Data Entry Keyers salary

SOC 43-9021 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$41,340

per year, nationally

Middle half

$35,760–$48,410

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

127,080

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

-25.9%

9,500 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$31,200$58,790

10th: $31,200
25th: $35,760
Median: $41,340
75th: $48,410
90th: $58,790

Getting in

Typical education to enter: High school diploma or equivalent
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: Short-term on-the-job training

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where data entry keyers earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	District of Columbia	$55,170	109.9	200	0.35×
2	New Mexico	$49,810	92.2	300	0.43×
3	North Dakota	$48,300	89.0	110	0.30×
4	Maine	$48,190	97.0	140	0.26×
5	Hawaii	$47,630	110.0	210	0.40×
6	Massachusetts	$47,560	105.8	1,590	0.54×
7	Washington	$47,480	107.0	1,360	0.47×
8	Utah	$47,180	98.9	2,140	1.51×
9	California	$47,010	110.7	14,520	0.98×
10	Wyoming	$45,870	92.7	140	0.63×
11	Rhode Island	$44,980	102.3	270	0.66×
12	New York	$44,860	107.9	9,470	1.20×
13	Minnesota	$44,280	98.6	1,360	0.57×
14	Colorado	$43,910	103.1	1,190	0.51×
15	Iowa	$43,640	87.8	1,180	0.93×
16	New Hampshire	$43,440	104.2	790	1.42×
17	Vermont	$43,280	98.0	290	1.15×
18	Arizona	$43,200	100.7	3,420	1.29×
19	Illinois	$42,840	100.0	5,910	1.18×
20	Idaho	$42,810	95.5	540	0.77×
21	New Jersey	$42,470	108.8	4,940	1.41×
22	Montana	$42,340	94.6	300	0.72×
23	Georgia	$41,270	96.3	3,410	0.85×
24	Alaska	$40,700	102.4	160	0.61×
25	Indiana	$40,550	93.3	2,370	0.91×
26	Tennessee	$40,490	91.9	2,360	0.88×
27	Ohio	$40,220	92.8	4,530	1.00×
28	North Carolina	$39,610	94.3	3,330	0.82×
29	Nebraska	$39,600	90.1	1,260	1.51×
30	Nevada	$39,260	100.0	800	0.63×
31	Maryland	$38,970	105.0	1,850	0.82×
32	Virginia	$38,900	101.1	2,890	0.86×
33	Florida	$38,880	103.4	7,650	0.94×
34	Texas	$38,880	97.1	17,850	1.55×
35	Pennsylvania	$38,810	97.6	5,270	1.06×
36	Oklahoma	$38,590	87.8	1,290	0.92×
37	Connecticut	$38,560	103.6	1,290	0.93×
38	Kansas	$38,290	90.1	1,210	1.03×
39	Wisconsin	$38,170	94.1	2,360	0.98×
40	Michigan	$38,080	96.2	3,290	0.91×
41	South Carolina	$38,070	93.7	1,490	0.79×
42	Delaware	$37,810	99.8	410	1.03×
43	Louisiana	$36,920	88.2	1,800	1.14×
44	Kentucky	$36,870	90.2	2,020	1.23×
45	West Virginia	$35,900	89.5	660	1.15×
46	Alabama	$35,130	88.8	1,060	0.61×
47	Mississippi	$34,540	87.0	530	0.55×
48	South Dakota	$34,320	88.6	30	0.09×
49	Arkansas	$33,860	86.9	1,000	0.94×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where data entry keyers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for data entry keyers

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$54,510	110.4	720	0.77×
2	Albuquerque, NM	$53,320	95.5	220	0.67×
3	Bismarck, ND	$53,140	91.0	30	0.57×
4	Bloomington, IN	$51,760	95.1	230	3.87×
5	Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA	$51,660	103.7	140	1.31×
6	New Haven, CT	$51,340	104.6	140	0.62×
7	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$51,250	115.6	1,410	0.73×
8	Boulder, CO	$49,920	105.2	90	0.60×
9	Helena, MT	$49,850	95.7	90	2.40×
10	Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC	$49,280	98.0	60	0.83×
11	Napa, CA	$48,880	112.6	60	0.93×
12	Portland-South Portland, ME	$48,410	101.9	60	0.24×
13	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$48,350	107.8	160	0.96×
14	Port St. Lucie, FL	$48,020	100.2	100	0.72×
15	Naples-Marco Island, FL	$47,800	103.2	140	1.00×
16	St. Cloud, MN	$47,730	87.6	50	0.61×
17	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$47,640	108.3	1,460	0.66×
18	Urban Honolulu, HI	$47,630	111.0	160	0.44×
19	Salt Lake City-Murray, UT	$47,560	100.9	1,580	2.33×
20	Bangor, ME	$47,530	96.5	30	0.52×
21	Twin Falls, ID	$47,170	92.1	40	0.97×
22	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$47,040	113.6	5,900	1.15×
23	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$47,000	111.1	760	0.45×
24	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$46,970	106.7	970	1.10×
25	Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL	$46,940	97.0	60	0.59×
26	Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA	$46,650	100.3	100	0.46×
27	Pittsfield, MA	$46,620	95.1	30	0.70×
28	Vallejo, CA	$46,400	108.5	60	0.50×
29	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$46,320	104.8	920	0.58×
30	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$46,210	106.4	1,130	0.80×
31	Worcester, MA	$46,040	102.5	150	0.53×
32	Jackson, MI	$45,970	91.8	30	0.72×
33	Yuma, AZ	$45,890	92.7	70	1.19×
34	La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN	$45,780	91.8	40	0.64×
35	Sierra Vista-Douglas, AZ	$45,780	89.2	50	1.84×
36	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$45,770	106.9	190	0.57×
37	Norwich-New London-Willimantic, CT	$45,760	100.4	50	0.53×
38	Oshkosh-Neenah, WI	$45,630	92.9	40	0.56×
39	Raleigh-Cary, NC	$45,620	98.2	520	0.86×
40	Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA	$45,520	87.1	60	0.81×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where data entry keyers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.

Office Clerks, General$45,010
Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks$49,230
Office and Administrative Support Workers, All Other$45,670
Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service$39,280
Word Processors and Typists$49,280
Office Machine Operators, Except Computer$40,960
Statistical Assistants$50,330
Proofreaders and Copy Markers$51,120