Occupation / job
New Accounts Clerks
Median annual pay. Half earn less than this.
Hourly at a standard 2,080-hour year. We do not yet have unpaid-time or cost data for this, so this is not an adjusted figure.
The middle half. A quarter earn below this range.
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 · view
What this figure cannot tell you
It covers people EMPLOYED in this occupation. Anyone who trained for it and was never hired is not in the median above, and neither is anyone doing the work self-employed. No verified count of qualified people exists for this occupation, so this page shows none rather than an estimate. Why that matters · The occupations where we could source it
Who this suits
New Accounts Clerks pays $47,670, effectively level with the $50,020 all-occupation midpoint — $2,350 apart, which is inside the noise of a single year’s survey. Treat this as an average-paying occupation and decide it on everything else.
With 36,860 employed as New Accounts Clerks, most metros have a working market: several employers, visible turnover, and the ability to change jobs without moving house.
These roles suit people who want indoor, scheduled work with predictable demands, and who are good at being the person who knows where things are.
How long it takes to become one of the 36,860 people doing this is not something we have a source for. BLS counts and pays them; it does not record how they got there, and we would rather say so than guess.
Who should not do this
$11,180 separates the bottom quarter at $43,920 from the top quarter at $55,100, a ratio of 1.3x. In a band that tight, moving up inside New Accounts Clerks pays less than moving out of it would.
Even the bottom quarter, under $43,920, lands within $6,100 of the $50,020 typical American wage. The downside of New Accounts Clerks is not really the money.
Avoid it if you need progression; these roles are frequently a level rather than a ladder.
There is no failure rate on this page because there is nothing honest to divide by. BLS counted 36,860 people employed as New Accounts Clerks; it did not count the people who trained for it and are doing something else, and a rate built without that denominator would be a number we made up.
What the spread tells you
A 1.3x ratio from $43,920 to $55,100 makes $47,670 a dependable planning number. Dependable is the whole offer here — there is not much room above it.
The middle half of this field earns between $43,920 and $55,100. That is $11,180 of range, with $47,670 sitting inside it as the point half the field is above and half below.
Between $43,920 and $55,100 — the two ends of the middle half — sits $47,670. Moving from the midpoint to the upper quarter is worth $7,430; the whole climb from the lower quarter is $11,180.
The upper half of the middle range — $47,670 to $55,100, or $7,430 — is far longer than the lower half at $3,750. In a shape like this an average would flatter New Accounts Clerks considerably, and would describe nobody.
Per hour at a standard full-time year that is $22.91 at the midpoint for New Accounts Clerks, $21.11 at the 25th percentile and $26.49 at the 75th, against $24.04 for the typical American job.
What these figures are, and what they are not
The $47,670 figure is what employers pay employees. It is before tax and before deductions, it excludes the self-employed entirely, and it says nothing about anyone who does this work on their own account.
The hourly number on this page is $47,670 divided by a 2,080-hour year and nothing more. We hold no unpaid-hours or cost data for New Accounts Clerks, so it is arithmetic rather than an effective rate.
How this is calculated · Self-employment failure rates · What credentials cost and pay back · Look up something else