Office and administrative support
Couriers and messengers
Pick up and deliver messages, documents, packages, and other items between offices or departments within an establishment or directly to other business concerns, traveling by foot, bicycle, motorcycle, automobile, or public conveyance.
Median pay
$39,200
Growth to 2035
+8%
faster than average
Openings a year
23,800
Time to qualify*
1 month
* From a bachelor's degree in an unrelated field.
Pay
Couriers and messengers
Getting in
- Typical entry education
- High school diploma or equivalent
- On-the-job training
- Short-term on-the-job training
- Prior experience
- None
What the work is like
Dealing with the public
Unpleasant or angry people
Time pressure
Cost of a mistake
Freedom to make decisions
Repeating the same tasks
Time sitting
Time standing
Outdoors in all weather
Hazardous conditions
Exposure to disease
Couriers and messengers: 1% usually work over 40 hours a week
Core tasks
- Deliver and pick up medical records, lab specimens, and medications to and from hospitals and other medical facilities.
- Walk, ride bicycles, drive vehicles, or use public conveyances to reach destinations to deliver messages or materials.
- Load vehicles with listed goods, ensuring goods are loaded correctly and taking precautions with hazardous goods.
- Receive messages or materials to be delivered, and information on recipients, such as names, addresses, telephone numbers, and delivery instructions, communicated via telephone, two-way radio, or in person.
- Deliver messages and items, such as newspapers, documents, and packages, between establishment departments and to other establishments and private homes.
- Record information, such as items received and delivered and recipients' responses to messages.
- Unload and sort items collected along delivery routes.
- Sort items to be delivered according to the delivery route.
Also called: Courier · Delivery Driver · Driver · Lab Courier (Laboratory Courier) · Mail Carrier · Mailroom Courier · Messenger · Security Messenger
Outlook and AI
Couriers and messengers held 228,900 jobs in 2025. BLS projects 247,100 by 2035 (+8%, faster than average; all jobs: +3.5%).
Compare with
- Couriers and messengers vs. Postal service mail carrier
- Couriers and messengers vs. Light truck driver
- Couriers and messengers vs. Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service
- Couriers and messengers vs. Postal service clerk
- Couriers and messengers vs. Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks
- Couriers and messengers vs. Driver/sales worker
- Couriers and messengers vs. Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators
- Couriers and messengers vs. Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance
- Couriers and messengers vs. Cargo and freight agents
- Couriers and messengers vs. Baggage porters and bellhops