data for San Mateo County, CA show an average adjusted gross income of $236,960 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 22.3% across all filers. Filers in the $50,000 to under $75,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 8.0%, compared with the 8.0% 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 San Mateo County, CA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in San Mateo County, CA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $43,133 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in San Mateo County, CA is $3,003 a month, or $36,036 a year. A two-bedroom costs $3,697 a month. For Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks, a one-bedroom absorbs 83.5% of take-home pay and 68.5% 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 6.5% of gross pay for Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks in San Mateo 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
The basics cost $45,647 a year in San Mateo County, CA, but take-home pay for Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks is $43,133. That is a shortfall of $2,514 a year, or $210 a month, before health care, transportation beyond fuel, debt or savings. Closing the gap would take roughly 121 extra paid hours a year at the take-home hourly rate of $20.74, or a second earner, a cheaper home or a roommate.
Local housing and commute data for San Mateo County, CA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in San Mateo 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 San Mateo County, CA, set beside the California and national medians.
Property taxes in San Mateo County, CA
Homeowners in San Mateo County, CA pay a median of $9,519 a year in real estate taxes, 86% above the California median of $5,124 and 205% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $1,559,600, the median tax bill is 0.61% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks median of $52,590, a tax bill of that size would equal 18.1% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in San Mateo County, CA
Renters in San Mateo County, CA pay a median gross rent of $2,922 a month in the Census survey, 44% 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 $3,003 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 $1,559,600, 112% above the California median of $734,700. Median household income is $158,855, 60% above the California median of $99,122, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 22.7% of that income.
Commuting in San Mateo County, CA
Workers in San Mateo County, CA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 26.4 minutes each way, 8% below the California average of 28.7. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.4 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 24.3% of workers in San Mateo County, CA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks afford to live in San Mateo 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 $52,590 that ceiling is $1,315 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $3,003 is $1,688 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $57.75 an hour; the median for Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks is $25.28, which is 56% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $20.74 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 33.4 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $3,697 a month means $1,849 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $13,854 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $11,340, which turns the shortfall into a surplus.
How fast you can save
With no monthly margin after the four basics, saving requires a change on one side of the ledger: higher pay than the $52,590 median, lower housing costs than the $3,003 one-bedroom rent, or a second income.
Frequently asked questions about Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks pay in San Mateo County, CA
What is the hourly wage for Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks in San Mateo County, CA?
The median is $25.28 per hour, based on $52,590 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $19.50 at the 10th percentile to $36.90 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks in San Mateo County, CA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $52,590 becomes $43,133 a year. That is $3,594 a month, $1,659 every two weeks or $829 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks in San Mateo County, CA?
Total taxes are $9,457 a year, an effective rate of 18.0%: $4,182 federal income tax, $4,023 FICA and $1,252 California income tax.
Is pay for Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks in San Mateo County, CA above the California average?
Yes. The local median of $52,590 is +11.6% versus the California average of $47,112, a difference of $5,478 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks salary in San Mateo County, CA?
A one-bedroom costs $3,003 a month against take-home pay of $3,594, which is 83.5% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,315 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks in San Mateo County, CA?
Nothing remains: the basics cost $45,647 a year, which is $2,514 more than take-home pay, a monthly shortfall of $210.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in San Mateo County, CA at the 30% guideline?
$57.75 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $36,036 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks is $25.28.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, 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.