Cashiers
Also called: Cashier, Checker, Sales Associate, Store ClerkReceive and disburse money in establishments other than financial institutions. May use electronic scanners, cash registers, or related equipment. May process credit or debit card transactions and validate checks.
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What the data says: AI could halve the time on 15 of its 28 tasks, and jobs are projected to shrink 6.5% by 2035. How to think about this →
About this projection
BLS builds AI into its projections where the research supports it: “BLS generally applies adjustments based on this research conservatively, where there is convincing evidence for a change.”
It also notes a limit: “BLS projection methods are not designed to capture extremely rapid technological change.”
On its AI exposure groups, BLS says exposure “does not imply job loss.”
Recent conditions
- In 2024, 9.8% of people in this work were unemployed, against 3.8% across all occupations Census ACS 2024, all workers in the Census group “Cashiers”
- From Sep 2025 to Aug 2026, 9.1 hires for every 10 job openings in retail trade, which employs about 83% of people in this work, against 7.3 across all industries BLS JOLTS
One box per opening, filled for each hire; hires beyond the openings are added in a lighter shade. Higher can mean openings get filled, or that people leave often; lower, that jobs go unfilled, or hiring is slow.9.1 this industry7.3 all industries
Median pay by state BLS OEWS May 2025, state estimates
Tap a state for its figures.
Median pay in every state
| State | Median | Middle half earn | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $28,250 | $22,690 to $30,970 | 46,420 |
| Alaska | $36,130 | $34,340 to $37,900 | 5,810 |
| Arizona | $34,600 | $31,600 to $36,390 | 72,570 |
| Arkansas | $27,670 | $23,970 to $30,440 | 28,270 |
| California | $37,100 | $35,800 to $42,390 | 336,110 |
| Colorado | $36,870 | $34,750 to $39,460 | 51,670 |
| Connecticut | $35,550 | $34,630 to $36,790 | 30,920 |
| Delaware | $33,490 | $31,200 to $35,520 | 11,450 |
| District of Columbia | $38,880 | $37,670 to $44,880 | 6,060 |
| Florida | $30,530 | $28,650 to $34,840 | 201,370 |
| Georgia | $29,070 | $26,150 to $31,330 | 97,540 |
| Guam | $21,610 | $20,930 to $22,850 | 1,620 |
| Hawaii | $36,780 | $33,640 to $42,050 | 10,780 |
| Idaho | $30,370 | $28,020 to $35,550 | 17,200 |
| Illinois | $34,490 | $31,200 to $36,380 | 139,630 |
| Indiana | $29,670 | $27,430 to $34,070 | 68,350 |
| Iowa | $28,970 | $27,570 to $34,750 | 41,450 |
| Kansas | $28,800 | $26,670 to $30,920 | 33,080 |
| Kentucky | $28,590 | $24,080 to $31,490 | 44,550 |
| Louisiana | $26,750 | $22,130 to $30,170 | 46,350 |
| Maine | $34,930 | $31,490 to $36,810 | 14,240 |
| Maryland | $34,390 | $31,580 to $36,430 | 49,910 |
| Massachusetts | $35,520 | $34,080 to $37,500 | 58,880 |
| Michigan | $29,740 | $28,080 to $34,280 | 92,930 |
| Minnesota | $34,620 | $29,770 to $36,690 | 58,190 |
| Mississippi | $26,390 | $21,550 to $29,920 | 30,490 |
| Missouri | $30,520 | $28,980 to $34,390 | 69,430 |
| Montana | $34,190 | $28,510 to $37,360 | 12,170 |
| Nebraska | $30,250 | $29,140 to $34,630 | 20,650 |
| Nevada | $29,870 | $27,450 to $36,510 | 30,160 |
| New Hampshire | $33,840 | $30,060 to $36,110 | 17,250 |
| New Jersey | $34,590 | $32,640 to $37,190 | 107,680 |
| New Mexico | $30,120 | $28,610 to $34,670 | 19,020 |
| New York | $35,500 | $34,280 to $37,350 | 158,890 |
| North Carolina | $28,880 | $26,380 to $32,160 | 106,440 |
| North Dakota | $31,460 | $29,630 to $36,090 | 9,510 |
| Ohio | $29,260 | $26,940 to $33,490 | 103,020 |
| Oklahoma | $28,180 | $23,770 to $30,120 | 41,140 |
| Oregon | $35,300 | $33,130 to $38,200 | 37,660 |
| Pennsylvania | $29,220 | $26,340 to $34,010 | 110,950 |
| Puerto Rico | $22,140 | $21,840 to $23,110 | 27,320 |
| Rhode Island | $34,860 | $31,480 to $36,560 | 9,260 |
| South Carolina | $28,530 | $24,120 to $31,200 | 56,550 |
| South Dakota | $29,780 | $28,190 to $34,670 | 12,860 |
| Tennessee | $28,590 | $23,620 to $31,610 | 63,350 |
| Texas | $29,230 | $25,820 to $34,100 | 245,730 |
| Utah | $31,600 | $28,470 to $36,140 | 22,940 |
| Vermont | $35,720 | $31,520 to $37,210 | 7,030 |
| Virgin Islands | $28,040 | $25,230 to $30,730 | 770 |
| Virginia | $30,580 | $28,460 to $35,000 | 83,890 |
| Washington | $38,720 | $36,470 to $46,260 | 61,050 |
| West Virginia | $26,370 | $22,220 to $29,670 | 17,360 |
| Wisconsin | $30,880 | $28,620 to $35,930 | 65,380 |
| Wyoming | $30,810 | $28,490 to $35,850 | 5,840 |
Nationally: $32,880. Shades run from the lowest state median to the highest; a territory below that range takes the lightest. How to read this
How AI touches the work
What AI could speed up, task by task, and where people already use it.
