---
title: "Teller"
description: "Receive and pay out money. Keep records of money and negotiable instruments involved in a financial institution's various transactions."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/teller"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Teller

**Category:** Office and Administrative Support · **SOC code:** 43-3071 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 43-3071.00

Receive and pay out money. Keep records of money and negotiable instruments involved in a financial institution's various transactions.

Also advertised as: Account Representative; Bank Teller; Branch Operations Specialist; Customer Relationship Specialist; Customer Service Associate (CSA); Financial Services Representative (FSR); Member Services Representative; Personal Banking Representative.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $43,030 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $20.69/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $34,360 to $49,680, with the middle half between $37,040 and $46,580
- **Total US employment:** 329,480
- **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:** -12.9% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 29,800 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 37/100 — 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 329,480 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $34,360 |
| 25th | $37,040 |
| 50th (median) | $43,030 |
| 75th | $46,580 |
| 90th | $49,680 |
| Mean (average) | $42,350 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| WA | $47,670 | $44,546 | 9,180 |
| NJ | $47,210 | $43,390 | 10,270 |
| CA | $46,900 | $42,359 | 25,230 |
| MA | $46,900 | $44,347 | 7,190 |
| AK | $46,770 | $45,692 | 1,020 |
| CT | $46,320 | $44,706 | 3,220 |
| CO | $46,060 | $44,696 | 5,370 |
| MD | $46,010 | $43,836 | 3,860 |
| DC | $45,590 | $41,483 | 700 |
| FL | $45,580 | $44,075 | 14,700 |
| DE | $45,340 | $45,427 | 1,400 |
| RI | $45,300 | $44,290 | 830 |
| AZ | $45,250 | $44,946 | 3,770 |
| VA | $45,120 | $44,627 | 7,410 |
| NV | $44,980 | $44,989 | 1,850 |

38 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 53 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/teller/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/teller.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 347,400 in the 2024–2034 base year to 302,500 by the end of the cycle — a loss of 44,900 jobs, or -12.9%. Declining: -12.9% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 29,800 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:** 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 | 73.0% |
| Some College Courses | 9.0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 8.3% |
| Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 5.4% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 2.7% |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 1.7% |

## What the work involves

- Balance currency, coin, and checks in cash drawers at ends of shifts and calculate daily transactions, using computers, calculators, or adding machines.
- Receive checks and cash for deposit, verify amounts, and check accuracy of deposit slips.
- Cash checks and pay out money after verifying that signatures are correct, that written and numerical amounts agree, and that accounts have sufficient funds.
- Enter customers' transactions into computers to record transactions and issue computer-generated receipts.
- Process transactions, such as term deposits, retirement savings plan contributions, automated teller transactions, night deposits, and mail deposits.
- Answer telephones and assist customers with their questions.
- Examine checks for endorsements and to verify other information, such as dates, bank names, identification of the persons receiving payments, and the legality of the documents.
- Prepare and verify cashier's checks.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — 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
- Writing — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.9 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 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — 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
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Economics and Accounting — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 2.9 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 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Number Facility — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Recognition — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Clarity — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 3.6 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 | 6.88 |
| E — Enterprising | 4.19 |
| S — Social | 2.44 |
| R — Realistic | 2.27 |
| I — Investigative | 1.42 |
| 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 | 85.2 |
| ESFJ | 79.9 |
| ISFJ | 77.5 |
| ISTJ | 75.9 |
| ENTJ | 59.5 |

Best-fitting types: ESTJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [New Accounts Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/new-accounts-clerk) — median $47,670
- [Cashier](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cashier) — median $32,880
- [Credit Authorizer, Checker, and Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/credit-authorizer-checker-and-clerk) — median $50,080
- [Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/bookkeeping-accounting-and-auditing-clerk) — median $50,670
- [Brokerage Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/brokerage-clerk) — median $65,750
- [Security, Commodity, and Financial Services Sales Agent](https://nuecareer.com/careers/security-commodity-and-financial-services-sales-agent) — median $78,660
- [Bill and Account Collector](https://nuecareer.com/careers/bill-and-account-collector) — median $47,030
- [Billing and Posting Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/billing-and-posting-clerk) — median $48,500
- [Loan Interviewer and Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/loan-interviewer-and-clerk) — median $50,020
- [Gambling Change Person and Booth Cashier](https://nuecareer.com/careers/gambling-change-person-and-booth-cashier) — median $36,220

## 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/teller