Pay · 43-4071
File Clerks earn $43,600 a year at the midpoint
From about $31,200 at the low end to $63,490 at the top, with $43,600 in the middle — the 2025 survey, published as reported.
National figures for file clerks, 43-4071, from the 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.
- Read the spread, not the middle. The median is the midpoint across everyone in the occupation, most of them years into the work. A beginner starts nearer the 10th to 25th percentile, which is why the spread is published alongside it.
- What the figure counts. The figure counts base pay plus tips, commissions and production bonuses. It leaves out the self-employed, unpaid family workers, private household workers, and the value of benefits or profit sharing.
- The annual figure is arithmetic. For hourly occupations the annual figure is the hourly rate times 2080 hours. It is a calculation, not observed earnings: part time is the norm in retail and food service.
- Where you live moves it more than your resume does. National figures. A state or metro area can sit far from the national number, and that gap is usually larger than any difference a resume makes.
- Not in these numbers. Growth and annual openings are not in this dataset. They come from the separate Employment Projections tables, where an opening is a modelled ten year average and not a posted vacancy.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Retrieved through the BLS Public Data API on 2026-08-13. bls.gov/oes “BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.”
File clerk earnings, from starting pay to the best-paid 10%
Pick the job, where you work and how long you have done it. The range comes from the published wage percentiles for that job.
The survey has no complete figures for that job — pick the closest title from the list.
An estimate from survey percentiles, not an offer. Employer, industry, shift and credentials move pay within and beyond this range. Full wage page for this job →
File clerk wages across the states
The 48 states where the most people do this work, of 49 with a published figure: their medians range by 1.60 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.
| State | Median a year | Where most start | 10th to 90th | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oregon | $50,660 | $33,860 | $33,860 — $67,240 | 970 |
| Hawaii | $50,630 | $32,190 | $32,190 — $64,660 | 100 |
| Illinois | $49,920 | $32,120 | $32,120 — $73,040 | 3,780 |
| Alaska | $49,910 | $34,370 | $34,370 — $65,030 | 150 |
| California | $49,040 | $36,780 | $36,780 — $78,100 | 9,520 |
| Massachusetts | $48,310 | $37,430 | $37,430 — $70,210 | 600 |
| Vermont | $47,540 | $32,940 | $32,940 — $61,780 | 70 |
| Minnesota | $46,640 | $39,250 | $39,250 — $61,840 | 760 |
| Iowa | $46,560 | $33,390 | $33,390 — $63,480 | 430 |
| Colorado | $46,490 | $35,140 | $35,140 — $62,550 | 1,130 |
| Idaho | $45,910 | $29,600 | $29,600 — $50,460 | 540 |
| Washington | $45,830 | $36,410 | $36,410 — $63,670 | 520 |
| Wisconsin | $45,130 | $31,370 | $31,370 — $61,160 | 1,550 |
| Maryland | $44,920 | $35,950 | $35,950 — $60,530 | 880 |
| Connecticut | $44,810 | $34,010 | $34,010 — $68,190 | 350 |
| New Jersey | $44,400 | $33,370 | $33,370 — $65,100 | 2,310 |
| New Hampshire | $44,390 | $29,950 | $29,950 — $58,920 | 300 |
| New York | $44,340 | $34,270 | $34,270 — $59,770 | 2,590 |
| Nevada | $44,150 | $33,280 | $33,280 — $61,160 | 1,110 |
| Michigan | $43,950 | $31,750 | $31,750 — $61,900 | 1,820 |
| Maine | $43,910 | $37,430 | $37,430 — $51,860 | 210 |
| Arizona | $43,690 | $34,820 | $34,820 — $56,950 | 2,190 |
| North Carolina | $43,260 | $31,520 | $31,520 — $56,790 | 1,970 |
| Tennessee | $43,010 | $26,460 | $26,460 — $59,020 | 2,060 |
| Pennsylvania | $42,920 | $32,270 | $32,270 — $60,180 | 2,830 |
| North Dakota | $42,860 | $37,650 | $37,650 — $59,020 | 60 |
| Kansas | $42,130 | $31,940 | $31,940 — $56,430 | 570 |
| Florida | $41,750 | $31,010 | $31,010 — $56,550 | 6,180 |
| Utah | $41,450 | $31,240 | $31,240 — $53,160 | 510 |
| Georgia | $41,000 | $29,740 | $29,740 — $59,710 | 2,570 |
| Ohio | $40,650 | $27,190 | $27,190 — $57,410 | 1,820 |
| Nebraska | $40,640 | $30,300 | $30,300 — $55,050 | 750 |