AI could halve the time on 15 of its 28 tasks
| AI rating | Its main tasks | Share of Claude conversations May 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Not much | Receive payment by cash, check, credit cards, vouchers, or automatic debits. | Not published |
| AI + software | Issue receipts, refunds, credits, or change due to customers. | Not published |
| AI alone | Assist customers by providing information and resolving their complaints. | 0.08% |
| AI alone | Answer customers' questions, and provide information on procedures or policies. | 0.82% |
| Not much | Greet customers entering establishments. | Not published |
| AI alone | Answer incoming phone calls. | Not published |
See all 28 tasks
| Not much | Maintain clean and orderly checkout areas, and complete other general cleaning duties, such as mopping floors and emptying trash cans. | Not published |
| AI alone | Help customers find the location of products. | 0.02% |
| AI + software | Monitor checkout stations to ensure they have adequate cash available and are staffed appropriately. | Not published |
| Not much | Establish or identify prices of goods, services, or admission, and tabulate bills, using calculators, cash registers, or optical price scanners. | Not published |
| AI + software | Request information or assistance, using paging systems. | Not published |
| AI + software | Count money in cash drawers at the beginning of shifts to ensure that amounts are correct and that there is adequate change. | Not published |
| Not much | Process merchandise returns and exchanges. | Not published |
| AI + software | Compute and record totals of transactions. | under 0.01% |
| AI + software | Calculate total payments received during a time period, and reconcile this with total sales. | Not published |
| Not much | Supervise others and provide on-the-job training. | Not published |
| Not much | Assist with duties in other areas of the store, such as monitoring fitting rooms or bagging and carrying out customers' items. | Not published |
| Not much | Sort, count, and wrap currency and coins. | Not published |
| Not much | Stock shelves, sort and reshelve returned items, and mark prices on items and shelves. | Not published |
| AI alone | Offer customers carry-out service at the completion of transactions. | Not published |
| AI + software | Keep periodic balance sheets of amounts and numbers of transactions. | Not published |
| Not much | Issue trading stamps, and redeem food stamps and coupons. | Not published |
| AI + software | Post charges against guests' or patients' accounts. | Not published |
| AI + software | Cash checks for customers. | Not published |
| AI + software | Compile and maintain non-monetary reports and records. | Not published |
| Not much | Bag, box, wrap, or gift-wrap merchandise, and prepare packages for shipment. | Not published |
| Not much | Weigh items sold by weight to determine prices. | Not published |
| Not much | Sell tickets and other items to customers. | Not published |
Ordered by how important O*NET's respondents rate each task (1 to 5) times the share who say it is part of their job. The ordering is ours. 4 of the 28 have a published share of Claude conversations; “not published” means too few conversations for Anthropic to publish a figure.
Where people already use AI
The tasks above say what AI could speed up. This shows what people are using it for. Its 28 tasks fall under 18 work activities that many occupations share, and Microsoft counted how often each one came up in 200,000 conversations with its Copilot assistant in 2024.
