What Stockers and Order Fillers earn in Dauphin County, PA
According to the latest federal wage data for the Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA metropolitan area, the median pay for Stockers and Order Fillers in Dauphin County, PA is $36,790 a year, or $17.69 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state income tax, the paycheck shrinks to $30,560 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Dauphin County, PA.
The mean wage is $38,720, which is 5.2% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 8,240 people working in this occupation across the Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Dauphin County, PA has roughly 289,593 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Stockers and Order Fillers in the Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $27,660 a year ($13.30 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $48,640 or more ($23.38 an hour). That is a gap of $20,980 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $31,510 at the 25th percentile and $45,300 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.8 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: $17.69 an hour or $36,790 a year at the median for Dauphin County, PA. Before any deductions, that is $3,066 a month, $1,415 every two weeks and $708 each week. After taxes the same job pays $14.69 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Stockers and Order Fillers
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Stockers and Order Fillers this way: "Receive, store, and issue merchandise, materials, equipment, and other items from stockroom, warehouse, or storage yard to fill shelves, racks, tables, or customers' orders. May operate power equipment to fill orders. May mark prices on merchandise and set up sales displays."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Complete order receipts"; "Obtain merchandise from bins or shelves"; "Read orders to ascertain catalog numbers, sizes, colors, and quantities of merchandise"; "Pack and unpack items to be stocked on shelves in stockrooms, warehouses, or storage yards".
Job outlook for Stockers and Order Fillers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 2,804,300 jobs in 2025 to 3,055,000 in 2035, a change of +8.9%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 430,700 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 15.4% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: no formal educational credential. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: short-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $37,330 for this occupation; the Dauphin County, PA median of $36,790 is 1.4% below it.
How pay in Dauphin County, PA compares
Compared with the Pennsylvania average
Pay for Stockers and Order Fillers in Dauphin County, PA is in line with the statewide figure: $36,790 locally against an employment-weighted Pennsylvania average of $36,854, a difference of only $64 (0.2%). Within Pennsylvania, the highest median we track for this job is $38,950 in Lehigh County, PA.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Stockers and Order Fillers is $37,561 across the contiguous United States. At $36,790, Dauphin County, PA pays $771 less, which is 2.0% below 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 Dauphin County, PA
Among the 443 occupations with published wages in Dauphin County, PA, Stockers and Order Fillers ranks number 396 by median pay, ahead of about 11% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is General and Operations Managers at $101,890 a year, which is $65,100 more than the median for Stockers and Order Fillers.
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 Stockers and Order Fillers earning the Dauphin County, PA median of $36,790, they add up to $6,230. The result is $30,560 of take-home pay a year ($2,547 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $17 goes to taxes and $83 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 16.9%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $21,040. 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 $2,286, an effective 6.2% 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 $2,281 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $533. FICA totals $2,814, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania income tax on this salary is $1,129 a year, or 3.1% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 49% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $94 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 Dauphin County, PA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Dauphin County, PA show an average adjusted gross income of $75,930 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 12.3% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 4.8%, compared with the 6.2% 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 Dauphin County, PA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Dauphin County, PA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $30,560 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Dauphin County, PA, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,285 a month ($15,420 a year), and at $1,598 for two bedrooms. For Stockers and Order Fillers, a one-bedroom absorbs 50.5% of take-home pay and 41.9% 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 9.3% of gross pay for Stockers and Order Fillers in Dauphin County, PA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Pennsylvania residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,877 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $535, for $2,412 in total. Gasoline in Pennsylvania averages $3.40 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,573.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $22,841 a year in Dauphin County, PA. Subtract that from $30,560 of take-home pay and $7,719 remains, which is $643 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 21.0% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Dauphin County, PA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Dauphin County, PA: 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 Dauphin County, PA, set beside the Pennsylvania and national medians.
Property taxes in Dauphin County, PA
Homeowners in Dauphin County, PA pay a median of $3,198 a year in real estate taxes, 3% below the Pennsylvania median of $3,311 and 3% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $236,400, the median tax bill is 1.35% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Stockers and Order Fillers median of $36,790, a tax bill of that size would equal 8.7% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Dauphin County, PA
Renters in Dauphin County, PA pay a median gross rent of $1,217 a month in the Census survey, in line with the Pennsylvania median of $1,209. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,285 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 $236,400, 7% below the Pennsylvania median of $254,500. Median household income is $76,242, 2% below the Pennsylvania median of $77,971, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 20.2% of that income.
Commuting in Dauphin County, PA
Workers in Dauphin County, PA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 21.5 minutes each way, 18% below the Pennsylvania average of 26.3. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 3.6 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 16.8% of workers in Dauphin County, PA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Stockers and Order Fillers afford to live in Dauphin County, PA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $36,790 that ceiling is $920 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,285 is $365 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $24.71 an hour; the median for Stockers and Order Fillers is $17.69, which is 28% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $14.69 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 20.2 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,598 a month means $799 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $5,832 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $13,551.
How fast you can save
At $643 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 16 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 32 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Stockers and Order Fillers pay in Dauphin County, PA
How much do Stockers and Order Fillers make per hour in Dauphin County, PA?
The median is $17.69 per hour, based on $36,790 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $13.30 at the 10th percentile to $23.38 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Stockers and Order Fillers take home after taxes in Dauphin County, PA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $36,790 becomes $30,560 a year. That is $2,547 a month, $1,175 every two weeks or $588 a week.
How much tax do Stockers and Order Fillers pay in Dauphin County, PA?
Total taxes are $6,230 a year, an effective rate of 16.9%: $2,286 federal income tax, $2,814 FICA and $1,129 Pennsylvania income tax.
Do Stockers and Order Fillers earn more in Dauphin County, PA than elsewhere in Pennsylvania?
It is about the same. The local median of $36,790 is within 0.2% of the Pennsylvania average of $36,854.
Can Stockers and Order Fillers afford a one-bedroom apartment in Dauphin County, PA?
A one-bedroom costs $1,285 a month against take-home pay of $2,547, which is 50.5% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $920 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Stockers and Order Fillers in Dauphin County, PA?
About $643 a month ($7,719 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $22,841 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Dauphin County, PA at the 30% guideline?
$24.71 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $15,420 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Stockers and Order Fillers is $17.69.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA 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 Pennsylvania 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.