File Clerks vs Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants: $44K vs $56K Median Pay

File Clerks vs Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants: what changes?

Consider File Clerks if you want to file correspondence, cards, invoices, receipts, and other records in alphabetical or numerical order or according to the filing system used. Consider Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants if you would rather perform secretarial duties using legal terminology, procedures, and documents. Both list high school diploma or equivalent; compare training and prior experience separately.

Try this next: Compare three local entry-level postings for File Clerks and Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants. List the duties, credentials, prior experience, and paid training each employer actually asks for. Try a supervised class or sample project from each field before choosing a program.

BLS 2025 wages and 2025–2035 projections. National medians are not starting offers. Occupation size is not a count of vacancies. View the BLS data.

Compare the practical differences

File Clerks

National median pay (2025): $43,600
Route into the job: High school diploma or equivalent; One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing
Prior related experience: No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.
Training and licensing: One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing.
Work to investigate: Perform general office activities, such as typing, answering telephones, operating office machines, processing mail, or securing confidential materials.
Annual openings (2025–2035): 5,600

Know before you choose

BLS projects employment to shrink 15.8% from 2025 to 2035. Openings can still occur when existing workers leave.

See the full File Clerks brief

Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants

National median pay (2025): $55,570
Route into the job: High school diploma or equivalent; More than one month and up to 12 months of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing
Prior related experience: No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.
Training and licensing: More than one month and up to 12 months of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing.
Work to investigate: Organize and maintain law libraries, documents, and case files.
Annual openings (2025–2035): 18,100

Know before you choose

BLS projects employment to shrink 5.2% from 2025 to 2035. Openings can still occur when existing workers leave.

See the full Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants brief

How the national numbers differ

Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants has the edge on median pay

Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants is at $55,570, compared with $43,600 for File Clerks.

Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants has the edge on annual openings

Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants is at 18,100 annual openings, compared with 5,600 annual openings for File Clerks.

Typical preparation differs.

File Clerks: High school diploma or equivalent; One month or less of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants: High school diploma or equivalent; More than one month and up to 12 months of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing Preparation categories do not establish admission difficulty, calendar time, tuition, time without earnings, or licensing difficulty.

Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants has the edge on projected growth

Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants is at -5.2% projected growth, compared with -15.8% projected growth for File Clerks.

33.8/ 100

File Clerks

45.7/ 100

Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants

Each available metric is ranked from 0 to 100 against the careers on ChooseField. The weighted average uses this profile: pay 30%, growth 25%, openings 30%, preparation level 15%. Missing values are not scored as zero; their weights are redistributed across available metrics. Occupation size has zero weight: employment is not accessible vacancies. Preparation categories do not measure admission difficulty or years without earnings. The score summarizes national measures; local opportunities and personal fit still need separate consideration.

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