What an office clerk costs in the US
The wage BLS measured across 2,464,940 jobs, what an employer pays on top of it, the pay in every state, and which of the job's core tasks already show up in AI use.
Medians for the whole US. Your own cost depends on where you hire, the benefits you offer and the hours worked.
- Median wage
- $45,010
- Hourly wage
- $21.64
- Loaded per hour
- $26.95
- Middle half earns
- $36,350 to $54,300
- Jobs in the US
- 2,464,940
Wage × 1.2455 for benefits and payroll taxes, from BLS.
An office clerk in the US is paid a median $45,010 a year, $21.64 an hour, across 2,464,940 jobs. With benefits, a small employer pays about $56,060. Of its 10 core tasks, 7 showed up in Claude.ai conversations in May 2026, and in 5 of those Claude mostly did the task rather than assisting.
The work, task by task
The 10 core tasks O*NET lists for office clerks, general, most important first, and how each showed up in Claude.ai conversations in May 2026. The bar splits those conversations between Claude doing the task and Claude helping a person do it.
- 01Operate office machines, such as photocopiers and scanners, facsimile machines, voice mail systems, and personal computers.
- 02Answer telephones, direct calls, and take messages.
- 03Communicate with customers, employees, and other individuals to answer questions, disseminate or explain information, take orders, and address complaints.Claude.ai: 76% did the task, 24% helped · API: 97% did the task
- 04Maintain and update filing, inventory, mailing, and database systems, either manually or using a computer.Claude.ai: 73% did the task, 27% helped
- 05Compile, copy, sort, and file records of office activities, business transactions, and other activities.Claude.ai: 94% did the task, 6% helped · API: 98% did the task
- 06Review files, records, and other documents to obtain information to respond to requests.Claude.ai: 69% did the task, 31% helped · API: 93% did the task
- 07Open, sort, and route incoming mail, answer correspondence, and prepare outgoing mail.
- 08Compute, record, and proofread data and other information, such as records or reports.Claude.ai: 46% did the task, 54% helped · API: 87% did the task
- 09Complete work schedules, manage calendars, and arrange appointments.Claude.ai: 82% did the task, 18% helped · API: 94% did the task
- 10Type, format, proofread, and edit correspondence and other documents, from notes or dictating machines, using computers or typewriters.Claude.ai: 38% did the task, 62% helped
7 of 10 tasks appear in the Claude.ai sample of the Anthropic Economic Index for May 2026. A task without a row had too few conversations for Anthropic to publish, which is not the same as none. Shares are of all sampled Claude.ai conversations, so small figures are normal: 0.76% of every conversation that month was about this occupation.
Pay by state
The median annual wage in each state and DC, and the same wage fully loaded. District of Columbia pays the most, $55,040; Alabama the least, $31,200.
| State | Median wage | Fully loaded | Middle half | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $31,200 | $38,860 | $25,240 to $38,020 | 13,130 |
| Alaska | $51,890 | $64,630 | $43,320 to $62,610 | 3,440 |
| Arizona | $46,420 | $57,820 | $38,230 to $55,950 | 52,710 |
| Arkansas | $37,050 | $46,150 | $30,580 to $45,560 | 29,940 |
| California | $48,460 | $60,360 | $40,430 to $60,110 | 311,490 |
| Colorado | $53,550 | $66,700 | $46,340 to $65,100 | 31,770 |
| Connecticut | $48,280 | $60,130 | $40,630 to $58,410 | 23,190 |
| Delaware | $42,740 | $53,230 | $33,840 to $51,680 | 7,230 |
| District of Columbia | $55,040 | $68,550 | $46,530 to $65,570 | 5,670 |
| Florida | $44,450 | $55,360 | $36,070 to $53,950 | 189,700 |
| Georgia | $40,590 | $50,550 | $34,460 to $48,680 | 75,390 |
| Hawaii | $42,340 | $52,730 | $36,600 to $50,840 | 12,930 |
| Idaho | $44,830 | $55,840 | $36,910 to $51,390 | 20,790 |
| Illinois | $45,730 | $56,960 | $37,060 to $55,260 | 95,980 |
| Indiana | $44,520 | $55,450 | $36,010 to $52,310 | 58,480 |
| Iowa | $44,310 | $55,190 | $36,180 to $51,830 | 23,120 |