| Delaware | $39,940 | $31,200 | $31,200 — $52,730 | — |
| Virginia | $39,900 | $31,200 | $31,200 — $56,970 | 2,110 |
| Indiana | $39,740 | $32,230 | $32,230 — $61,470 | 1,430 |
| Texas | $39,480 | $27,380 | $27,380 — $61,800 | 11,340 |
| South Carolina | $39,350 | $27,710 | $27,710 — $56,800 | 1,210 |
| Kentucky | $39,250 | $27,450 | $27,450 — $57,280 | 250 |
| Oklahoma | $39,170 | $27,980 | $27,980 — $57,990 | 1,440 |
| Arkansas | $38,470 | $28,230 | $28,230 — $53,150 | 310 |
| Missouri | $38,400 | $29,750 | $29,750 — $57,770 | 1,000 |
| Montana | $38,370 | $25,150 | $25,150 — $49,660 | 410 |
| Alabama | $38,290 | $30,320 | $30,320 — $61,930 | 110 |
| New Mexico | $37,700 | $25,700 | $25,700 — $52,130 | 340 |
| South Dakota | $36,640 | $31,930 | $31,930 — $37,900 | — |
| Rhode Island | $36,400 | $32,390 | $32,390 — $62,840 | — |
| Louisiana | $32,200 | $20,920 | $20,920 — $44,150 | 680 |
| West Virginia | $31,600 | $26,340 | $26,340 — $47,650 | 260 |
No estimate is published for 1 states: the survey withholds a figure when too few employers report it. Nothing has been filled in for them.
Examples
Resumes written for this kind of job.
Real sheets, filled in end to end — for this job and the ones beside it.
- File Clerk Resume Template Office & Administrative
- Eligibility Interviewer Resume Template Office & Administrative
- Hotel Front Desk Agent Resume Template Office & Administrative
- Customer Service Representative Resume Template Office & Administrative
- Credit Authorizer Resume Template Office & Administrative
- Court Clerk Resume Template Office & Administrative
- Interviewer Resume Template Office & Administrative
- Correspondence Clerk Resume Template Office & Administrative
- Library Assistant Resume Template Office & Administrative
- Brokerage Clerk Resume Template Office & Administrative
- Loan Processor Resume Template Office & Administrative
- New Accounts Clerk Resume Template Office & Administrative
Writing a resume for file clerks
Name the job in the builder and the duties, skills and credentials it is screened on are written in for you.
- Performed general office activities, such as typing, answering telephones, operating office machines, processing mail, or securing confidential materials.
- Kept records of materials filed or removed, using logbooks or computers and generated computerized reports.
- Gathered materials to be filed from departments or employees.
This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The owner of tiersi.com has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.
File clerk pay rate, from hourly to yearly
Starts at this job’s median. Change the rate or the hours; a full-time year is 40 hours for 52 weeks.
Number 650 of 788 by median pay
Better paid than 18% of the occupations in the survey.
- 648 Forest and Conservation Workers $43,680
- 649 Crematory Operators $43,650
- 650 File Clerks $43,600
- 651 Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operators and Tenders $43,530
- 652 Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing $43,380
Questions people ask
What is a file clerk’s yearly income?
A file clerk makes a median of $43,600 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $36,420 and $51,770.
What is a file clerk’s hourly pay rate?
The median pay rate is $20.96 an hour; the average is $45,590 a year.
What is the starting pay for a file clerk?
Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $36,420 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $31,200.
Which state pays file clerks the most?
Oregon, with a median of $50,660 a year.
How many people work as file clerks?
About 73,440 in the United States — number 650 of 788 occupations by median pay.
Work that pays roughly the same
Median pay within $230 of what file clerks earn — $43,600 a year — but not always the same spread.
- $70 less Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operators and Tenders $43,530median a year 10th percentile: $33,790 90th percentile: $58,570
- $220 less Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing $43,380median a year 10th percentile: $32,110 90th percentile: $56,830
- $230 less Gambling Surveillance Officers and Gambling Investigators $43,370median a year 10th percentile: $32,730 90th percentile: $61,970