What Office Clerks, General earn in Chesapeake city, VA
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $44,630: the median annual pay for Office Clerks, General in Chesapeake city, VA. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $21.46 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $45,080, which is 1.0% above the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 12,490 people working in this occupation across the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Chesapeake city, VA has roughly 252,583 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Office Clerks, General in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $31,030 a year ($14.92 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $61,220 or more ($29.43 an hour). That is a gap of $30,190 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $36,830 at the 25th percentile and $50,040 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
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Office Clerks, General in Chesapeake city, VA is $21.46. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $44,630, and the same salary is $3,719 a month before taxes or about $1,717 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $17.41 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Office Clerks, General
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Office Clerks, General this way: "Perform duties too varied and diverse to be classified in any specific office clerical occupation, requiring knowledge of office systems and procedures. Clerical duties may be assigned in accordance with the office procedures of individual establishments and may include a combination of answering telephones, bookkeeping, typing or word processing, office machine operation, and filing."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Communicate with customers, employees, and other individuals to answer questions, disseminate or explain information, take orders, and address complaints"; "Answer telephones, direct calls, and take messages"; "Compile, copy, sort, and file records of office activities, business transactions, and other activities"; "Operate office machines, such as photocopiers and scanners, facsimile machines, voice mail systems, and personal computers".
Job outlook for Office Clerks, General
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to shrink from 2,600,000 jobs in 2025 to 2,443,700 in 2035, a change of -6%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 249,000 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 9.6% 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 $45,010 for this occupation; the Chesapeake city, VA median of $44,630 is 0.8% below it.
How pay in Chesapeake city, VA compares
Compared with the Virginia average
The local median of $44,630 sits below the Virginia employment-weighted average of $47,748. The shortfall is $3,118 a year, or 6.5%, so Chesapeake city, VA is a lower-paying market for this job than the state as a whole. Within Virginia, the highest median we track for this job is $51,880 in Fairfax County, VA.
Compared with the national average
Nationally, Office Clerks, General earn an employment-weighted average of $44,586 across the contiguous United States, so $44,630 in Chesapeake city, VA is essentially average. 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 Chesapeake city, VA
Among the 520 occupations with published wages in Chesapeake city, VA, Office Clerks, General ranks number 392 by median pay, ahead of about 25% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is General and Operations Managers at $100,340 a year, which is $55,710 more than the median for Office Clerks, General.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $44,630 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 $8,408 a year, which leaves $36,222, or $3,019 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $19 goes to taxes and $81 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 18.8%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $28,880. 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 $3,227, an effective 7.2% 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 $2,767 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $647. FICA totals $3,414, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in Virginia
Virginia income tax on this salary is $1,767 a year, or 4.0% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 55% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $147 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 Chesapeake city, VA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Chesapeake city, VA show an average adjusted gross income of $84,857 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 11.5% 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 7.2% 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 Chesapeake city, VA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Chesapeake city, VA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $36,222 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Chesapeake city, VA is $1,488 a month, or $17,856 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,667 a month. For Office Clerks, General, a one-bedroom absorbs 49.3% of take-home pay and 40.0% 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 7.7% of gross pay for Office Clerks, General in Chesapeake city, VA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Virginia residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,523 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $597, for $2,119 in total. Gasoline in Virginia averages $3.09 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,429.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $24,840 a year, 69% of take-home pay. That leaves $11,382 a year, or $949 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 25.5% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Chesapeake city, VA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Chesapeake city, VA: 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 Chesapeake city, VA, set beside the Virginia and national medians.
Property taxes in Chesapeake city, VA
Homeowners in Chesapeake city, VA pay a median of $3,108 a year in real estate taxes, 11% above the Virginia median of $2,790 and in line with the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $378,400, the median tax bill is 0.82% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Office Clerks, General median of $44,630, a tax bill of that size would equal 7.0% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Chesapeake city, VA
Renters in Chesapeake city, VA pay a median gross rent of $1,586 a month in the Census survey, in line with the Virginia median of $1,579. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,488 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 $378,400, 1% below the Virginia median of $383,700. Median household income is $95,373, 2% above the Virginia median of $93,170, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 18.7% of that income.
Commuting in Chesapeake city, VA
Workers in Chesapeake city, VA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 25.8 minutes each way, 5% below the Virginia average of 27.3. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.3 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 13.1% of workers in Chesapeake city, VA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Office Clerks, General afford to live in Chesapeake city, VA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $44,630 that ceiling is $1,116 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,488 is $372 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $28.62 an hour; the median for Office Clerks, General is $21.46, which is 25% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $17.41 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 19.7 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,667 a month means $834 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $7,854 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $19,236.
How fast you can save
At $949 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 11 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 22 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Office Clerks, General pay in Chesapeake city, VA
What is the hourly wage for Office Clerks, General in Chesapeake city, VA?
The median is $21.46 per hour, based on $44,630 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $14.92 at the 10th percentile to $29.43 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Office Clerks, General in Chesapeake city, VA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $44,630 becomes $36,222 a year. That is $3,019 a month, $1,393 every two weeks or $697 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Office Clerks, General in Chesapeake city, VA?
Total taxes are $8,408 a year, an effective rate of 18.8%: $3,227 federal income tax, $3,414 FICA and $1,767 Virginia income tax.
Is pay for Office Clerks, General in Chesapeake city, VA above the Virginia average?
No. The local median of $44,630 is -6.5% versus the Virginia average of $47,748, a difference of $3,118 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Office Clerks, General salary in Chesapeake city, VA?
A one-bedroom costs $1,488 a month against take-home pay of $3,019, which is 49.3% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,116 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Office Clerks, General in Chesapeake city, VA?
About $949 a month ($11,382 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $24,840 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Chesapeake city, VA at the 30% guideline?
$28.62 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $17,856 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Office Clerks, General is $21.46.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC 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 Virginia 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.