Receptionist salary: Receptionist Pay Benchmark
The median published figure in the Receptionist Pay Benchmark is 32.58 USD across 2 sources' own pages (range 18.27 to 46.89 USD), read 12 October 2026.
2 of the 16 named sources read in full publish a figure; 14 publish none, read 12 October 2026.
The median is unchanged since 26 September 2026 (was 32.58 USD across 2).
Every figure, with its source
One row per source: the figure the source's own page publishes, the page, and the day it was read. A figure that is not on a page we read is not on this one.
| Source | Figure | Read |
|---|---|---|
| BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation news release | 46.89USD | 2026-10-12 |
| BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, receptionists | 18.27USD | 2026-10-12 |
The sentence each figure was read from (2)
- BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation news release, read 2026-10-12:
Total employer compensation costs for private industry workers averaged $46.89 per hour worked in June
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, receptionists, read 2026-10-12:
The median hourly wage for receptionists was $18.27 in May 2025.
Read in full, publishes no figure
14 named sources were read in full on the dates shown and print no usable figure. They are counted, never filled in.
- BLS OEWS 43-4171, receptionists and information clerks, read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- BLS OEWS 43-2011, switchboard operators including answering service, read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- BLS OEWS tables, read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- BLS OEWS data structure, read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- BLS OEWS industry estimates, NAICS 5614 business support services, read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- BLS overview of wage data by area and occupation, read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, office and administrative support, read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- BLS employment projections by occupation, read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- BLS ECEC table 2, private industry workers, read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- BLS Employee Benefits Survey, read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wages news release, read 2026-09-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- BLS Employee Tenure news release, read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- BLS JOLTS news release, read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- BLS TED, The Economics Daily, read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
Methodology
Every row is a verbatim sentence read from the named source's own page through our fetch service on the date shown, hash-pinned to the stored read (the sha of the page's visible text; the raw page is mirrored to R2).
2 of the 16 named sources that could be read published a usable figure; 14 published none and are recorded as not published, never filled in; 0 could not be read (blocked, dead or unreachable) and count nowhere.
The headline figures (median, minimum, maximum, quartiles) are over ONE figure per source in USD (a source's median where its page yielded several accepted sentences), so N counts sources, never sentences; 46 candidate sentence(s) were refused by a reviewer with the reason recorded.
The fuller derivation this dataset is chartered to grow into (not yet what the figures above are; they are each source's own published figure as read): the BLS median wage for the two occupations that actually answer phones - receptionists (43-4171) and switchboard operators including answering service (43-2011) - loaded with the measured employer on-cost per hour worked, divided down to a cost per COVERED HOUR, and then set against the price index's effective cost per answered call at the same volume.
That comparison is the venture's whole argument and nobody publishes it, because the wage series and the provider prices live in different worlds: the agency does not know the prices and the providers do not cite the wage.
Beside it, the projected change in employment for both occupations, which is whether this job still exists in ten years.
46 candidate sentences on these pages were refused by a reviewer; each refusal and its reason is recorded in the review ledger.
Sources (16)
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, receptionists(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- BLS OEWS 43-4171, receptionists and information clerks(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- BLS OEWS 43-2011, switchboard operators including answering service(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- BLS OEWS tables(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- BLS OEWS data structure(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- BLS OEWS industry estimates, NAICS 5614 business support services(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- BLS overview of wage data by area and occupation(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, office and administrative support(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- BLS employment projections by occupation(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation news release(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- BLS ECEC table 2, private industry workers(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- BLS Employee Benefits Survey(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wages news release(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- BLS Employee Tenure news release(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- BLS JOLTS news release(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- BLS TED, The Economics Daily(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
Cite or embed this figure
Cite or embed this figure
The median published figure in the Receptionist Pay Benchmark is 32.58 USD across 2 sources' own pages (range 18.27 to 46.89 USD), read 12 October 2026.
2 of the 16 named sources read in full publish a figure; 14 publish none, read 12 October 2026.
The median is unchanged since 26 September 2026 (was 32.58 USD across 2).
Cite as: "Answering Service Quotes Receptionist Pay Benchmark", updated 2026-10-18, https://answeringservicequotes.com/datasets/receptionist-pay-benchmark/.
Download the CSV (2 rows, computed 2026-10-18)