Statistics · Bookkeeping
Bookkeeping statistics, from the bureau of labor statistics.
As of May 2025, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports 1,532,400 bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks earning a median wage of $50,670 — with employment projected to decline 6 percent through 2035 as software automates routine entry. Every figure below is cited with its year.
Last reviewed by a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor
What this page is based on: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook — May 2025 wages and the 2025–2035 projection decade. No derived or blended figures.
- BLS data only
- May 2025 wages
- 2025–2035 outlook
Re-checked against BLS
Every figure here was checked again on November 1, 2026 (ET) against the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook, whose two pages were last modified on August 27 and October 29, 2026: the $50,670 median wage for bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerks (May 2025), the lowest tenth under $36,000 and highest tenth over $74,550, 1,532,400 jobs, the 6 percent projected decline from 2025 to 2035; and for accountants and auditors, the $83,680 median and 5 percent projected growth (BLS). All match. BLS publishes the next wage data each spring.
The bookkeeping and accounting figures
The bookkeeping profession is easy to guess about and hard to find real numbers for. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is the authoritative source — it surveys employers directly — so every figure on this page comes from it, stamped with the survey period it belongs to.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks two related occupations separately: bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks (code 43-3031), who record and reconcile transactions, and accountants and auditors (code 13-2011), who analyze and attest to financial statements. Wage figures are from the May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey; the employment outlook is from the Occupational Outlook Handbook and covers 2025 to 2035.
| Metric | Figure | Source & period | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bookkeeping, accounting & auditing clerks — employment | 1,532,400 jobs | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025 | |
| Clerks — median annual wage | $50,670 | BLS OEWS, May 2025 | |
| Clerks — lowest 10% earned | Less than $36,000 | BLS OEWS, May 2025 | |
| Clerks — highest 10% earned | More than $74,550 | BLS OEWS, May 2025 | |
| Clerks — projected employment change | Decline of 6% (2025–2035) | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025–2035 | |
| Clerks — projected annual openings | About 144,100 per year, on average | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025–2035 | |
| Accountants & auditors — median annual wage | $83,680 | BLS OEWS, May 2025 | |
| Accountants & auditors — projected employment change | Growth of 5% (2025–2035) | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025–2035 |
Statistics verified: November 2026 · each figure checked against bls.gov on November 1, 2026
How these figures were compiled
What is counted: only figures the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes for two occupation codes — bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks (43-3031) and accountants and auditors (13-2011). Wages are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey; employment levels and projections are from the Occupational Outlook Handbook.
What is excluded: anything BLS does not publish. We do not blend the two occupations, estimate a national average across them, adjust for inflation, or derive a figure BLS did not state. Self-employed bookkeepers are counted only to the extent BLS counts them in these codes.
How it is kept current: BLS re-publishes wages each May and re-bases its ten-year projections periodically. When it does, every figure on this page moves together — table, chart, and prose — and the verification date changes only when each number has actually been re-checked against the source. At this re-verification the published figures had gone stale: BLS had moved from May 2024 to May 2025 wages and from the 2024–2034 to the 2025–2035 projection decade, and six of the eight figures shown here changed, including projected annual openings. They are corrected above.
How to cite this page
Bookkeeping statistics, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics · QBSpecialist (reviewed by a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor) · https://qbspecialist.com/resources/statistics/bookkeeping-statistics/ · verified September 2026. Figures are the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ own; cite BLS directly for the underlying data.
The two occupations move in opposite directions, and the reason is instructive. Clerk employment is projected to fall because software has automated much of the routine keying that once defined the role, while accountant and auditor employment is projected to grow slightly because analysis and attestation resist automation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics still projects roughly 144,100 clerk openings a year — almost entirely to replace people leaving the occupation — so the work does not vanish; it concentrates in the judgment that software cannot do.
Wages, drawn to scale
Read this as text
As of May 2025, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks earning a median of $50,670 a year — the lowest 10 percent under $36,000, the highest 10 percent above $74,550 — while accountants and auditors, a separately tracked occupation, earn a median of $83,680. Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025.
What the numbers mean for your books
The projected decline in bookkeeping clerks is a statistic about data entry, not about the need for correct books. Software can import a bank feed; it cannot decide that a transfer was miscoded as income, notice that an account never reconciled, or trace an opening balance to its real home. That is precisely the work a cleanup does, and it is why automation has not made careful bookkeeping optional — if anything, it has made the review layer more valuable, because more raw data flows in with less human checking behind it.
So read these figures as context, not as a verdict on whether your books need attention. Whatever the profession's headcount does, the test for your own file is unchanged: does every account reconcile, does the balance sheet balance, and does the profit-and-loss read the way the business actually ran? A free review answers that for your file specifically, with no number invented along the way.
Want your own books checked against that test? Start with a free QuickBooks review, or read the reference docs behind the work.
Questions about bookkeeping statistics
How much do bookkeepers earn?
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $50,670 for bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks as of May 2025 — meaning half earned more and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $36,000 and the highest 10 percent earned more than $74,550.
Is bookkeeping a growing field?
No — employment of bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks is projected to decline about 6 percent from 2025 to 2035, as software automates routine data entry. Even so, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects about 144,100 openings a year on average, almost all from workers leaving the occupation, so demand for the work does not disappear — it shifts toward review and cleanup.
What is the difference between the two occupations here?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks (code 43-3031) separately from accountants and auditors (code 13-2011). Clerks record and reconcile transactions; accountants and auditors analyze, prepare, and attest to financial statements. They report different wages and different outlooks, so we show both.
Why does automation not mean bookkeeping is obsolete?
Because software automates data entry, not judgment. The projected decline is in routine keying, while the work these statistics can't measure — reconciling a messy file, correcting miscategorized history, deciding how a transaction should be recorded — is exactly what still needs a person. That is the work a cleanup does.
- Monthly bookkeeping— what the bookkeeping work in these figures costs as a monthly fee