Office Clerk Hourly Pay, Skills & Requirements (2026)
Advertised pay, starting pay, skills and experience from 8,223 US job postings by 1,753 employers. Data as of October 2026.
What US employers post for office clerks: advertised pay, the skills and experience they ask for, and the job titles they use, from 8,223 open job postings (October 2026).
- The median advertised pay for office clerks in US job postings is $20.73 an hour (1,404 postings from 421 employers, October 2026).
- The middle half of those postings offer $17.75 to $24.50 an hour.
- Postings that ask for up to 1 year of experience advertise a median of $21.50 an hour (293 postings).
- The skills that most set office clerk postings apart are attention to detail, Microsoft Office, Excel.
- Postings that state a minimum ask for a median of 2 years of experience.
Office Clerk job postings in the US, October 2026
- $20.73/hr
- Median advertised pay (1,404 postings)
- $17.75–$24.50
- Middle 50% of postings
- $21.50/hr
- Starting pay (postings asking up to 1 year)
- 8,223
- US job postings from 1,753 employers
How much does an office clerk make an hour?
The median advertised pay is $20.73 an hour, from 1,404 US job postings by 421 employers that state pay. That is about $45,000 a year at 2,080 hours.
Advertised pay in 1,404 US office clerk job postings: median $45,000 a year ($20.73 an hour), middle half $37,000 to $59,000.
- Median: $45,000 ($20.73/hr)
- 25th percentile: $37,000
- 75th percentile: $59,000
The figures as a table
| Annual pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| $10K–$20K | 0.1% |
| $20K–$30K | 6.9% |
| $30K–$40K | 27.5% |
| $40K–$50K | 28.3% |
| $50K–$60K | 13.2% |
| $60K–$70K | 11.4% |
| $70K–$80K | 2.1% |
| $80K–$90K | 2.3% |
| $90K–$100K | 1.8% |
| $100K–$110K | 0.9% |
| $110K–$120K | 1.2% |
| $120K–$130K | 0.4% |
| $130K–$140K | 0.9% |
| $140K–$150K | 0.2% |
| $150K–$160K | 0.1% |
| $170K–$180K | 0.2% |
| $230K–$240K | 2.2% |
Midpoint of each posting's pay range, hourly pay × 2,080 hours; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
| Median | Middle 50% | Postings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postings that state an hourly rate | $20.73 | $17.75–$24.50 | 857 |
| All pay postings, annualised | $45,000 | $37K–$59K | 1,404 |
What is the starting salary for an office clerk?
Postings that ask for up to 1 year of experience advertise a median of $21.50 an hour (293 postings).
| Experience asked | Median advertised pay | Postings |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1 years | $21.50/hr | 293 |
| 2-4 years | withheld | 178 |
| 5+ years | withheld | 33 |
Highest-paying office clerk jobs
Specializations with at least 250 postings that state pay.
| Specialization | Median pay | Postings with pay | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data Entry Clerk | $22.50/hr | 615 | 125 |
Office clerk pay by state
Single-location US postings; states with at least 100 postings that state pay. States with pay-transparency laws (such as California, Colorado, New York and Washington) are over-represented among postings that state pay.
| State | Median pay | Middle 50% | Postings with pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | $24.50/hr | $21.90–$33.50 | 218 | 15.1% |
| New York | $23.00/hr | $19.68–$29.94 | 120 | 8.8% |
| Texas | $22.00/hr | $16.76–$30.00 | 128 | 11.8% |
Skills employers ask for in office clerk job postings
| Skill | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Attention to detail | 37% |
| Communication | 35% |
| Organizational skills | 29% |
| Excel | 29% |
| Microsoft Office | 28% |
| Work independently | 18% |
| Word | 16% |
| Customer service | 16% |
| Outlook | 12% |
| Time management | 12% |
Skills named in the posting text; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026. Methodology.
Skills that set office clerks apart
- Microsoft Office3.2× as often as in all postings · 28%
- Data entry23.5× as often as in all postings · 8%
- Accuracy6.6× as often as in all postings · 9%
- Detail-oriented3.1× as often as in all postings · 9%
- Meet deadlines4.7× as often as in all postings · 6%
- Multi-task3.3× as often as in all postings · 8%
Skills named in at least 5% of these postings and at least 3 times as often as in job postings overall.
Have a office clerk job posting in front of you? See which of its skills your resume is missing.
What does an office clerk do?
Employers post these jobs as Data Entry Clerk, Data Entry, Data Entry Specialist, Title Clerk, Document Control Specialist and other titles. The largest specializations are Data Entry Clerk (53%), Clerk (11%), Document Controller (7%), Records Clerk (4%), Title Clerk (4%), Mail Clerk (4%), Remote Data Entry Clerk (12%).
