Office and administrative support
File clerk
File correspondence, cards, invoices, receipts, and other records in alphabetical or numerical order or according to the filing system used. Locate and remove material from file when requested.
Median pay
$43,600
Growth to 2035
−16%
declining
Openings a year
5,600
Time to qualify*
1 month
* From a bachelor's degree in an unrelated field.
Pay
File clerk
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
Exposure to disease
File clerk: 30% usually work over 40 hours a week
Core tasks
- 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.
- Sort or classify information according to guidelines, such as content, purpose, user criteria, or chronological, alphabetical, or numerical order.
- Scan or read incoming materials to determine how and where they should be classified or filed.
- Eliminate outdated or unnecessary materials, destroying them or transferring them to inactive storage, according to file maintenance guidelines or legal requirements.
Also called: Claims Clerk · Clerk · Clerk Typist · Documentation Specialist · File Clerk · Medical Records Clerk · Office Assistant · Police Records Clerk
Outlook and AI
File clerks held 76,200 jobs in 2025. BLS projects 64,200 by 2035 (−16%, declining; all jobs: +3.5%).
Occupational substitution - share decreases as continued adoption of digital records permits other occupations to file and retrieve records on their own.
Compare with
- File clerk vs. Data entry keyer
- File clerk vs. Medical records specialist
- File clerk vs. Office clerks, general
- File clerk vs. Correspondence clerk
- File clerk vs. Word processors and typists
- File clerk vs. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks
- File clerk vs. Administrative services manager
- File clerk vs. Billing and posting clerks
- File clerk vs. Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators
- File clerk vs. Payroll and timekeeping clerks