Vocational Index

Career

File clerks

Keep records organized and easy to find.

$43,600
Median pay
-15.8%
Job growth, 2025–35
5,600
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

  • 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.

The outlook

How the forecast changed this year

2024–34 edition-15.9%2025–35 edition-15.8%
Projected 10-year growth in last year's and this year's BLS projections. 7,300 → 5,600 openings a year.

The deeper question

What kind of person does this path ask you to become?

What this work centers on

Information & systems
7.0
Objects & tools
2.4
People & care
2.0
Persuasion & leadership
1.8
Ideas & analysis
1.3
Creation & expression
1.0

O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.

The work

Do you want most of your days spent on information & systems, then objects & tools?

Responsibility

Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?

“Perform general office activities, such as typing, answering telephones, operating office machines, processing mail, or securing confidential materials.”

Development

What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?

Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Speaking, Writing.

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 $43,600 a year and 5,600 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

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.

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Sources

  1. BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
  2. BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
  3. O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
  4. CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.