Bookkeepers and Accounting Clerks salary in the US
Here is where pay for bookkeepers and accounting clerks stands nationally, built from Census microdata rather than job-board postings.
How much do bookkeepers and accounting clerks earn?
If you lined up all bookkeepers and accounting clerks by pay, the person in the middle would earn about $44,078 a year — 16% less than the $52,508 median for all US earners aged 25 and older. That ranks 116th of 171 occupation groups, just below the middle of the range. Behind these numbers are 64,246 survey records — a large enough sample to break the results down further below.
| Position | Annual earnings |
|---|---|
| Top 10% start at | $82,334 |
| Top 25% start at | $60,975 |
| Median (top 50%) | $44,078 |
| Bottom 25% earn below | $26,884 |
How wide is the pay range?
Moving up the ladder, the top-quarter threshold is $60,975 and the top-10% threshold is $82,334, a 1.9× step up from the middle. At the other end, a quarter of bookkeepers and accounting clerks earned $26,884 or less, which partly reflects part-time and part-year work — the survey counts everyone with earnings, not only full-time staff. The median is 1.6 times that lower-quarter line.
Earnings by age
Mid-career workers out-earn new entrants, but not dramatically — the median goes from $41,763 (25–34) to $48,326 (45–54). Later on, earnings ease to $30,225 for workers 65+, a 37% step down that tracks the shift to part-time work.
Men and women
There is a 12% gap at the median: $48,881 for men and $43,148 for women. About 89% of the sampled workers are women, going by raw survey counts. Part of that difference reflects hours worked and job level within the occupation, which these totals don't control for.
| Group | Median earnings | Survey records |
|---|---|---|
| Men | $48,881 | 7,262 |
| Women | $43,148 | 56,984 |
Does education change the pay?
From a professional degree to some college or an associate degree, the median rises from $39,105 to $45,215, a 16% gap. 31,877 of the records belong to people with some college or an associate degree, the biggest single group; we suppress levels with fewer than 100.
| Education | Median earnings | Survey records |
|---|---|---|
| High school or less | $42,234 | 18,657 |
| Some college / associate | $45,215 | 31,877 |
| Bachelor's | $44,078 | 11,078 |
| Master's | $41,783 | 2,254 |
| Professional degree | $39,105 | 280 |
| Doctorate | $43,367 | 100 |
Where the most work, and what they earn there
Most of the sample comes from California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Illinois, the five states where this occupation is most common in the data. Among them, California has the highest median at $48,881 and Florida the lowest at $41,979, a 16% spread. State figures aren't price-adjusted; 50 states have a large enough sample to report.
| State | Median earnings | Survey records |
|---|---|---|
| California | $48,881 | 7,478 |
| Texas | $43,993 | 5,629 |
| Florida | $41,979 | 4,052 |
| New York | $47,659 | 3,518 |
| Illinois | $47,322 | 2,447 |
Occupations with similar pay
For comparison, these jobs have medians within a few thousand dollars: sales and related workers, all other ($44,150), carpenters ($43,571), billing and posting clerks ($42,641), and miscellaneous production workers, including equipment operators and tenders ($41,763). The jobs differ in training and working conditions; matching medians just means the typical paycheck is comparable.
| Occupation | Median earnings | vs. this job |
|---|---|---|
| Sales And Related Workers, All Other | $44,150 | 0% |
| Carpenters | $43,571 | −1% |
| Billing And Posting Clerks | $42,641 | −3% |
| Miscellaneous Production Workers, Including Equipment Operators And Tenders | $41,763 | −5% |
| Industrial Truck And Tractor Operators | $40,929 | −7% |
About these figures
A note on definitions: figures cover everyone 25+ with earnings in this occupation over 2020–2024, inflation-adjusted to 2024, full-time or not. Medians are weighted to the US population; suppressed cells are those under 100 records. The occupation total is 64,246 records.
See where your pay ranks among bookkeepers and accounting clerks
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Open the calculatorSource: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-Year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) — personal earnings (PERNP) in 2024 dollars, person-weighted
Reference statistics only — not financial advice.