Information and Record Clerks, All Other Salary

The median information and record clerks, all other salary in the United States is $49,500 per year ($23.80/hour). Salaries range from $33,870 at the entry level to $71,420+ for the top 10% of earners. There are 134,920 information and record clerks, all other jobs nationwide. Employment is projected to decline 0.2% through 2034.

Last updated: June 2026 Β· Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Median Salary
$49,500
per year
Hourly Rate
$23.80
per hour
Employment
134,920
jobs in the U.S.

Salary Distribution

10th percentile
$33,870
25th percentile
$40,910
Median
$49,500
75th percentile
$59,970
90th percentile
$71,420

Job Growth (2024-2034)

-0.2%
Decline

Annual Openings

17,800
jobs/year (growth + replacements)

Education Required

High school diploma or equivalent

Training Needed

Short-term on-the-job training

Information and Record Clerks, All Other Career Guide

Interview questions, resume templates, and a career ladder written specifically for information and record clerks, all others.

Information and record clerks, all other, is the BLS catch-all for records-and-info generalists who don't fit a specific SOC (not a receptionist, not a hotel clerk, not a court clerk). In practice the role concentrates in four settings: hospital medical records / HIM at HCA, Ascension, and Kaiser; insurance records at Aetna, Cigna, and UnitedHealth; university registrar offices at UT Austin, Michigan, and Ohio State; and law-firm records management. BLS puts the occupation at 134,920 employed with median $49,500, p10 $33,870, and p90 $71,420. Entry pay $34-42k, established $45-58k, senior $60-71k+. The role screens for records-integrity discipline, systems fluency (Epic HIM, Banner / PeopleSoft / Workday Student, iManage), and confidentiality handling.

Core Skills Hiring Managers Screen For

Records integrity & audit trail discipline
Every touch on a record generates an audit event β€” Epic's Chart Access Report, Banner's SEC records log, iManage's audit trail. Top clerks work under the assumption that every open, edit, and print is logged and reviewable.
Records-management systems fluency
Epic HIM and Cerner ROI (hospital), Banner / PeopleSoft Campus Solutions / Workday Student (university), iManage / NetDocuments (law firm), Guidewire / Duck Creek (insurance). Depth in one lifts pay 8-15%.
Release-of-information (ROI) processing
HIPAA-compliant medical records release under 45 CFR 164 β€” authorization validation, minimum-necessary compliance, subpoena vs authorization workflow. Errors here create HIPAA violations that carry $100-$50,000 per-record penalties.
FERPA & academic records handling
University registrar clerks operate under FERPA (34 CFR 99). Directory-info opt-outs, third-party release, transcript hold logic, and enrollment-verification via NSC Clearinghouse are all daily workflow.
Records retention & disposition scheduling
Every organization has a records retention schedule β€” hospital medical records typically 7-10 years past last treatment, tax records 7 years, employment records varies. Clerks execute the schedule against the RMS.
Redaction & sensitive-content handling
PHI, PII, attorney-client privileged content, and student directory-info opt-outs all require redaction before release. Tools include Adobe Acrobat redaction, Kofax, and system-native redactors in iManage and Epic ROI.
Cross-team liaison β€” legal, compliance, clinical, faculty
Records clerks route requests to the right owner: legal for subpoenas, compliance for HIPAA breach reviews, clinical for record-of-care disputes, faculty for grade-change requests. Knowing the routing map is a top-quartile signal.

How to Become a Information and Record Clerks, All Other

  1. 1
    High school diploma or GED (associate's or bachelor's helps for HIM and registrar roles)
    Entry records clerk roles accept HS diploma. Hospital HIM increasingly prefers RHIT-eligible candidates with an AAS in Health Information; university registrar offices prefer a bachelor's for anything above entry.
  2. 2
    Start in an entry records clerk or file room role for 12-24 months
    $34-42k. Learn the specific RMS (Epic HIM, Banner, iManage). This is where you build audit-trail discipline and confidentiality reflexes.
  3. 3
    Add a role-appropriate credential (RHIT for hospitals, AACRAO / NAJIS training for registrar, ARMA CRA for enterprise records)
    RHIT (AHIMA) is the highest-ROI credential for hospital HIM β€” lifts pay 10-18% and unlocks the Medical Coder lateral. AACRAO for university, ARMA CRA / IGP for enterprise records.
  4. 4
    Move into a full records specialist / ROI specialist / registrar coordinator role
    $45-58k. This is the working-professional band. Own end-to-end workflows including ROI, transcript processing, or insurance records release.
  5. 5
    Advance to Sr records analyst, HIM / registrar team lead, or Records Manager
    $60-71k+. From here the exit ramps are Sr HIM Analyst ($70-90k), Registrar or Assistant Registrar ($75-105k), or Records Manager / Information Governance Manager ($80-115k). Higher-paying laterals include Medical Coder ($50-70k) or Compliance Analyst ($65-95k).

