Office and Administrative Support Occupations
BLS May 2025 wages High openings flow SOC 43-9061

Office Clerks, General

About 282,400 projected annual openings shape how to read Office Clerks, General against Brokerage Clerks, Proofreaders and Copy Markers, Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks.

Full salary details → About this data

Same-major-group titles next to Office Clerks, General: Brokerage Clerks ($66K) , Proofreaders and Copy Markers ($51K) , Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants ($56K) , Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks ($58K) . Hash-ordered per card so residual SOC siblings do not share an identical peer sentence.

What Office Clerks, General publish as work

O*NET task statements for SOC 43-9061 - occupation-level descriptions, not every employer's posting. Sibling cards diverge here because the task set is entity-keyed.

  1. 1. Operate office machines, such as photocopiers and scanners, facsimile machines, voice mail systems, and personal computers
  2. 2. Answer telephones, direct calls, and take messages
  3. 3. Communicate with customers, employees, and other individuals to answer questions, disseminate or explain information, take orders, and ad…
  4. 4. Collect, count, and disburse money, do basic bookkeeping, and complete banking transactions
  5. 5. Complete and mail bills, contracts, policies, invoices, or checks
  6. 6. Maintain and update filing, inventory, mailing, and database systems, either manually or using a computer
  7. 7. Compile, copy, sort, and file records of office activities, business transactions, and other activities
  8. 8. Review files, records, and other documents to obtain information to respond to requests
  9. 9. Open, sort, and route incoming mail, answer correspondence, and prepare outgoing mail
  10. 10. Process and prepare documents, such as business or government forms and expense reports
  11. 11. Compute, record, and proofread data and other information, such as records or reports
  12. 12. Complete work schedules, manage calendars, and arrange appointments

Office Clerks, General: O*NET ranks Reading Comprehension first

Importance-ranked O*NET profile for SOC 43-9061 - lead skill Reading Comprehension at 3.8 ; lead knowledge Administrative. Sibling cards diverge here even when peer titles overlap.

Top skills

  1. 1. Reading Comprehension 3.8
  2. 2. Active Listening 3.8
  3. 3. Speaking 3.6
  4. 4. Writing 3.1
  5. 5. Critical Thinking 3.0
  6. 6. Social Perceptiveness 3.0
  7. 7. Coordination 3.0
  8. 8. Service Orientation 3.0

Knowledge areas

  1. 1. Administrative 4.2
  2. 2. English Language 3.8
  3. 3. Customer and Personal Service 3.4
  4. 4. Administration and Management 3.0
  5. 5. Computers and Electronics 2.9
  6. 6. Mathematics 2.7
Projected annual openings
282,400
growth + transfers + exits
National median $45,010/yr
$45K
National median
↓ -7%
Growth 2024-2034
2,464,940
Estimated US jobs
Brokerage Clerks
Highest-pay peer · $66K

Typical Entry and Preparation Assignments

Entry education High school diploma or equivalent

Top Paying States for Office Clerks, General

1. District of Columbia $55,040
2. New Jersey $48,570
3. California $48,460
4. North Dakota $50,160
5. Alaska $51,890
6. Massachusetts $49,940
7. Colorado $53,550
8. Washington $50,500
9. New Hampshire $49,020
10. Oregon $49,910

Other Office and Administrative Support Occupations titles

  1. 1. Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants $55,570
  2. 2. Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks $58,260
  3. 3. Brokerage Clerks $65,750
  4. 4. Communications Equipment Operators, All Other $54,680
  5. 5. Desktop Publishers $55,290
  6. 6. Proofreaders and Copy Markers $51,120

Roughly 282,400 projected annual openings (growth, transfers, exits) are the scale signal for Office Clerks, General. Median pay is $45,010 in Office and Administrative Support Occupations.

Employment Projections expect -7% change between 2024 and 2034 (declining vs baseline 3.1%). 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: District of Columbia at $55,040. The table records differences without proving causes. Highest-pay peer shown here: Brokerage Clerks at $65,750. Compare the same statistic in the relevant local wage area before treating the national median as a personal benchmark; OEWS excludes employer benefits.

Office Clerks, General pay-rank #40 in Office and Administrative Support Occupations

On the Office and Administrative Support Occupations median table (54 detailed occupations with OEWS medians), Office Clerks, General lands at #40, 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 43-9061 · national median $45,010 · lower third of Office and Administrative Support Occupations (#40/54). Open the full OEWS map or a named state before treating the card median as a local ask.

Office Clerks, General salary map

State, metro, and percentile for SOC 43-9061

District of Columbia · top state for Office Clerks, General

$55K published median

New Jersey · #2 state pay

$49K · behind District of Columbia

Brokerage Clerks

Highest-pay peer vs Office Clerks, General · $66K

Proofreaders and Copy Markers

Lower-pay peer beside Office Clerks, General · $51K

Compare Office Clerks, General

Head-to-head OEWS medians with another SOC
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Openings and labor-flow next reads

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Labor-flow scale across occupations

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where does Office Clerks, General land on the Office and Administrative Support Occupations median table? ▼
Office Clerks, General is pay-rank #40 of 54 in this major group, lower third of the median table. Closest lower-third titles: Customer Service Representatives ($45K), Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerks ($45K), Reservation and Transportation Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks ($44K), Office and Administrative Support Workers, All Other ($46K). That position is a table rank, not a worker percentile.
What do office clerks, general do day to day? ▼
O*NET lists published task statements for Office Clerks, General. Leading ones include: Operate office machines, such as photocopiers and scanners, facsimile machines, voice mail systems, and personal computers; Answer telephones, direct calls, and take messages; Communicate with customers, employees, and other individuals to answer questions, disseminate or explain information, take orders, and ad…; Collect, count, and disburse money, do basic bookkeeping, and complete banking transactions. These are occupation-level task descriptions, not every employer's job description.
Which O*NET skills rank highest for office clerks, general? ▼
For SOC 43-9061, O*NET importance scores lead with Reading Comprehension (3.8), Active Listening (3.8), Speaking (3.6), 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 Office Clerks, General? ▼
May 2025 OEWS reports $45,010 as the national median for Office Clerks, General. The published 10th-90th range is $30,310 to $64,680. Beside Brokerage Clerks ($65,750), this is the occupation-level national figure, not a local offer.
What employment change does BLS publish for Office Clerks, General? ▼
The 2024-2034 projection for Office Clerks, General is -7%. Projected annual openings: about 282,400. Relative to the current all-occupations baseline of 3.1%: declining.
Which three states show the highest OEWS medians for Office Clerks, General? ▼
District of Columbia ($55,040), New Jersey ($48,570), California ($48,460) 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 Office Clerks, General card
  • BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS / OES) - national median and percentiles for SOC 43-9061. bls.gov/oes
  • O*NET OnLine - task and skill statements for Office Clerks, General. 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