---
title: "Order Clerk"
description: "Receive and process incoming orders for materials, merchandise, classified ads, or services such as repairs, installations, or rental of facilities.…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/order-clerk"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Order Clerk

**Category:** Office and Administrative Support · **SOC code:** 43-4151 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 43-4151.00

Receive and process incoming orders for materials, merchandise, classified ads, or services such as repairs, installations, or rental of facilities. Generally receives orders via mail, phone, fax, or other electronic means. Duties include informing customers of receipt, prices, shipping dates, and delays; preparing contracts; and handling complaints.

Also advertised as: Hub Associate; Materials Specialist; Order Analyst; Order Clerk; Order Entry Administrator (Order Entry Admin); Order Entry Representative (Order Entry Rep); Order Processing Clerk; Order Taker.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $46,170 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $22.20/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $35,530 to $63,530, with the middle half between $39,660 and $54,310
- **Total US employment:** 75,200
- **Typical entry education:** Some college
- **Preparation required:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** -17.5% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 6,300 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 26/100 — 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 75,200 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $35,530 |
| 25th | $39,660 |
| 50th (median) | $46,170 |
| 75th | $54,310 |
| 90th | $63,530 |
| Mean (average) | $48,220 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| MA | $55,040 | $52,044 | 1,350 |
| OR | $50,260 | $48,626 | 790 |
| VT | $49,950 | $50,991 | Not published by BLS |
| CO | $49,530 | $48,063 | 1,970 |
| RI | $49,410 | $48,309 | 170 |
| DC | $49,150 | $44,722 | 170 |
| AL | $48,840 | $54,986 | 80 |
| AZ | $48,590 | $48,263 | 760 |
| NH | $48,540 | $46,599 | 390 |
| MN | $48,400 | $49,077 | 1,150 |
| NY | $48,320 | $44,773 | 3,530 |
| SD | $48,010 | $54,196 | 330 |
| WA | $47,990 | $44,845 | 4,300 |
| ME | $47,750 | $49,201 | 300 |
| WI | $47,750 | $50,747 | 1,540 |

33 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 48 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/order-clerk/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/order-clerk.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 78,900 in the 2025–2035 base year to 65,100 by the end of the cycle — a loss of 13,800 jobs, or -17.5%. Declining: -17.5% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 6,300 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** Some college, no degree (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:** Short-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 or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 63.0% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 24.2% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 12.1% |
| Some College Courses | 0.7% |

## What the work involves

- Receive and respond to customer complaints.
- Obtain customers' names, addresses, and billing information, product numbers, and specifications of items to be purchased, and enter this information on order forms.
- Verify customer and order information for correctness, checking it against previously obtained information as necessary.
- Inform customers by mail or telephone of order information, such as unit prices, shipping dates, and any anticipated delays.
- Review orders for completeness according to reporting procedures and forward incomplete orders for further processing.
- Recommend merchandise or services that will meet customers' needs.
- Inspect outgoing work for compliance with customers' specifications.
- File copies of orders received, or post orders on records.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.0 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.

- Service Orientation — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Negotiation — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Customer and Personal Service — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Production and Processing — importance 4.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Computers and Electronics — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administrative — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Recognition — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Clarity — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 3.8 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).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| C — Conventional | 6.97 |
| E — Enterprising | 4.54 |
| R — Realistic | 2.57 |
| S — Social | 2.52 |
| I — Investigative | 1.00 |
| A — Artistic | 1.00 |

### 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) |
| --- | --- |
| ESTJ | 85.9 |
| ESFJ | 81.4 |
| ISFJ | 77.2 |
| ISTJ | 74.8 |
| ENTJ | 59.2 |

Best-fitting types: ESTJ, ESFJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/shipping-receiving-and-inventory-clerk) — median $45,260
- [Postal Service Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/postal-service-clerk) — median $62,130
- [Sales Representative of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel](https://nuecareer.com/careers/sales-representative-of-services) — median $69,990
- [Customer Service Representative](https://nuecareer.com/careers/customer-service-representative) — median $44,770
- [Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/production-planning-and-expediting-clerk) — median $59,650
- [Procurement Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/procurement-clerk) — median $50,580
- [Counter and Rental Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/counter-and-rental-clerk) — median $41,300
- [Stocker and Order Filler](https://nuecareer.com/careers/stocker-and-order-filler) — median $37,330
- [Billing and Posting Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/billing-and-posting-clerk) — median $48,500
- [Office Clerk, General](https://nuecareer.com/careers/office-clerk-general) — median $45,010

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 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, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025–2035 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 31.0 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/order-clerk