Receptionists
Official title Receptionists and Information Clerks (SOC 43-4171)
Also called Front desk receptionist, Front desk clerk, Information clerk, Administrative receptionist, Office receptionist
In brief
In May 2025, BLS counted 910,180 US receptionists, with median pay of $38,010 a year. Of the BLS counts since 2003, the highest was 1,112,350, in May 2006. The earliest figure here is an estimate of 200,000 from 1950, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era for receptionists: Digital visitor management kiosks, 2015 to 2023.
What the sources say
Official outlook
BLS projects employment to decline 1.7% from 2025 to 2035.
AI exposure studies
- 58.3% of this job's tasks are exposed to large language models. Not a forecast of job losses. Eloundou and others, 2023
Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. BLS publishes these counts as yearly survey snapshots and cautions against reading them as a precise trend. In May 2021 BLS changed how it estimates these counts (a model-based method using three years of survey data) and moved fully to the 2018 occupation codes, so part of a change across 2021 can come from the method rather than the work.
Last updated .
Cite this page
Future History. (2026, October 11). Receptionists: jobs and pay since 1950 [Data set; data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35]. https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/43-4171
Future History. "Receptionists: jobs and pay since 1950." Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. Last modified October 11, 2026. https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/43-4171.
@misc{futurehistory_43_4171, author = {{Future History}}, title = {Receptionists: jobs and pay since 1950}, year = {2026}, month = oct, howpublished = {\url{https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/43-4171}}, note = {Last updated 2026-10-11. Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35}, }
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≈ $37,035 in 2024 prices (derived by us, CPI-adjusted)
The word 'receptionist' entered English in 1900, coined to describe a person hired to receive clients in an office or institution. The earliest documented use was in Wilson's Photographic Magazine, where the role was described in the context of photography studios. The occupation grew from the confluence of two forces: expanding professional offices that needed a dedicated front-of-house person, and the spread of the telephone that required someone to be at the instrument whenever it rang.
By the 1920s, the receptionist had become an overwhelmingly female occupation. The gendering of front-desk work followed the broader feminization of clerical labor that occurred in the US between 1900 and 1930: as offices expanded and required more clerical staff, women were hired at lower wages for roles framed as 'service' work. The receptionist's function -- welcoming, soothing, and routing visitors and callers -- mapped onto gender expectations of the era, reinforcing both the feminization of the role and its relatively low pay.
The postwar expansion of white-collar employment, driven by the GI Bill, suburban office park development, and growth in professional services and healthcare, dramatically increased demand for receptionists through the late 1940s and 1950s. Every new medical practice, law firm, insurance agency, and corporate regional office needed a front desk. The receptionist became one of the most numerically common female occupations in the United States by 1960.
The Equal Pay Act (1963) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (1964) nominally applied to receptionist wages, but enforcement was slow and the occupation remained low-paid relative to comparable work performed by men. The women's rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s brought demands for better pay and treatment for secretaries, receptionists, and other clerical workers, with the '9 to 5' movement (later the basis for the 1980 film) organizing clerical workers around wage equity and workplace dignity. Wage gains were modest; the real-wage gap between receptionists and professional workers widened through this period.
The COVID-19 pandemic (2020-21) caused the sharpest single-year employment disruption in the history of the receptionist occupation. With offices closed, medical practices running reduced-capacity protocols, and hotels at historic low occupancy, receptionist employment fell sharply in 2020. The pandemic simultaneously accelerated two structural trends that continued post-recovery: remote-work adoption reduced the number of in-person office visits requiring front-desk management, and contactless check-in requirements drove rapid deployment of visitor management kiosks in settings that had previously resisted them.
Healthcare and social assistance is the largest single employer of receptionists, accounting for approximately 31% of the 43-4171 workforce in 2024. This sector concentration gives the occupation both resilience and vulnerability: healthcare front desks are unlikely to disappear entirely because physical presence in a clinic or hospital carries genuine value, but the healthcare sector was also the fastest-adopting segment for AI phone receptionists in 2023-26, with 38% of practices deploying AI phone answering or scheduling by early 2026.
Will AI replace receptionists? What the research says
Each figure is stated by the named source; we publish no forecasts of our own. Where sources disagree, we show the disagreement rather than an average.
Each figure is stated by the named source; we publish no forecasts of our own. Where sources disagree, the spread is the honest signal.
What's changing day to day for receptionists
Three parts of your work where AI is already doing real lifting, and what stays yours.
AI is taking this onHandle inbound calls that AI phone systems (RingCentral AIR, Goodcall, voiceOC) transferred to a human -- complex routing requests, distressed callers, multi-leg inquiries, and situations where the caller explicitly requested a person -- while reviewing AI call summaries and CRM logs for accuracy.
