Office Clerks, General salary

SOC 43-9061 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$45,010

per year, nationally

Middle half

$36,350–$54,300

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

2.5M

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

-6.7%

282,400 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.

$30,310$64,680

10th: $30,310
25th: $36,350
Median: $45,010
75th: $54,300
90th: $64,680

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 office clerks, general 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	$55,040	109.9	5,670	0.51×
2	Colorado	$53,550	103.1	31,770	0.70×
3	Alaska	$51,890	102.4	3,440	0.67×
4	Washington	$50,500	107.0	49,050	0.87×
5	North Dakota	$50,160	89.0	8,440	1.24×
6	Massachusetts	$49,940	105.8	47,940	0.83×
7	Oregon	$49,910	103.4	27,980	0.90×
8	New Hampshire	$49,020	104.2	12,740	1.18×
9	New Jersey	$48,570	108.8	65,130	0.96×
10	California	$48,460	110.7	311,490	1.08×
11	Vermont	$48,310	98.0	5,100	1.06×
12	Connecticut	$48,280	103.6	23,190	0.86×
13	Minnesota	$47,840	98.6	55,530	1.19×
14	Rhode Island	$47,830	102.3	7,700	0.97×
15	Maryland	$47,270	105.0	27,290	0.62×
16	Montana	$46,480	94.6	10,390	1.28×
17	Arizona	$46,420	100.7	52,710	1.03×
18	Virginia	$46,410	101.1	66,550	1.02×
19	New York	$45,890	107.9	134,280	0.87×
20	Illinois	$45,730	100.0	95,980	0.99×
21	Nevada	$45,460	100.0	20,430	0.83×
22	Maine	$45,300	97.0	11,260	1.11×
23	Wisconsin	$44,980	94.1	51,440	1.10×
24	Pennsylvania	$44,950	97.6	107,500	1.12×
25	Idaho	$44,830	95.5	20,790	1.53×
26	Michigan	$44,820	96.2	88,030	1.26×
27	Indiana	$44,520	93.3	58,480	1.15×
28	Florida	$44,450	103.4	189,700	1.21×
29	Iowa	$44,310	87.8	23,120	0.94×
30	Utah	$44,060	98.9	36,470	1.33×
31	Ohio	$43,680	92.8	89,310	1.02×
32	Wyoming	$42,840	92.7	6,670	1.50×
33	Delaware	$42,740	99.8	7,230	0.94×
34	Missouri	$42,370	90.8	56,050	1.20×
35	Hawaii	$42,340	110.0	12,930	1.30×
36	North Carolina	$41,770	94.3	67,930	0.87×
37	Georgia	$40,590	96.3	75,390	0.97×
38	Texas	$39,000	97.1	218,470	0.98×
39	Tennessee	$38,860	91.9	49,880	0.96×
40	South Dakota	$38,560	88.6	1,720	0.24×
41	Kentucky	$37,870	90.2	29,750	0.94×
42	Nebraska	$37,820	90.1	10,000	0.62×
43	Oklahoma	$37,240	87.8	31,870	1.18×
44	New Mexico	$37,130	92.2	11,880	0.86×
45	Arkansas	$37,050	86.9	29,940	1.45×
46	South Carolina	$36,840	93.7	42,250	1.16×
47	West Virginia	$35,020	89.5	9,430	0.85×
48	Mississippi	$34,900	87.0	17,600	0.95×
49	Louisiana	$32,480	88.2	31,790	1.04×
50	Kansas	$32,370	90.1	2,130	0.09×
51	Alabama	$31,200	88.8	13,130	0.39×

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 office clerks, general wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for office clerks, general

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	Boulder, CO	$59,840	105.2	1,510	0.49×
2	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$58,840	110.4	13,470	0.75×
3	Greeley, CO	$56,030	100.2	1,570	0.83×
4	Fort Collins-Loveland, CO	$55,960	101.1	2,030	0.76×
5	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$55,620	108.8	3,630	1.14×
6	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$53,990	105.8	16,320	0.64×
7	Anchorage, AK	$53,550	105.4	1,920	0.69×
8	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$53,290	111.1	27,460	0.83×
9	Amherst Town-Northampton, MA	$52,190	100.2	1,400	1.35×
10	Napa, CA	$52,000	112.6	1,230	1.00×
11	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$52,000	115.6	37,590	1.00×
12	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$51,880	108.9	39,410	0.79×
13	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$51,780	107.8	3,350	1.03×
14	Grand Junction, CO	$51,680	95.5	890	0.84×
15	Bozeman, MT	$50,800	102.5	1,390	1.21×
16	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$50,710	108.3	34,480	0.80×
17	Pueblo, CO	$50,670	91.8	660	0.67×
18	Salem, OR	$50,650	103.6	3,160	1.06×
19	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$50,640	105.4	15,920	0.83×
20	Bismarck, ND	$50,400	91.0	1,470	1.30×
21	Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA	$50,170	102.4	720	0.86×
22	Minot, ND	$50,160	87.0	660	1.24×
23	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$49,920	111.9	28,470	1.17×
24	Colorado Springs, CO	$49,860	100.7	4,110	0.82×
25	Vallejo, CA	$49,780	108.5	2,530	1.11×
26	Barnstable Town, MA	$49,700	98.4	1,760	1.18×
27	Manchester-Nashua, NH	$49,570	105.7	3,400	1.08×
28	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$49,520	100.9	1,720	0.90×
29	Kennewick-Richland, WA	$49,470	100.1	1,930	0.94×
30	Bellingham, WA	$49,460	103.3	1,350	0.93×
31	Fairbanks-College, AK	$49,410	103.2	430	0.75×
32	Reno, NV	$49,230	101.0	3,550	0.81×
33	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$49,100	106.9	5,110	0.80×
34	Fargo, ND-MN	$49,060	90.9	2,590	1.10×
35	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$48,940	106.7	21,340	1.25×
36	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$48,820	105.6	1,180	0.79×
37	Rochester, MN	$48,810	90.8	1,690	0.87×
38	Champaign-Urbana, IL	$48,800	92.7	2,180	1.30×
39	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$48,790	104.8	35,610	1.15×
40	Carson City, NV	$48,750	98.1	510	1.01×

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 office clerks, general wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

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

Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks$49,230
Office and Administrative Support Workers, All Other$45,670
Data Entry Keyers$41,340
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