In-house processor or contract processor?
The wage base
| Source | Figure | Basis | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| BLS OEWS, Loan Interviewers and Clerks (SOC 43-4131) | median $47,380 · mean $48,660 | national, all industries | May 2023 |
| ZipRecruiter | $40,000–$55,000 (25th–75th) · avg $50,903 | job postings | Aug 2026 |
| PayScale | avg $51,156 · $39,000–$65,000 | self-reported | Jun 2026 |
| Salary.com (Processor I) | avg $45,020 · $41,677–$48,216 | modeled | Aug 2026 |
| Glassdoor | avg total pay $72,510 | self-reported, includes bonus | Apr 2025 |
| Figures reproduced as published by each source on the date shown. | |||
These sources disagree — $45,000 to $73,000 — because they measure different things: base versus total compensation, job postings versus self-report. We're publishing the spread rather than picking the number that flatters us.
BLS discontinued static per-occupation OEWS pages after the May 2023 release, so that is the most recent citable BLS figure. It is dated May 2023 and we've said so.
The loaded multiplier
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, released 12 June 2026 (USDL-26-0827, reference period March 2026): for private industry workers, wages and salaries averaged 69.9% of total compensation ($32.60/hr) and benefits 30.1% ($14.01/hr).
That gives a fully-loaded multiplier of 1.43× base wages.
| Base salary | Fully loaded (× 1.43) |
|---|---|
| $40,000 (25th percentile) | $57,225 |
| $45,020 (Salary.com avg) | $64,406 |
| $47,380 (BLS median) | $67,783 |
| $51,156 (PayScale avg) | $73,185 |
| $55,000 (75th percentile) | $78,684 |
| Multiplier derived from BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, March 2026 reference period. | |
The number that decides it: throughput
This is the part no competitor publishes, and it's the crux of the comparison.
STRATMOR Group, drawing on MBA/STRATMOR Peer Group Roundtable data, benchmarks retail-channel processor productivity at 9.4 closed loans per month per FTE.
9.4 closed loans a month is about 113 closed loans a year, per processor.
| Fully loaded salary | ÷ 113 loans/yr | Cost per closed loan |
|---|---|---|
| $57,225 | $507 | |
| $67,783 (BLS median) | $601 | |
| $78,684 | $698 | |
| Throughput benchmark: STRATMOR Group, 9.4 closed loans per month per processor FTE. | ||
Against $950 per funded QM file ($1,150 Non-QM).
The STRATMOR source article references 2018 data. We've dated it rather than presenting it as current.
Where in-house genuinely wins
We'd rather you hear this from us than discover it later.
The break-even against $950 per funded QM file is 60 to 83 closed loans a year, depending on what you pay. Industry-benchmark throughput for one processor is about 113 — above that range. So if your volume is high and genuinely steady, an in-house processor beats $950 per funded QM file per file on the math alone. Contract processing wins when volume isn't steady: you stop paying the moment the files stop.
Some processors do exactly that. If you have one, keep them. A dedicated processor who sits in your office, knows which of your LOs over-promises, and answers on the first ring is worth something no vendor replicates.
Hire in-house when:
- volume is high and genuinely steady
- you have management capacity to train and supervise
- you want the processor inside your culture
- you can absorb 8–12 weeks of ramp
Where contract processing wins
- volume swings more than 30% between quarters
- you're between 50 and 200 files a year
- you're growing and don't want to hire ahead of revenue
- your current processor is at capacity and one more hire is too large a step
- you need coverage for PTO, leave or a departure
- you want cost to move with revenue instead of against it
The costs that don't appear in the salary line
Recruiting.
SHRM's most-cited average cost-per-hire is $4,129 (2016 benchmarking report), updated to 'nearly $4,700' in 2022. Both are dated; we're citing them as such.
Time to fill.
SHRM's 2026 recruiting benchmarking puts median time-to-fill at 39 calendar days for nonexecutive roles — before ramp.
Turnover.
The widely-quoted '50–200% of salary' replacement cost traces to HR industry commentary, not to a formal SHRM statistic. We're attributing it as an industry estimate rather than dressing it up as data.
Idle capacity.
The one that actually hurts. In a quarter where volume halves, the salary doesn't.
The hybrid — what most of our clients actually do
Keep the in-house processor. Send the overflow. The W-2 processor handles the files they know best; we take the spike, the unusual product, and the week they're on vacation. That's the arrangement that survives a bad quarter, and it's what we'd recommend to a brokerage doing 150+ steady files with one good processor already on staff.
$950 QM. $1,150 Non-QM.
per funded file
Billed only when the loan funds. No retainer, no minimum, no monthly fee.