Handle inbound calls that AI phone systems (RingCentral AIR, Goodcall, voiceOC) transferred to a human -- complex routing requests, distressed callers, multi-leg inquiries, and situations where the caller explicitly requested a person -- while reviewing AI call summaries and CRM logs for accuracy.[2],[3]
The calls reaching you are the ones the AI could not close -- which means they are harder and more varied than what the old switchboard job required. Develop a structured triage habit: read the AI call summary before you speak, classify the issue in five seconds, and apply the right resolution path. Your speed on complex cases is measurable and visible to supervisors; make it your primary performance metric.
AI is taking this onManage appointment calendars in settings where AI scheduling tools (Calendly AI, RingCentral AIR appointment booking, medical scheduling AI) have not been deployed or have failed -- handling complex scheduling conflicts, multi-party bookings, and last-minute rescheduling that requires judgment and direct communication with the parties involved.
Manage appointment calendars in settings where AI scheduling tools (Calendly AI, RingCentral AIR appointment booking, medical scheduling AI) have not been deployed or have failed -- handling complex scheduling conflicts, multi-party bookings, and last-minute rescheduling that requires judgment and direct communication with the parties involved.[9],[4],[10]
Learn the scheduling integrations your employer uses and position yourself as the person who manages the system, not just the person who books appointments. Receptionists who can configure Calendly or the practice management software, train new staff on it, and troubleshoot integration failures are doing a job that AI cannot do for itself -- and they are harder to replace.
AI is sitting alongside you hereAnswer non-routine information requests that AI phone and chat systems cannot resolve -- unusual department routing, complex visitor situations, organizational information not in the AI knowledge base, and inquiries requiring relationship knowledge or real-time judgment about who to involve.
Answer non-routine information requests that AI phone and chat systems cannot resolve -- unusual department routing, complex visitor situations, organizational information not in the AI knowledge base, and inquiries requiring relationship knowledge or real-time judgment about who to involve.[11],[7]
Build deep organizational knowledge that no AI system has -- the informal networks, the people who actually know things, the shortcuts and exceptions that are not in any knowledge base. The receptionist who can say "actually, for that you want to ask Maria in Finance, not the main number" is irreplaceable. Cultivate those relationships deliberately.
Where receptionists go next
Natural next steps for someone with your foundation: not exits, evolutions.
- First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers
- US median pay
- $69,500 (May 2025)
- BLS outlook 2025-35
- +0.1%
- Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
- US median pay
- $45,930 (May 2025)
- BLS outlook 2025-35
- +4.8%
What each move takes
First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers
Receptionists who adopt AI tools and demonstrate organizational competency are naturally positioned for first-line supervisor roles over office and administrative support staff. The path is organic: experienced receptionists who understand both the human-facing and AI-tool layers of front desk operations are exactly what employers need to manage hybrid AI-and-human admin teams. The pay uplift is meaningful -- supervisors earn a median premium over the receptionist floor -- and the stability is higher because management roles compress more slowly than the volume-processing work they oversee.
- · Staff scheduling and performance monitoring (shift management, coverage planning)
- · Office workflow documentation (writing and maintaining SOPs for AI and human tasks)
- · Conflict resolution and disciplinary conversation basics (HR fundamentals)
- · Budget tracking for supplies and vendor management (basic Excel or Google Sheets)
- · Certified Administrative Professional (CAP) credential (IAAP, approximately $300 exam fee)
How has the work of receptionists changed since 1900?
The tools that defined the work, one line per era. Select an era to see how it reshaped the work.
Manual telephone switchboard and appointment ledger
The first generation of receptionists operated a physical switchboard: a panel of jacks, cords, and keys that connected callers to the right office by physically plugging copper wire into the correct socket. Large organizations had dedicated telephone operators for this function; small professional offices combined the switchboard with front-desk duties under a single person. The appointment ledger -- a handwritten book organized by day and time -- was the scheduling tool. Confirming an appointment meant writing it in ink, erasing if cancelled, and keeping the book legible enough that anyone could cover for the receptionist. The core skill was memory and interpersonal fluency: knowing which doctor was in surgery, which lawyer was in conference, and which client needed to be told to wait without feeling dismissed.
PABX (Private Automated Branch Exchange) -- automatic internal call routing
The PABX (Private Automated Branch Exchange) was introduced in the early 1960s to handle internal office calls without requiring a human operator. For the first time, employees could dial each other directly on an extension; the receptionist no longer had to manually connect every internal call. By the mid-1970s, electronic switching had replaced the large manual boards in most corporate offices. This did not eliminate the receptionist -- external callers still arrived at a switchboard position, and someone still had to greet visitors at the front -- but it fundamentally changed the workload: the PBX operator became a front-desk coordinator rather than a telephone routing specialist. The role shed its most machine-like task and kept its most human one.