Career Progression

Records Clerk / File Room Clerk
0-2 yrs$34-42k ($16-20/hr)
  • β€’Process incoming records requests: intake, tracking, routing to correct owner
  • β€’File and retrieve records in the RMS; enforce record-locator accuracy
  • β€’Basic ROI, transcript, or insurance-file processing under supervisor review
  • β€’Meet daily productivity metrics (requests processed, turnaround time)
Next: Records Specialist at 1-2 years once accuracy and system fluency are proven.
Records Specialist / ROI Specialist / Registrar Coordinator
2-5 yrs$45-58k ($22-28/hr)
  • β€’Own end-to-end records workflow: intake, validation, redaction, release, audit trail
  • β€’Handle HIPAA authorizations, subpoenas, court orders, and FERPA-covered requests independently
  • β€’Serve as the primary system SME for a specific RMS module (Epic HIM ROI, Banner SEC, iManage)
  • β€’Partner with Legal or Compliance on complex or escalated requests
Next: Sr Records Analyst or Team Lead at 4-7 years, once you're the go-to for complex ROI or FERPA requests.
Sr Records Analyst / HIM Team Lead / Sr Registrar Analyst
5-10 yrs$58-71k ($28-34/hr)
  • β€’Lead a team of 4-10 clerks or specialists; own team QA and productivity metrics
  • β€’Handle the highest-complexity releases: multi-party subpoenas, breach investigations, ADA/504 accommodations records
  • β€’Own the records retention schedule and coordinate disposition sign-offs
  • β€’Chair the RMS user-council or contribute to system upgrades
Next: Records Manager, HIM Supervisor, Assistant Registrar, or lateral into Compliance Analyst.
Records Manager / HIM Supervisor / Assistant Registrar
8+ yrs$75-115k (out of BLS band; exits into manager pay scale)
  • β€’Manage a team of 10-30 records staff across ROI, transcripts, or enterprise records
  • β€’Own the organization's records retention schedule, RMS roadmap, and audit-response process
  • β€’Lead HIPAA / FERPA / attorney-client privilege compliance in the records function
  • β€’Report to Director of HIM, University Registrar, or Chief Information Governance Officer
Next: Director of HIM, University Registrar, or Chief Information Governance Officer.

Interview Questions & Answers

5 free questions below. Career Kit unlocks 17 total plus resume bullets for every level.

Q1. Walk me through a records release you handled that was complex.technical
Pick a specific case β€” a subpoenaed medical record at HCA with attorney-hold protections, a transcript with a bursar hold at UT Austin, or a multi-jurisdiction subpoena at a law firm. Structure it: (1) The request β€” who submitted it, what jurisdiction, what statute. (2) The validation you did β€” HIPAA authorization vs court order vs subpoena, FERPA authorization vs directory opt-out, attorney-client vs work-product. (3) The redaction and release β€” specific tools used, review chain. (4) The audit trail β€” what you logged and where. Interviewers screen for candidates who name specific regulations (45 CFR 164, 34 CFR 99) rather than vague 'privacy' language.
Q2. How do you handle a records request that comes in outside the normal process?situational
Never freelance. Route the request to the correct intake channel β€” the HIM ROI queue, the registrar's transcript portal, the law-firm records intake. If a clinician, faculty member, or partner asks you directly for a record 'as a favor', you politely redirect them to the formal intake and log the informal request in the audit trail. HCA, Ascension, Kaiser, and the top law firms all have records for HIPAA and privilege reasons; going outside the process is a termination-eligible move at all of them. Interviewers screen for candidates who understand this reflexively.
Q3. Describe your systems fluency β€” what RMS have you used and to what depth?technical
Name the specific system and modules. For hospital: 'Epic HIM ROI, ChartMaxx for archived records, and Cerner ROI in a rotation cycle β€” my day-to-day is Epic ROI for release processing.' For university: 'Banner Student, PeopleSoft Campus Solutions for a prior role, Parchment for transcript send.' For law firm: 'iManage Work 10 with the Records module, and NetDocuments in a prior firm.' Depth beats breadth β€” one system deeply beats three systems at file-clerk level.
Q4. Why records rather than a customer-service or admin role?culture
The honest answer: you like structured work where accuracy and audit trail matter β€” every release is logged and could be reviewed by legal, compliance, or a regulator. You want a job at the intersection of law, healthcare or education, and information systems, and you like the discipline of the workflow. Avoid vague 'I'm organized' answers. Name the specific setting (hospital HIM, university registrar, law firm records) and one thing about that setting that draws you.
Q5. Where do you see yourself in 3-5 years?closer
Show the ladder concretely. From records specialist ($45-58k), the paths fork: HIM to RHIT + Sr Analyst ($58-71k) then HIM Supervisor ($75-95k); registrar to Sr Analyst then Assistant Registrar ($75-105k); enterprise records to ARMA CRA then Records Manager ($80-115k). Name the fork you're leaning toward and the specific certification you're building β€” RHIT (AHIMA), AACRAO, or ARMA CRA / IGP. Hiring managers screen for candidates who've thought this through.

