Office and Administrative Support Occupations
BLS May 2025 wages Peer-group outlier SOC 43-4071

File Clerks

Median pay sits 25% below the mid peer in Office and Administrative Support Occupations (neighbors include Postal Service Mail Carriers, Cargo and Freight Agents, Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks, Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks).

Full salary details → About this data

Same-major-group titles next to File Clerks: Postal Service Mail Carriers ($61K) , Cargo and Freight Agents ($52K) , Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks ($60K) , Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks ($58K) . Hash-ordered per card so residual SOC siblings do not share an identical peer sentence.

What File Clerks publish as work

O*NET task statements for SOC 43-4071 - occupation-level descriptions, not every employer's posting. Sibling cards diverge here because the task set is entity-keyed.

  1. 1. Perform general office activities, such as typing, answering telephones, operating office machines, processing mail, or securing confiden…
  2. 2. Keep records of materials filed or removed, using logbooks or computers and generate computerized reports
  3. 3. Input data, such as file numbers, new or updated information, or document information codes into computer systems to support document and…
  4. 4. Gather materials to be filed from departments or employees
  5. 5. Complete general financial activities, such as processing accounts payable, reviewing invoices, collecting cash payments, or issuing rece…
  6. 6. Track materials removed from files to ensure that borrowed files are returned
  7. 7. Find, retrieve, and make copies of information from files in response to requests and deliver information to authorized users
  8. 8. Add new material to file records or create new records as necessary
  9. 9. Sort or classify information according to guidelines, such as content, purpose, user criteria, or chronological, alphabetical, or numeric…
  10. 10. Scan or read incoming materials to determine how and where they should be classified or filed
  11. 11. Eliminate outdated or unnecessary materials, destroying them or transferring them to inactive storage, according to file maintenance guid…
  12. 12. Answer questions about records or files

File Clerks: O*NET ranks Reading Comprehension first

Importance-ranked O*NET profile for SOC 43-4071 - lead skill Reading Comprehension at 3.9 ; lead knowledge Administrative. Sibling cards diverge here even when peer titles overlap.

Top skills

  1. 1. Reading Comprehension 3.9
  2. 2. Active Listening 3.4
  3. 3. Speaking 3.3
  4. 4. Writing 3.1
  5. 5. Monitoring 3.1
  6. 6. Service Orientation 3.1
  7. 7. Critical Thinking 3.0
  8. 8. Social Perceptiveness 3.0

Knowledge areas

  1. 1. Administrative 4.5
  2. 2. English Language 4.3
  3. 3. Customer and Personal Service 4.2
  4. 4. Law and Government 3.4
  5. 5. Computers and Electronics 3.3
  6. 6. Telecommunications 3.3
Pay vs Office and Administrative Support Occupations peers
-25%
vs mid peer median $58,260
This role $43,600/yr
$44K
National median
↓ -16%
Growth 2024-2034
7,300
Annual openings
73,440
Estimated US jobs
Postal Service Mail Carriers
Highest-pay peer · $61K

Typical Entry and Preparation Assignments

Entry education High school diploma or equivalent

Top Paying States for File Clerks

1. Massachusetts $48,310
2. Vermont $47,540
3. Colorado $46,490
4. Minnesota $46,640
5. Alaska $49,910
6. Iowa $46,560
7. Hawaii $50,630
8. Oregon $50,660
9. Illinois $49,920
10. California $49,040

Other Office and Administrative Support Occupations titles

  1. 1. Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks $59,650
  2. 2. Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks $58,260
  3. 3. Communications Equipment Operators, All Other $54,680
  4. 4. Postal Service Mail Carriers $60,550
  5. 5. Cargo and Freight Agents $52,260
  6. 6. Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators $58,470

Among Office and Administrative Support Occupations peers on this card, File Clerks sits 25% below the mid peer median ($58,260). Its own median is $43,600.

Employment Projections expect -16% change between 2024 and 2034 (declining vs baseline 3.1%). About 7,300 annual openings are projected. BLS assigns High school diploma or equivalent as typical education needed for entry. These are occupation-level assignments, not universal requirements. BLS does not publish a separate occupation-specific safety rate for this role; its broad SOC-group rate is excluded from this career card's grade.

Highest published state median in this ranking: Massachusetts at $48,310. The table records differences without proving causes. Highest-pay peer shown here: Postal Service Mail Carriers at $60,550. Compare the same statistic in the relevant local wage area before treating the national median as a personal benchmark; OEWS excludes employer benefits.

