Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service salary

SOC 43-9051 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$39,280

per year, nationally

Middle half

$35,470–$46,450

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

55,230

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

-6.6%

6,900 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.

$30,780$54,820

10th: $30,780
25th: $35,470
Median: $39,280
75th: $46,450
90th: $54,820

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 mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service 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	$49,240	109.9	310	1.25×
2	Massachusetts	$48,860	105.8	1,050	0.81×
3	Washington	$46,380	107.0	1,360	1.08×
4	Vermont	$45,380	98.0	120	1.09×
5	Utah	$45,150	98.9	460	0.75×
6	Minnesota	$44,840	98.6	1,170	1.11×
7	Maine	$44,780	97.0	160	0.72×
8	California	$44,410	110.7	4,710	0.73×
9	Connecticut	$43,970	103.6	680	1.12×
10	New Jersey	$43,700	108.8	2,210	1.45×
11	Oregon	$43,450	103.4	370	0.53×
12	Colorado	$43,430	103.1	880	0.86×
13	New York	$42,020	107.9	5,990	1.74×
14	New Hampshire	$41,060	104.2	280	1.15×
15	Nevada	$40,520	100.0	420	0.77×
16	Maryland	$40,280	105.0	1,580	1.61×
17	New Mexico	$40,080	92.2	100	0.32×
18	Nebraska	$40,080	90.1	240	0.66×
19	Idaho	$39,890	95.5	110	0.36×
20	Florida	$39,300	103.4	2,470	0.70×
21	Montana	$38,880	94.6	180	1.01×
22	Indiana	$38,490	93.3	1,310	1.16×
23	Texas	$38,470	97.1	3,250	0.65×
24	Ohio	$38,470	92.8	2,210	1.12×
25	Rhode Island	$38,330	102.3	310	1.74×
26	Hawaii	$38,270	110.0	200	0.88×
27	Arizona	$38,260	100.7	810	0.70×
28	Illinois	$38,190	100.0	3,150	1.46×
29	North Dakota	$38,120	89.0	110	0.71×
30	Missouri	$38,110	90.8	1,140	1.10×
31	Pennsylvania	$37,980	97.6	2,810	1.31×
32	Arkansas	$37,940	86.9	330	0.71×
33	Kentucky	$37,890	90.2	530	0.75×
34	North Carolina	$37,830	94.3	1,280	0.73×
35	Wisconsin	$37,730	94.1	1,310	1.25×
36	South Dakota	$37,580	88.6	320	1.97×
37	Michigan	$36,900	96.2	1,660	1.06×
38	South Carolina	$36,780	93.7	580	0.71×
39	Virginia	$36,780	101.1	1,610	1.10×
40	Oklahoma	$36,680	87.8	810	1.34×
41	Delaware	$36,450	99.8	630	3.68×
42	Alabama	$36,190	88.8	470	0.63×
43	Georgia	$36,110	96.3	1,850	1.06×
44	Kansas	$36,020	90.1	750	1.47×
45	Iowa	$35,610	87.8	830	1.50×
46	Tennessee	$35,610	91.9	760	0.65×
47	West Virginia	$35,140	89.5	270	1.07×
48	Louisiana	$34,860	88.2	590	0.86×
49	Mississippi	$34,350	87.0	270	0.65×
50	Wyoming	$32,940	92.7	90	0.95×

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 mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service

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	Springfield, MA	$51,490	96.1	60	0.80×
2	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$49,520	103.2	170	2.03×
3	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$49,270	111.1	910	1.22×
4	Duluth, MN-WI	$48,430	88.8	30	0.72×
5	Salem, OR	$48,420	103.6	70	0.99×
6	Salt Lake City-Murray, UT	$48,120	100.9	310	1.04×
7	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$48,050	110.4	330	0.81×
8	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$47,500	108.3	820	0.86×
9	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$47,430	115.6	620	0.74×
10	Provo-Orem-Lehi, UT	$47,050	98.2	60	0.52×
11	Mankato, MN	$47,050	91.0	40	1.85×
12	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$46,930	106.7	370	0.95×
13	Worcester, MA	$46,290	102.5	80	0.68×
14	Reno, NV	$46,230	101.0	40	0.41×
15	New Haven, CT	$45,710	104.6	80	0.77×
16	York-Hanover, PA	$45,390	96.0	80	1.25×
17	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$45,380	100.9	70	1.72×
18	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$44,840	104.8	880	1.26×
19	Portland-South Portland, ME	$44,800	101.9	100	0.99×
20	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$44,760	102.7	400	1.90×
21	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$44,580	106.9	100	0.73×
22	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$44,280	105.4	270	0.63×
23	St. Cloud, MN	$44,220	87.6	80	2.06×
24	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$44,220	112.6	5,150	1.53×
25	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$43,590	98.1	270	0.59×
26	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$43,540	113.6	1,800	0.81×
27	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$43,430	105.8	670	1.18×
28	Brownsville-Harlingen, TX	$43,240	86.0	40	0.66×
29	Iowa City, IA	$43,240	91.5	40	1.12×
30	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$43,180	111.9	400	0.73×
31	Jacksonville, FL	$43,080	99.5	170	0.64×
32	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$43,000	104.5	540	1.13×
33	Carson City, NV	$42,660	98.1	30	2.99×
34	Madison, WI	$42,340	97.3	150	1.04×
35	Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY	$42,320	99.6	490	3.08×
36	Colorado Springs, CO	$42,200	100.7	80	0.74×
37	Syracuse, NY	$42,150	95.7	170	1.63×
38	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$41,940	110.5	60	0.56×
39	Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN	$41,800	95.7	700	1.78×
40	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$41,760	108.9	1,540	1.38×

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 mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service 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
Data Entry Keyers$41,340
Word Processors and Typists$49,280
Office Machine Operators, Except Computer$40,960
Statistical Assistants$50,330
Proofreaders and Copy Markers$51,120

Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service salary

What the range looks like

Getting in

Where mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service earn the most

Best paying metro areas for mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service

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