Admin & clerical salary (remote, US)

Common questions about admin & clerical pay

• What's the average pay for a remote admin & clerical job?

  Across 384 verified listings, the median is $19/hour (about $39,520/year at full time). The bottom 25% earn $15/hr; the top 25% earn $28/hr.

• Does admin & clerical pay differ by city?

  Most cushy WFH roles pay the same nationally regardless of where the worker lives. A small minority of employers (mostly tech and high-cost-of-living based) adjust by metro — those rates are reflected in our top-paying-cities table above.

• What does a remote admin assistant actually do?

  Schedules meetings, prepares and formats documents, coordinates with vendors, manages travel bookings, handles light bookkeeping (expense reports, invoice tracking), and supports HR onboarding. Tools are typically Microsoft 365 (Outlook, Word, Excel, Teams) or Google Workspace, plus a project tool like Asana or Monday. Most days are 60–70% async work, 30–40% scheduled calls.

• Do federal admin jobs require security clearance?

  Some do — Public Trust is the most common requirement and takes 4–8 weeks after offer. Secret clearance takes 3–6 months. Many federal entry-level admin roles (GS-5, GS-6) require only Public Trust, which most US citizens with a clean background qualify for. Listings on USAJobs make clearance requirements explicit.