Average Salary

• In May 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics published figures that put the average yearly pay for a bookkeeper working in the United States at $34,750. This works out as a monthly income of $2,896 and an average hourly pay rate of $16.71. Wage comparison website PayScale.com conducted its own survey of bookkeeper salaries in April 2011 and concluded that the average salary was $20,693 to $47,964, dependent upon bonuses and profit sharing.
  
  

Salary by Industry

• Bookkeepers work across almost all sectors of the economy. The bureau listed some of the biggest employment sectors as accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll services, local government agencies and depository credit inter-mediation. It listed the average salaries for bookkeepers working in these sectors as $34,100, $35,830 and $32,840, respectively. Bookkeeping clerks working for the postal service earned an average of $56,430, those employed by federal government agencies received $42,770, while those in elementary and secondary schools were paid an average of $35,540.
  
  

Salary by Geography

• Pay analysis website SalaryExpert.com surveyed bookkeeping wages in some major U.S. cities and listed New York, New York State, Boston, Massachusetts, and Phoenix, Arizona, as the most lucrative locations, with, across all industry sectors, averages of $46,089, $45,765 and $40,775, respectively. In contrast, Orlando, Florida, was listed at $34,429. The bureau ranked District of Columbia, Connecticut and Alaska as among the best-paying locales, averaging $47,100, $40,190 and $39,530, respectively. South Dakota was listed at $26,870.
  
  

Outlook

• If projections by the Bureau of Labor Statistics are proved correct, employment opportunities for bookkeepers should grow by around 10 percent over the decade from 2008 to 2018. This is in the middle of the estimated growth for the country as a whole, put at between 7 and 13 percent across all professions for the same 10 years. An expanding economy in combination with increasing requirements of transparency and accountability in financial dealing will spur demand and should mean salary levels for the role remain competitive.