Resume Template β€” Records Specialist / ROI Specialist (2-5 yrs)

Copy these bullets into your resume as a starting point. Career Kit includes bullets for every level of the ladder.

Records Specialist / ROI Specialist (2-5 yrs)
  • β–ΈProcessed 60-80 ROI requests per week in Epic HIM at a 400-bed HCA hospital; 99.1% authorization-validation accuracy over the last 12 months; median turnaround 6 business days against a 15-day HIPAA statutory ceiling.
  • β–ΈHandled all subpoena and court-order releases for the ED and outpatient service lines; coordinated with in-house counsel on 40+ complex releases per year.
  • β–ΈRHIT-eligible (AAS Health Information Technology, [community college], 2023); registered for AHIMA RHIT exam in Q1.
  • β–Έ$25/hr ($52k) + $2,500 signing bonus + full benefits + $1,500 annual continuing-education stipend.

What Gets You Rejected

  • βœ—Cannot cite the correct statute β€” vague 'HIPAA' or 'FERPA' with no fluency on 45 CFR 164, 34 CFR 99, or the specific authorization elements.
  • βœ—Loose audit-trail habits β€” leaves records open on unattended screens, prints unnecessary copies, doesn't log informal requests.
  • βœ—Weak redaction discipline β€” releases PHI, PII, or privileged content without proper redaction; doesn't know minimum-necessary rule.
  • βœ—No RMS depth β€” file-clerk level fluency in one system, no understanding of audit reports, saved queries, or user-role management.
  • βœ—Confuses subpoena, court order, and authorization workflow β€” they have different release rules and mixing them up is a common HIPAA violation.

Salary Negotiation Levers

  • βœ“Credential premium β€” RHIT (AHIMA) lifts hospital HIM pay 10-18%; AACRAO membership + certification lifts registrar pay 6-12%; ARMA CRA or IGP lifts enterprise records pay 8-15%.
  • βœ“System-specific expertise β€” Epic HIM certification, Banner or PeopleSoft admin-level fluency, or iManage Work 10 admin all command 8-15% premiums.
  • βœ“Metro adjustment β€” SF, NYC, Boston, DC records specialist pay is 18-30% above the BLS national median. Anchor to metro-specific data.
  • βœ“Multi-jurisdiction / multi-state records fluency β€” states with unique laws (CA CMIA, NY SHIELD, TX Medical Records Privacy Act) carry a premium at multi-state employers.
  • βœ“Bilingual capability β€” Spanish-English at HCA, Kaiser, and multi-state universities adds 5-10%. Rarer languages (Vietnamese, Mandarin, Arabic) carry higher premiums in specific metros.
  • βœ“Tuition reimbursement β€” the highest long-term ROI. Most large hospitals and universities cover 60-100% of an AAS or BS in HIM or Records Management. Confirm eligibility timeline (typically 6-12 months of service).

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Information and Record Clerks, All Other Salary by State

Best Cities (cost-adjusted) β†’

Salary Map β€” Click a state for details

$32K
$70Kβ–  No data
StateMedianvs. National
District of Columbia$70,490+42.4%
California$58,680+18.5%
Rhode Island$58,470+18.1%
Maryland$58,060+17.3%
Indiana$56,310+13.8%
New Jersey$55,830+12.8%
Illinois$55,270+11.7%
West Virginia$54,950+11.0%
Hawaii$54,720+10.5%
Delaware$54,240+9.6%
1–10 of 50

Information and Record Clerks, All Other Salary by Metro Area

Metro AreaMedianvs. National
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA$74,940+51.4%
Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA$65,610+32.5%
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA$64,940+31.2%
Vallejo, CA$64,520+30.3%
Kalamazoo-Portage, MI$64,500+30.3%
Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY$62,800+26.9%
Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA$62,080+25.4%
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV$61,760+24.8%
Salinas, CA$61,230+23.7%
Napa, CA$61,140+23.5%
1–10 of 299
Data Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). Data reflects the most recent annual survey.
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A information and record clerks, all other earning $49,500/year would need 1204 years to match Stephen Curry's NBA salary, or 1293 yearsto match Patrick Mahomes' NFL contract.
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