The closest official occupation is Office Clerks, General (43-9061.00). Its most important tasks:
- 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 address complaints.
- Maintain and update filing, inventory, mailing, and database systems, either manually or using a computer.
- Compile, copy, sort, and file records of office activities, business transactions, and other activities.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (CC BY 4.0).
How much experience do you need to be an office clerk?
Among 1,190 postings that state a minimum, the median is 2 years. 4% say 0 years and 49% ask for 1 year or less.
Minimum experience asked in 1,190 US office clerk job postings: median 2 years, and 49% ask for 1 year or less.
The figures as a table
| Minimum experience asked | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| 0 yr | 6% |
| 1 yr | 43% |
| 2 yrs | 27% |
| 3-4 yrs | 17% |
| 5-7 yrs | 6% |
| 8-9 yrs | under 1% |
| 10+ yrs | under 1% |
Postings that state a minimum (required or preferred); at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
We do not show a degree figure: in our checks, degree requirements in posting text were found too rarely to publish one. Why.
Full-time 64%, Part-time 36% of the 699 postings that state working hours.
Other names for an office clerk: job titles employers use
| Job title | Employers using it |
|---|---|
| Data Entry Clerk | 170 (9.7%) |
| Data Entry | 147 (8.4%) |
| Office Clerk | 124 (7.1%) |
| Data Entry Specialist | 97 (5.5%) |
| Title Clerk | 97 (5.5%) |
| Document Control Specialist | 94 (5.4%) |
| Administrative Clerk | 86 (4.9%) |
| Data Entry Operator | 63 (3.6%) |
| Clerical Assistant | 61 (3.5%) |
| Records Specialist | 53 (3.0%) |
| File Clerk | 45 (2.6%) |
| Mailroom Clerk | 42 (2.4%) |
| Mail Clerk | 42 (2.4%) |
| Substitute Clerical | 41 (2.3%) |
| Automotive Title Clerk | 41 (2.3%) |
| Document Controller | 36 (2.1%) |
| Data Entry Assistant | 35 (2.0%) |
| Remote Data Entry Clerk | 34 (1.9%) |
| Documentation Specialist | 31 (1.8%) |
| Data Entry Associate | 30 (1.7%) |
Titles read in our audit and used by at least 3 employers.
Office clerk job titles compared
The titles people search for most, from the US job postings that use each exact title (October 2026).
| Job title | Open postings | Employers | Median pay | Median experience | Skills named most |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Entry Clerk | 748 | 170 | – | – | attention to detail, communication, Excel |
| Data Entry Specialist | 271 | 97 | – | – | organizational skills, attention to detail, Excel |
| Title Clerk | 134 | 97 | – | – | – |
Office Clerk compared with similar careers
| Career | Median pay | Median experience | Postings | Shares N of top 25 skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office Clerk | $20.73/hr | 2 years | 8,223 | – |
| Administrative Assistant | $21.50/hr | 2 years | 14,117 | 20 |
| Dispatcher | $22.21/hr | 2 years | 4,190 | 16 |
| Customer Service Representative | $19.00/hr | 1 year | 33,817 | 19 |
| Loan Processor | $57K | 2 years | 1,339 | 21 |
Similar careers
| Career | Shares N of the top 25 skills | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Administrative Assistant | 20 | $21.50/hr |
| Dispatcher | 16 | $22.21/hr |
| Customer Service Representative | 19 | $19.00/hr |
| Loan Processor | 21 | $57K |
| Office Manager | 19 | $23.31/hr |
| Paralegal | 19 | $78K |
Applying for office clerk jobs?
- Office clerk resume examples: one-page examples for these roles
- Match your resume to a job: paste a posting and see the skills your resume is missing
- Check your resume: see how an applicant tracking system reads it
- Find office clerk jobs: search open postings
Source and method
Open US job postings collected from employers' applicant tracking systems, de-duplicated, counted only when their job title was read in our audit. Shares count at most 20 postings per employer, and franchise locations of one brand count as one employer. Pay uses hourly and annual figures only; a figure is shown when leaving out the largest employer moves it by 10% or less. Every figure states its number of postings. Methodology and measured accuracy.
Accuracy check: we read 20 randomly chosen postings counted on this page in full; 20 of them were this career or a closely related one (October 2026).
Download the figures on this page (CSV): every number above with its count of postings. Aggregate figures are licensed CC BY 4.0; cite the page when you reuse them.