File Clerks: Salary, Job Outlook & How to Become One (2026 Parent Guide)

File Clerks fall under the Office and Administrative Support category in the U.S. occupational classification. File Clerks earn a median salary of $43,600 per year, ranking in the top 83% of all U.S. occupations. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects -15.8% job growth through 2035, projected to lose jobs through 2035. Entry into this field typically requires a high school diploma plus on-the-job training, certifications, or postsecondary credentials, with specific licensing or certification depending on the state and employer. For parents whose teenager is exploring this path, the most actionable step is mapping the education requirements to specific colleges and majors before junior year — not waiting until application season.

What do file clerks earn?

The median annual wage for file clerks is $43,600. That puts file clerks at #683 on the BLS ranked list of all U.S. occupations by median pay. This salary is around or below the U.S. median for individual workers, so career growth often depends on advancement into supervisory roles, specialization, or additional credentials. Actual pay varies meaningfully by state, employer type, and years of experience — entry-level salaries are typically 30–40% below the median, while top-decile earners often exceed it by 50% or more.

Is file clerks a growing career?

The 10-year outlook for file clerks is -15.8%, projected to lose jobs through 2035. Employment is projected to move from approximately 76K positions in 2024 to 64K in 2034, a net change of <1K. A declining outlook does not mean the field is disappearing; it means automation, demographics, or substitution effects are shrinking the pool of openings. Students entering a declining field should plan for adjacent skills that transfer to growing roles.

What do file clerks do every day?

According to O*NET task surveys of working file clerks, these are the core responsibilities most professionals perform. This is what your teen would actually be doing in this role.

1. 1.Sort or classify information according to guidelines, such as content, purpose, user criteria, or chronological, alphabetical, or numerical order.
2. 2.Eliminate outdated or unnecessary materials, destroying them or transferring them to inactive storage, according to file maintenance guidelines or legal requirements.
3. 3.Gather materials to be filed from departments or employees.
4. 4.Scan or read incoming materials to determine how and where they should be classified or filed.
5. 5.Place materials into storage receptacles, such as file cabinets, boxes, bins, or drawers, according to classification and identification information.
6. 6.Modify or improve filing systems or implement new filing systems.
7. 7.Find, retrieve, and make copies of information from files in response to requests and deliver information to authorized users.
8. 8.Add new material to file records or create new records as necessary.

Top skills for file clerks

O*NET ranks these as the most important skills for this occupation, on a 1–5 importance scale derived from worker surveys.

What education does my child need to become file clerk?

Many file clerks enter the field with a high school diploma plus on-the-job training, though employers increasingly favor candidates with certifications or some postsecondary coursework. For parents helping a teen prepare, the highest-leverage step before junior year is identifying colleges and programs that feed reliably into this occupation — Solyo's college search lets parents filter by major and admissions data side by side.

Related careers your child might also consider

• Tellers
  $43,030 median
• Telephone Operators
  $41,740 median
• Data Entry Keyers
  $41,340 median
• Office Machine Operators, Except Computer
  $40,960 median
• Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service
  $39,280 median
• Couriers and Messengers
  $39,200 median

Common questions parents ask about file clerks