- #3 Respond to customer problems or inquiries
- #7 Explain technical details of products or services
- #11 Provide information to guests, clients, or customers
- and 2 more, in the table below
| Work activity | This occupation's tasks under it | People asked AI for help in 10,000 conversations |
AI did it for them in 10,000 conversations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Execute financial transactions | |||
| Maintain sales or financial records | |||
| Provide information to guests, clients, or customers | |||
| Determine values or prices of goods or services | |||
| Reconcile financial data | |||
| Respond to customer problems or inquiries | |||
| Explain technical details of products or services | |||
| Provide general assistance to others, such as customers, patrons, or motorists |
Show all 18 activities
| Monitor financial data or activities | |||
| Communicate with others about operational plans or activities | |||
| Measure physical characteristics of materials, products, or equipment | |||
| Clean tools, equipment, facilities, or work areas | |||
| Sell products or services | |||
| Train others on operational or work procedures | |||
| Process shipments or mail | |||
| Package objects | |||
| Supervise personnel activities | |||
| Stock supplies or products |
How people in this work use Claude
What people in this work made with Claude % of conversations
- An explanation or answer70%
- Advice or a recommendation10%
- An analysis or summary3%
- A document or report2%
- A chart or visualization2%
How they worked with Claude
21% of these conversations were about work. Anthropic Economic Index, May 2026.
How to read this
Work activities come from O*NET, which links every task to the broader activities it involves. Microsoft's figures are for the activity across everyone who used Copilot, not for cashiers specifically. Copilot is a general chat assistant; dedicated coding tools are not included, so programming help is under-counted here. Activities are listed by how many of this occupation's tasks fall under them.
The task ratings say whether AI could halve the time a task takes: on its own (“AI alone”), or with software built on it (“AI + software”). They were made by people in 2023 (Eloundou et al.). Claude's share is the task's share of all Claude.ai conversations in May 2026; Anthropic doesn't publish a task with too few conversations. None of these add up to the BLS exposure group, which combines five research measures.
More in the Guide: task ratings · task order · work activities · Copilot figures · Claude
High exposure doesn't mean fewer jobs
BLS projects most occupations in its two most exposed groups to grow: 141 of 206 rated Very high and 165 of 206 rated High. Each dot is one of the 831 occupations BLS rates.
Career moves into and out of this occupation
From moves between occupations found in online resumes, 2002–2016. Career changes only: a first job after school isn't a move.
Where people moved next
of 822,669 moves out
- 1 Customer Service Representatives Very high -5.3% 8%
- 2 Retail Salespersons Very high -0.3% 6%
- 3 Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive Very high -6.0% 4%
- 4 Office Clerks, General Very high -6.0% 3%
- 5 First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers High -3.7% 3%
Where people moved in from
of 436,437 moves in
- 1 Customer Service Representatives Very high -5.3% 8%
- 2 Retail Salespersons Very high -0.3% 7%
- 3 Waiters and Waitresses Moderate +2.0% 5%
- 4 Office Clerks, General Very high -6.0% 4%
- 5 Fast Food and Counter Workers Moderate +5.8% 4%
Resumes over-represent younger, white-collar job-seekers and moves into management. Schubert, Stansbury and Taska (resume data).
Education and training for the occupation
O*NET survey of workers in this occupation
- 37% less than high school
- 44% high school
- 9% postsecondary certificate
- 9% some college
O*NET 31.0 survey of workers in this occupation · 21 people answered.
Census survey (American Community Survey)
- 23% less than high school
- 38% high school
- 24% some college
- 6% associate's
- 7% bachelor's
- 1% master's
Census ACS 2024, all workers in the Census group “Cashiers” · 29,188 people surveyed.
Why the two can differ
O*NET asks about 20 people in each occupation, which makes its shares uncertain, but it reports the exact occupation and counts certificates. The Census survey reaches thousands, but it groups some occupations together and counts degrees only. More in the Guide
Median pay by highest degree full-time, year-round · Census ACS 2024, all workers in the Census group “Cashiers”
Jobs that require a credential BLS Occupational Requirements Survey 2023
5.7% this occupation
45.3% all occupations
| By kind | This occupation | All occupations |
|---|---|---|
| an educational certificate | <0.5% | 2.8% |
| a license | not published | |
| a certification | not published |
Share of jobs whose employer requires it. BLS doesn't say which credential. How to read this
Look up certifications, training and licenses U.S. Department of Labor
- Certification Finder ↗ certifications CareerOneStop lists for this occupation
- Training Finder ↗ schools and programs, nationwide; narrow the place there
- License Finder ↗ licenses by state
- Apprenticeships: DOL's list of apprenticeable occupations doesn't include this one.
These open in a new tab and send only the occupation's public code. More in the Guide
BLS AI exposure categories (Aug 2026) · BLS Employment Projections 2025–35 · O*NET 31.0 · Task ratings: Eloundou et al., Science (2024) · Microsoft "Working with AI" v1.1 · Anthropic Economic Index (2026-06-26) · Schubert, Stansbury and Taska · NCES CIP–SOC · Census ACS 2024 · BLS JOLTS
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