| Kansas | $32,370 | $40,320 | $22,570 to $49,480 | 2,130 |
| Kentucky | $37,870 | $47,170 | $30,430 to $46,760 | 29,750 |
| Louisiana | $32,480 | $40,450 | $25,400 to $39,500 | 31,790 |
| Maine | $45,300 | $56,420 | $38,950 to $50,500 | 11,260 |
| Maryland | $47,270 | $58,870 | $38,580 to $59,330 | 27,290 |
| Massachusetts | $49,940 | $62,200 | $42,350 to $60,150 | 47,940 |
| Michigan | $44,820 | $55,820 | $36,490 to $52,920 | 88,030 |
| Minnesota | $47,840 | $59,580 | $40,080 to $57,720 | 55,530 |
| Mississippi | $34,900 | $43,470 | $27,520 to $42,800 | 17,600 |
| Missouri | $42,370 | $52,770 | $35,190 to $50,940 | 56,050 |
| Montana | $46,480 | $57,890 | $38,630 to $57,150 | 10,390 |
| Nebraska | $37,820 | $47,100 | $32,170 to $45,740 | 10,000 |
| Nevada | $45,460 | $56,620 | $36,780 to $55,280 | 20,430 |
| New Hampshire | $49,020 | $61,050 | $40,060 to $59,650 | 12,740 |
| New Jersey | $48,570 | $60,490 | $39,510 to $59,190 | 65,130 |
| New Mexico | $37,130 | $46,250 | $31,820 to $43,920 | 11,880 |
| New York | $45,890 | $57,160 | $36,840 to $54,280 | 134,280 |
| North Carolina | $41,770 | $52,020 | $34,520 to $49,900 | 67,930 |
| North Dakota | $50,160 | $62,470 | $42,680 to $62,100 | 8,440 |
| Ohio | $43,680 | $54,400 | $34,910 to $52,000 | 89,310 |
| Oklahoma | $37,240 | $46,380 | $29,750 to $46,680 | 31,870 |
| Oregon | $49,910 | $62,160 | $42,340 to $58,790 | 27,980 |
| Pennsylvania | $44,950 | $55,990 | $36,910 to $52,690 | 107,500 |
| Rhode Island | $47,830 | $59,570 | $39,670 to $58,930 | 7,700 |
| South Carolina | $36,840 | $45,880 | $28,900 to $45,620 | 42,250 |
| South Dakota | $38,560 | $48,030 | $31,380 to $45,110 | 1,720 |
| Tennessee | $38,860 | $48,400 | $32,130 to $47,750 | 49,880 |
| Texas | $39,000 | $48,570 | $30,750 to $48,720 | 218,470 |
| Utah | $44,060 | $54,880 | $35,500 to $53,660 | 36,470 |
| Vermont | $48,310 | $60,170 | $41,720 to $55,990 | 5,100 |
| Virginia | $46,410 | $57,800 | $37,600 to $56,780 | 66,550 |
| Washington | $50,500 | $62,900 | $44,700 to $61,320 | 49,050 |
| West Virginia | $35,020 | $43,620 | $28,800 to $42,770 | 9,430 |
| Wisconsin | $44,980 | $56,020 | $36,730 to $51,580 | 51,440 |
| Wyoming | $42,840 | $53,360 | $35,610 to $52,710 | 6,670 |
The same benefits ratio applies in every state, because BLS does not publish benefit costs by business size for each state. The middle half is the 25th to 75th percentile wage.
Where the numbers come from
Every figure is copied from a public file. The only arithmetic is the loaded cost: the wage times 1.2455.
- Wages
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, occupation 43-9061 (Office Clerks, General). Annual figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours, as BLS computes them, so they already include pay for paid leave.
- Fully loaded
- BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026 (2026 Q2), private businesses with 1 to 49 workers: $37.64 an hour in total compensation over $27.88 in wages plus $2.34 in paid leave gives 1.2455. Paid leave sits in the denominator because the annual wage already pays it.
- Tasks
- O*NET 31.0 core tasks for 43-9061.00, the ten most important by their importance rating. A few occupations list fewer core tasks.
- AI use
- Anthropic Economic Index, release of June 2026, conversations from May 2026. "Did the task" is Anthropic's automation share, where the user directs Claude to do the work; "helped" is augmentation, where the user works with Claude to learn, check or iterate.
- Not measured
- What a particular business pays, and whether an AI system can do a task well. The AI figures count conversations about a task, not jobs replaced.
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. AI use data from the Anthropic Economic Index by Anthropic, under CC BY. Wage and benefit data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
What would an AI system cost for this work?
Put $56,060 beside the running cost of a system doing the tasks above, with the build counted in year one.
BLS wages May 2025 · O*NET 31.0 · Anthropic Economic Index