What Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks earn in Ellis County, TX
According to the latest federal wage data for the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX metropolitan area, the median pay for Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks in Ellis County, TX is $57,340 a year, or $27.57 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare (and no state income tax), the paycheck shrinks to $48,201 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Ellis County, TX.
The mean wage is $59,760, which is 4.2% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 7,100 people working in this occupation across the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Ellis County, TX has roughly 213,160 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $40,100 a year ($19.28 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $81,490 or more ($39.18 an hour). That is a gap of $41,390 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $47,040 at the 25th percentile and $67,320 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 2.0 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: $27.57 an hour or $57,340 a year at the median for Ellis County, TX. Before any deductions, that is $4,778 a month, $2,205 every two weeks and $1,103 each week. After taxes the same job pays $23.17 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks this way: "Process new insurance policies, modifications to existing policies, and claims forms. Obtain information from policyholders to verify the accuracy and completeness of information on claims forms, applications and related documents, and company records. Update existing policies and company records to reflect changes requested by policyholders and insurance company representatives."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Prepare insurance claim forms or related documents, and review them for completeness"; "Calculate amount of claim"; "Post or attach information to claim file"; "Transmit claims for payment or further investigation".
Job outlook for Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to shrink from 239,100 jobs in 2025 to 234,700 in 2035, a change of -1.9%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 17,500 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 7.3% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: high school diploma or equivalent. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: moderate-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $49,230 for this occupation; the Ellis County, TX median of $57,340 is 16.5% above it.
How pay in Ellis County, TX compares
Compared with the Texas average
A worker in this occupation in Ellis County, TX earns $6,023 more than the Texas average of $51,317, a premium of 11.7%. Over a year that premium is worth $6,023 before tax and roughly $5,063 after tax. Within Texas, Ellis County, TX already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks is $50,838 across the contiguous United States. At $57,340, Ellis County, TX pays $6,502 more, which is 12.8% 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 Ellis County, TX
Among the 627 occupations with published wages in Ellis County, TX, Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks ranks number 326 by median pay, ahead of about 48% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $173,810 a year, which is $116,470 more than the median for Insurance Claims and Policy Processing 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 Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks earning the Ellis County, TX median of $57,340, they add up to $9,139. The result is $48,201 of take-home pay a year ($4,017 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $16 goes to taxes and $84 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 15.9%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $41,590. 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 $4,752, an effective 8.3% 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 $3,555 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $831. FICA totals $4,387, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Texas
Texas does not tax wage income, so the state income tax line for Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks in Ellis County, TX is $0. That alone leaves more in the paycheck than the same salary would in a state with an income tax. For scale, a hypothetical flat 5% state tax on this salary would cost about $2,867 a year, so the absence of a state tax is worth roughly $239 a month.
A cross-check with IRS data for Ellis County, TX
IRS Statistics of Income data for Ellis County, TX show an average adjusted gross income of $85,181 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 12.0% across all filers. Filers in the $50,000 to under $75,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 6.5%, compared with the 8.3% 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 Ellis County, TX
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Ellis County, TX: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $48,201 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Ellis County, TX, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,536 a month ($18,432 a year), and at $1,807 for two bedrooms. For Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks, a one-bedroom absorbs 38.2% of take-home pay and 32.1% 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 6.0% of gross pay for Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks in Ellis County, TX. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Texas residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,578 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $719, for $2,297 in total. Gasoline in Texas averages $2.88 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,334.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $25,499 a year in Ellis County, TX. Subtract that from $48,201 of take-home pay and $22,702 remains, which is $1,892 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 39.6% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Ellis County, TX
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Ellis County, TX: 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 Ellis County, TX, set beside the Texas and national medians.
Property taxes in Ellis County, TX
Homeowners in Ellis County, TX pay a median of $4,697 a year in real estate taxes, 11% above the Texas median of $4,232 and 51% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $348,600, the median tax bill is 1.35% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks median of $57,340, a tax bill of that size would equal 8.2% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Ellis County, TX
Renters in Ellis County, TX pay a median gross rent of $1,594 a month in the Census survey, 14% above the Texas median of $1,403. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,536 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 $348,600, 23% above the Texas median of $283,800. Median household income is $99,595, 27% above the Texas median of $78,476, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 18.5% of that income.
Commuting in Ellis County, TX
Workers in Ellis County, TX who travel to a workplace spend an average of 30.3 minutes each way, 13% above the Texas average of 26.7. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 5.0 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 12.4% of workers in Ellis County, TX work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks afford to live in Ellis County, TX?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $57,340 that ceiling is $1,433 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,536 is $103 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $29.54 an hour; the median for Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks is $27.57, which is 7% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $23.17 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 15.3 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,807 a month means $904 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $7,590 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $30,292.
How fast you can save
At $1,892 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 6 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 12 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks pay in Ellis County, TX
How much do Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks make per hour in Ellis County, TX?
The median is $27.57 per hour, based on $57,340 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $19.28 at the 10th percentile to $39.18 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks take home after taxes in Ellis County, TX?
After federal income tax, FICA, the median salary of $57,340 becomes $48,201 a year. That is $4,017 a month, $1,854 every two weeks or $927 a week.
How much tax do Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks pay in Ellis County, TX?
Total taxes are $9,139 a year, an effective rate of 15.9%: $4,752 federal income tax, $4,387 FICA and no Texas income tax.
Do Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks earn more in Ellis County, TX than elsewhere in Texas?
Yes. The local median of $57,340 is +11.7% versus the Texas average of $51,317, a difference of $6,023 a year.
Can Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks afford a one-bedroom apartment in Ellis County, TX?
A one-bedroom costs $1,536 a month against take-home pay of $4,017, which is 38.2% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,433 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks in Ellis County, TX?
About $1,892 a month ($22,702 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $25,499 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Ellis County, TX at the 30% guideline?
$29.54 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $18,432 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks is $27.57.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX 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 Texas 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.