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File Clerks: Career Profile
File correspondence, cards, invoices, receipts, and other records in alphabetical or numerical order or according to the filing system used. Locate and remove material from file when requested.
What Do File Clerks Perform?
Typical responsibilities of file clerks include:
- Perform general office activities, such as typing, answering telephones, operating office machines, processing mail, or securing confidential materials.
- Keep records of materials filed or removed, using logbooks or computers and generate computerized reports.
- Gather materials to be filed from departments or employees.
- Find, retrieve, and make copies of information from files in response to requests and deliver information to authorized users.
- Add new material to file records or create new records as necessary.
- Sort or classify information according to guidelines, such as content, purpose, user criteria, or chronological, alphabetical, or numerical order.
- Scan or read incoming materials to determine how and where they should be classified or filed.
- Eliminate outdated or unnecessary materials, destroying them or transferring them to inactive storage, according to file maintenance guidelines or legal requirements.
Key Skills and Knowledge
Successful file clerks rely on a mix of skills and domain knowledge.
Key Skills
These are the skills most central to this role, rated on an importance scale of 0 to 5:
Top Knowledge Areas
Types of File Clerks Jobs
Common job titles for this role include:
- Admissions Clerk
- Blueprint Clerk
- Brand Recorder
- Card Filer
- Claims Clerk
- Classification Clerk
- Clerk
- Clerk Typist
Job Outlook
The U.S. employs around 787,455 file clerks working in the United States today. Demand is forecast to decline by -2.9% over the projection horizon.
File Clerks Pay
| Statistic | Value |
|---|---|
| Annual median | $28,086 |
| Hourly median | $13.50 |
| 10th percentile | $20,000 |
| 25th percentile | $22,160 |
| 75th percentile | $34,012 |
| 90th percentile | $39,939 |
Pay can vary substantially based on experience, location, and industry.
File Clerks Salary by State
| State | Annual median salary |
|---|---|
| District of Columbia | $57,560 |
| Oregon | $49,340 |
| Rhode Island | $48,440 |
| Washington | $47,100 |
| California | $46,920 |
| Massachusetts | $46,570 |
| Illinois | $46,320 |
| Hawaii | $46,250 |
| Minnesota | $45,310 |
| Iowa | $44,930 |
| Wisconsin | $44,650 |
| Maryland | $44,610 |
| New Jersey | $44,530 |
| Virginia | $44,290 |
| Alaska | $44,030 |
| North Carolina | $43,450 |
| New York | $43,060 |
| New Hampshire | $42,650 |
| Michigan | $42,640 |
| Ohio | $42,620 |
| Connecticut | $42,090 |
| Tennessee | $41,970 |
| North Dakota | $41,900 |
| Colorado | $41,520 |
| Arizona | $41,390 |
| Pennsylvania | $41,230 |
| Maine | $40,550 |
| Idaho | $40,340 |
| Vermont | $39,890 |
| Florida | $39,350 |
| Kansas | $39,070 |
| Oklahoma | $38,880 |
| South Carolina | $38,860 |
| Indiana | $38,790 |
| Nebraska | $38,700 |
| Utah | $38,670 |
| Nevada | $37,740 |
| Georgia | $37,520 |
| Texas | $37,400 |
| Delaware | $37,270 |
| Missouri | $37,230 |
| Arkansas | $36,870 |
| New Mexico | $36,860 |
| South Dakota | $36,360 |
| Montana | $36,160 |
| Alabama | $36,030 |
| West Virginia | $35,110 |
| Wyoming | $34,770 |
| Kentucky | $33,530 |
| Louisiana | $30,030 |
| Puerto Rico | $25,360 |
Where File Clerks Earn the Most
Compensation for file clerks shift depending on where you work. These regions lead on median pay:
| Region | Median annual wage | Share of U.S. jobs | Location quotient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Far Western US | $46,353 | 16.0% | 1.02 |
| New England | $44,144 | 2.3% | 0.50 |
| Great Lakes | $43,472 | 14.4% | 1.05 |
| Middle Atlantic | $43,355 | 13.6% | 0.94 |
| Plains States | $40,452 | 4.7% | 0.88 |
| Rocky Mountains | $39,771 | 4.2% | 1.23 |
| Southeast | $38,682 | 23.0% | 1.08 |
| Southwest | $38,015 | 21.3% | 1.71 |
Where the Jobs Cluster
| Metro area | State | Median annual wage | Employment |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | CA | $59,480 | 600 |
| Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA | CA | $58,780 | 60 |
| San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA | CA | $58,300 | 50 |
| Gainesville, FL | FL | $55,650 | 200 |
| Medford, OR | OR | $53,840 | 40 |
| Springfield, MA | MA | $53,520 | 60 |
| Modesto, CA | CA | $51,330 | 140 |
| Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA | OR | $50,920 | 430 |
Top Industries Employing File Clerks
The largest employers of file clerks are found across these industries:
| Industry | Employment | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services | 14,770 | $40,990 |
| Health Care and Social Assistance | 8,360 | $37,940 |
| Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services | 7,070 | $38,030 |
| Educational Services | 6,430 | $45,230 |
| Finance and Insurance | 6,050 | $41,130 |
| Retail Trade | 3,940 | $36,260 |
| Manufacturing | 2,870 | $46,980 |
| Transportation and Warehousing | 2,300 | $38,440 |
The table below shows some of the most common industries where those employed in this career field work.
Tech Stack
- Document management software: Adobe Acrobat (hot technology)
- Accounting software: Intuit QuickBooks (hot technology)
- Data base user interface and query software: Microsoft Access (hot technology)
- Spreadsheet software: Microsoft Excel (hot technology)
- Office suite software: Microsoft Office software (hot technology)
- Electronic mail software: Microsoft Outlook (hot technology)
- Presentation software: Microsoft PowerPoint (hot technology)
- Document management software: Microsoft SharePoint (hot technology)
- Operating system software: Microsoft Windows (hot technology)
- Word processing software: Microsoft Word (hot technology)
What the Workplace Is Like
The on-the-job environment of file clerks is shaped by the following characteristics:
- Telephone Conversations
- Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams
- Contact With Others
- Spend Time Sitting
Getting Started in This Career
Typical file clerks positions require an associate’s degree as the typical entry-level education. The role falls in Some Preparation Needed (Job Zone 2), reflecting the level of preparation typically expected.
Similar Occupations
Similar Occupations
- Management Analysts (Supplemental)
- Document Management Specialists (Supplemental)
- Title Examiners, Abstractors, and Searchers (Supplemental)
- Archivists (Supplemental)
- Court Reporters and Simultaneous Captioners (Supplemental)
- Medical Records Specialists (Primary-Short)
- Health Information Technologists and Medical Registrars (Supplemental)
- Billing and Posting Clerks (Primary-Long)
Sources
This profile draws on the following authoritative sources:
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) for employment and wage data by state and industry.
- BLS Employment Projections for total employment and growth forecasts.
- O*NET (Occupational Information Network) for skills, knowledge, tasks, work activities, work context, technology, and education-zone data.
SOC code: 43-4071.00 (File Clerks).
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