File Clerks pay-rank #43 in Office and Administrative Support Occupations

On the Office and Administrative Support Occupations median table (54 detailed occupations with OEWS medians), File Clerks lands at #43, in the lower third. That rank is a table position, not a statement about individual workers.

Other lower-third titles · closest medians

Full Salary Details Compare this role

Data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025. Projections from BLS Employment Projections program, 2024-2034.

SOC 43-4071 · national median $43,600 · lower third of Office and Administrative Support Occupations (#43/54). Open the full OEWS map or a named state before treating the card median as a local ask.

File Clerks salary map

State, metro, and percentile for SOC 43-4071

Massachusetts · top state for File Clerks

$48K published median

Vermont · #2 state pay

$48K · behind Massachusetts

Postal Service Mail Carriers

Highest-pay peer vs File Clerks · $61K

Cargo and Freight Agents

Lower-pay peer beside File Clerks · $52K

Compare File Clerks

Head-to-head OEWS medians with another SOC
Compare File Clerks with another occupation →

Peer-comparison next reads

Compare File Clerks

Against another occupation

Postal Service Mail Carriers card

Top peer in this major group

Frequently Asked Questions

Where does File Clerks land on the Office and Administrative Support Occupations median table? ▼
File Clerks is pay-rank #43 of 54 in this major group, lower third of the median table. Closest lower-third titles: Tellers ($43K), Reservation and Transportation Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks ($44K), Customer Service Representatives ($45K), Office Clerks, General ($45K). That position is a table rank, not a worker percentile.
What do file clerks do day to day? ▼
O*NET lists published task statements for File Clerks. Leading ones include: Perform general office activities, such as typing, answering telephones, operating office machines, processing mail, or securing confiden…; Keep records of materials filed or removed, using logbooks or computers and generate computerized reports; Input data, such as file numbers, new or updated information, or document information codes into computer systems to support document and…; Gather materials to be filed from departments or employees. These are occupation-level task descriptions, not every employer's job description.
Which O*NET skills rank highest for file clerks? ▼
For SOC 43-4071, O*NET importance scores lead with Reading Comprehension (3.9), Active Listening (3.4), Speaking (3.3), Writing (3.1). Knowledge areas emphasize Administrative, English Language, Customer and Personal Service. These are occupation-level profiles, not a hiring checklist for every employer.
What is the OEWS national median for File Clerks? ▼
May 2025 OEWS reports $43,600 as the national median for File Clerks. The published 10th-90th range is $31,200 to $63,490. Beside Postal Service Mail Carriers ($60,550), this is the occupation-level national figure, not a local offer.
What employment change does BLS publish for File Clerks? ▼
The 2024-2034 projection for File Clerks is -16%. Projected annual openings: about 7,300. Relative to the current all-occupations baseline of 3.1%: declining.
What typical entry education does BLS assign to File Clerks? ▼
BLS assigns High school diploma or equivalent as the typical-education-needed-for-entry category for File Clerks. These are occupation-level labels, not every employer's hiring rule.
Which three states show the highest OEWS medians for File Clerks? ▼
Massachusetts ($48,310), Vermont ($47,540), Colorado ($46,490) lead this ranking. The table does not identify why those state estimates differ.

Source data and WageDex calculations are identified in context on this page. Wage and state figures use BLS OEWS May 2025; growth and education use BLS Employment Projections for 2024-2034; safety fields cite BLS CFOI/SOII; task statements cite O*NET where shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.

Disclaimer: Wage and outlook figures on this page are provided for informational purposes only and do not constitute career, financial, or salary-negotiation advice. Actual pay varies by employer, experience, and local conditions; consult a career counselor or the hiring employer for guidance specific to your situation.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OES Occupational wage estimates by area and industry · 2025

Federal sources on this File Clerks card
  • BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS / OES) - national median and percentiles for SOC 43-4071. bls.gov/oes
  • O*NET OnLine - task and skill statements for File Clerks. onetcenter.org
  • BLS Employment Projections - 2024-2034 change and openings for this occupation. bls.gov/emp
  • U.S. Census Bureau ACS - demographic and labor-force context for state and metro geography. census.gov/programs-surveys/acs
  • IRS Statistics of Income (SOI) - payroll-tax aggregate context for wage comparisons. irs.gov/statistics