Effect on the workThe PABX eliminated the dedicated telephone operator role in most small and mid-size organizations, consolidating telephone duties with the front-desk function. Telephone operator employment (a separate BLS category) declined between 1970 and 1980 as PABX spread; receptionist employment continued to grow because visitor management and information provision were not automated.
PC + voicemail + electronic scheduling (Word, early EHR, Outlook)
The personal computer arrived on the reception desk in the early-to-mid 1980s, first as a word processor and then as the front end of an office management system. In medical and dental practices, the PC became the patient scheduling and billing terminal. In corporate offices, it became the email inbox and calendar. Voicemail systems (deployed widely through the mid-1980s) absorbed the after-hours and overflow call volume that had previously required a human to answer. Microsoft Outlook and calendar-sharing arrived in the late 1990s and shifted some appointment-setting tasks to email and online calendars. The net effect was additive rather than subtractive: the receptionist gained new software tools without losing existing visitor-management and information-provision duties, and the new tools expanded the scope of what a single receptionist could handle.
IVR systems + online scheduling portals (automated call trees, practice management software)
Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems -- automated call trees ("Press 1 for appointments, Press 2 for billing") -- became standard in healthcare and large organizations through the 2000s, routing a significant portion of inbound calls without human intervention. Online patient portals and appointment-scheduling websites (ZocDoc launched 2007; most major EHR vendors added patient portals by 2012) moved routine appointment booking to self-service digital channels. For the receptionist, the practical effect was a shift in the inbound call mix: routine inquiries increasingly went to IVR or the web, leaving the receptionist to handle the calls that required judgment -- scheduling conflicts, urgent needs, and callers who could not navigate the automated systems. Employment held largely steady through this period, suggesting that the automation of the simplest tasks did not reduce headcount but rather shifted the average complexity of what the human handled.
Digital visitor management kiosks (Envoy, Greetly, ALICE Receptionist)
Tablet-based visitor management systems -- Envoy (founded 2013, wide deployment by 2015), Greetly, and ALICE Receptionist -- replaced the paper sign-in sheet and, in many cases, the receptionist's physical presence for routine visitor arrivals. A visitor approaching the kiosk signs in digitally, receives a badge, has their identity checked against a watchlist, signs any required NDAs, and receives a host notification -- all without human involvement. For offices with predictable visitor flows and low walk-in complexity, these systems reduced or eliminated the need for a dedicated front-desk person during business hours. The pandemic (2020-21) dramatically accelerated kiosk adoption because contactless check-in solved a public-health problem, bringing digital visitor management into settings (medical offices, government buildings) that had previously resisted it.
Effect on the workVisitor management kiosks did not eliminate receptionist positions in isolation, but they contributed to the consolidation of front-desk functions: one receptionist could now oversee a kiosk-assisted lobby that previously required two, and smaller offices that previously needed a part-time receptionist for visitor sign-in could run without one for portions of the day. The BLS employment plateau from roughly 2010-2020 reflects this partial displacement.
AI voice receptionists + scheduling bots (RingCentral AIR, Goodcall, Calendly AI)
AI voice receptionists represent a qualitatively different threat than anything the receptionist occupation has faced before. Earlier technologies automated a single task (the PBX removed internal call routing; the kiosk removed visitor sign-in) while leaving the overall role intact. AI voice systems -- RingCentral AI Receptionist (AIR, launched November 2024), Goodcall, and similar products -- can answer every inbound call around the clock, identify caller intent in natural language, provide business information, route calls with context summaries, book appointments directly into calendar systems, send SMS confirmations, and handle routine FAQ queries. As of May 2026, RingCentral AIR serves 11,800-plus businesses, with deployment growing 44% quarter-over-quarter. Deloitte healthcare data (via aggregators) indicates that 70% of routine calls require no human intervention when AI systems are properly configured. The tasks remaining for human receptionists in AI-augmented settings are those that require physical presence (packages, distressed walk-ins, lobby logistics), emotional de-escalation in high-stakes contexts, and complex multi-party coordination that voice AI still resolves unreliably.
Effect on the workMcKinsey (2025) projected that demand for clerks including receptionists could fall by 1.6 million positions as AI automation matures. The BLS "little or no change" projection for 2024-34 is the most conservative of the major forecasts; Goldman Sachs and McKinsey scenarios suggest a more meaningful contraction in the clerical-administrative cluster.
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Browse all rolesReceptionists and Information Clerks employment and pay by year
In other countries
The latest figure each country's statistics agency publishes for this job. Each uses its own occupation definition, survey basis and currency, so the numbers are not directly comparable with each other or with the US figures.
