Career
Correspondence clerks
Answer letters and requests for information.
$46,800
Median pay
-5.6%
Job growth, 2025–35
500
Openings a year
High school diploma or equivalent
Typical education
None required
Typical time after high school
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Maintain files and control records to show correspondence activities.
- Read incoming correspondence to ascertain nature of writers' concerns and to determine disposition of correspondence.
- Gather records pertinent to specific problems, review them for completeness and accuracy, and attach records to correspondence as necessary.
- Prepare documents and correspondence, such as damage claims, credit and billing inquiries, invoices, and service complaints.
- Compile data from records to prepare periodic reports.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on information & systems, then persuasion & leadership?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Maintain files and control records to show correspondence activities.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Writing, Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Speaking.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
No degree beyond high school, though short-term on-the-job training is typical, for a median of $46,800 a year and 500 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- General Office Occupations and Clerical ServicesCIP 52.0408
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Office Clerks, General$45,010 · -6.0%
- File Clerks$43,600 · -15.8%
- Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive$47,540 · -6.0%
- Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants$55,570 · -5.2%
- Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks$50,670 · -5.6%
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
Not sure this fits who you are? Start with Vocational Finder →
Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.