---
title: "Court, Municipal, and License Clerk"
description: "Perform clerical duties for courts of law, municipalities, or governmental licensing agencies and bureaus. May prepare docket of cases to be called…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/court-municipal-and-license-clerk"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Court, Municipal, and License Clerk

**Category:** Office and Administrative Support · **SOC code:** 43-4031 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 43-4031.00

Perform clerical duties for courts of law, municipalities, or governmental licensing agencies and bureaus. May prepare docket of cases to be called; secure information for judges and court; prepare draft agendas or bylaws for town or city council; answer official correspondence; keep fiscal records and accounts; issue licenses or permits; and record data, administer tests, or collect fees.

Also advertised as: City Clerk; City Recorder; Court Clerk; License Clerk; License Specialist; Motor Vehicle Field Representative (MVFR); Motor Vehicle Licensing Clerk; Municipal Clerk.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $48,700 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $23.41/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $36,300 to $73,820, with the middle half between $40,810 and $60,840
- **Total US employment:** 179,750
- **Typical entry education:** High school
- **Preparation required:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +3.0% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 18,500 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 21/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 179,750 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $36,300 |
| 25th | $40,810 |
| 50th (median) | $48,700 |
| 75th | $60,840 |
| 90th | $73,820 |
| Mean (average) | $52,320 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| DC | $66,130 | $60,172 | 50 |
| WA | $64,680 | $60,441 | 3,450 |
| CA | $63,320 | $57,189 | 12,460 |
| MA | $61,730 | $58,370 | 4,360 |
| RI | $61,670 | $60,295 | 660 |
| OR | $61,300 | $59,307 | 1,820 |
| CT | $60,480 | $58,373 | 1,300 |
| MD | $58,380 | $55,622 | 2,360 |
| NV | $56,680 | $56,692 | 1,250 |
| MN | $56,520 | $57,310 | 5,360 |
| AK | $54,270 | $53,019 | 650 |
| ND | $53,850 | $60,534 | 600 |
| NJ | $53,700 | $49,354 | 5,710 |
| NY | $53,500 | $49,573 | 11,850 |
| VT | $53,000 | $54,105 | 890 |

36 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 51 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/court-municipal-and-license-clerk/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/court-municipal-and-license-clerk.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 180,400 in the 2024–2034 base year to 185,900 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 5,500 jobs, or +3.0%. About as fast as average: 3.0% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 18,500 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** High school diploma or equivalent (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Long-term on-the-job training.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| High School Diploma | 50.0% |
| Some College Courses | 17.7% |
| Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 13.1% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 10.4% |
| First Professional Degree | 3.4% |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 2.5% |

## What the work involves

- Answer questions or provide advice to the public regarding licensing policies, procedures, or regulations.
- Answer inquiries from the general public regarding judicial procedures, court appearances, trial dates, adjournments, outstanding warrants, summonses, subpoenas, witness fees, or payment of fines.
- Perform administrative tasks, such as answering telephone calls, filing court documents, or maintaining office supplies or equipment.
- Respond to requests for information from the public, other municipalities, state officials, or state and federal legislative offices.
- Question applicants to obtain required information, such as name, address, or age, and record data on prescribed forms.
- Perform general office duties, such as taking or transcribing dictation, typing or proofreading correspondence, distributing or filing official forms, or scheduling appointments.
- Record case dispositions, court orders, or arrangements made for payment of court fees.
- Research information in the municipal archives upon request of public officials or private citizens.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Management of Personnel Resources — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Analysis — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Customer and Personal Service — importance 4.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administrative — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Law and Government — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Computers and Electronics — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Recognition — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Conventional (C), Enterprising (E), Social (S).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| C — Conventional | 6.16 |
| E — Enterprising | 4.24 |
| S — Social | 3.52 |
| R — Realistic | 1.97 |
| I — Investigative | 1.91 |
| A — Artistic | 1.11 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ESFJ | 84.2 |
| ESTJ | 83.5 |
| ISFJ | 77.2 |
| ISTJ | 69.5 |
| ENFJ | 59.8 |

Best-fitting types: ESFJ, ESTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Legal Secretary and Administrative Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/legal-secretary-and-administrative-assistant) — median $55,570
- [Compliance Officer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/compliance-officer) — median $80,730
- [Office Clerk, General](https://nuecareer.com/careers/office-clerk-general) — median $45,010
- [Paralegal](https://nuecareer.com/careers/paralegal) — median $62,890
- [Title Examiner, Abstractor, and Searcher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/title-examiner-abstractor-and-searcher) — median $58,650
- [Secretary and Administrative Assistant, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive](https://nuecareer.com/careers/secretary-and-administrative-assistant) — median $47,540
- [Correspondence Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/correspondence-clerk) — median $46,800
- [Executive Secretary and Executive Administrative Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/executive-secretary-and-executive-administrative-assistant) — median $76,590
- [Insurance Claim and Policy Processing Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/insurance-claim-and-policy-processing-clerk) — median $49,230
- [Receptionist and Information Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/receptionist-and-information-clerk) — median $38,010

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/court-municipal-and-license-clerk