United Kingdom (UK SOC 4216)
- Employment, 2025
- 185,000, ONS ASHE 2025 Official statistic Report an errorONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Table 14): employee jobs in SOC 4216 Receptionists, United Kingdom, 2025 (ASHE "number of jobs", thousands x1000; excludes self-employment). Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Median pay, 2025
- £18,152, ONS ASHE 2025 Official statistic Report an errorONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Table 14.7a): median gross annual pay for all employee jobs in SOC 4216 Receptionists, United Kingdom, 2025. Open Government Licence v3.0.
Australia (ANZSCO 5421)
- Employment, 2025
- 179,700, ABS Labour Force Survey Official statistic Report an errorABS Labour Force Survey (Detailed), table EQ08: employed persons in ANZSCO 5421 Receptionists, national (summed across sex and state/territory), annual average of 4 quarterly estimates.
- Median pay, 2025
- A$63,908, ABS Employee Earnings May 2025 Official statistic Report an errorAnnualised (x52) from A$1,229 median weekly earnings. ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025: median pay for full-time non-managerial employees paid at the adult rate, before tax. Surfaced via the Jobs and Skills Australia occupation profile.
View all 33 years of cited US data, each linked to its source
| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | 200,000 | n/a | Est., FRASER / US BLS Bulletin 253 Researched context | Report |
| 1956 | n/a | $2,600 | Est., University of Missouri Libraries Researched context | Report |
| 1970 | 450,000 | n/a | Est., BLS OOH Researched context | Report |
| 1972 | n/a | $5,616 (average) | BLS CPS 1972 Researched context | Report |
| 1974 | n/a | $5,876 (average) | BLS CPS 1974 Researched context | Report |
| 1978 | n/a | $8,060 (average) | BLS CPS 1978 Researched context | Report |
| 1980 | n/a | $9,724 (average) | BLS CPS 1980 Researched context | Report |
| 1990 | 900,000 | $17,000 | Decennial Census (employment) Researched contextEst., University of Missouri Libraries (pay) Researched context | Report |
| 1999 | n/a | $21,075 | Census 2000 Researched context | Report |
| 2000 | 1,054,300 | $20,040 | BLS OEWS 2000 Official statistic | Report |
| 2003 | 1,058,790 | $21,320 | BLS OEWS May 2003 Official statistic | Report |
| 2004 | 1,071,230 | $21,830 | BLS OEWS May 2004 Official statistic | Report |
| 2005 | 1,088,400 | $22,150 | BLS OEWS May 2005 Official statistic | Report |
| 2006 | 1,112,350 | $22,900 | BLS OEWS May 2006 Official statistic | Report |
| 2007 | 1,100,790 | $23,710 | BLS OEWS May 2007 Official statistic | Report |
| 2008 | 1,097,610 | $24,550 | BLS OEWS May 2008 Official statistic | Report |
| 2009 | 1,052,120 | $25,070 | BLS OEWS May 2009 Official statistic | Report |
| 2010 | 997,080 | $25,240 | BLS OEWS May 2010 Official statistic | Report |
| 2011 | 973,800 | $25,690 | BLS OEWS May 2011 Official statistic | Report |
| 2012 | 966,150 | $25,990 | BLS OEWS May 2012 Official statistic | Report |
| 2013 | 973,580 | $26,410 | BLS OEWS May 2013 Official statistic | Report |
| 2014 | 981,150 | $26,760 | BLS OEWS May 2014 Official statistic | Report |
| 2015 | 975,890 | $27,300 | BLS OEWS May 2015 Official statistic | Report |
| 2016 | 997,770 | $27,920 | BLS OEWS May 2016 Official statistic | Report |
| 2017 | 1,014,900 | $28,390 | BLS OEWS May 2017 Official statistic | Report |
| 2018 | 1,043,630 | $29,140 | BLS OEWS May 2018 Official statistic | Report |
| 2019 | 1,057,370 | $30,050 | BLS OEWS May 2019 Official statistic | Report |
| 2020 | 968,420 | $31,110 | BLS OEWS May 2020 Official statistic | Report |
| 2021 | 983,150 | $29,950 | BLS OEWS May 2021 Official statistic | Report |
| 2022 | 1,011,170 | $33,960 | BLS OEWS May 2022 Official statistic | Report |
| 2023 | 1,003,820 | $35,840 | BLS OEWS May 2023 Official statistic | Report |
| 2024 | 964,530 | $37,230 | BLS OEWS May 2024 Official statistic | Report |
| 2025 | 910,180 | $38,010 | BLS OEWS May 2025 Official statistic | Report |
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