OverviewSalaryAboutEducationWhere are the jobsEmploymentGenderRace/Origin
Overview
Receive 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.
Titles for this career often contain these words
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Responsibilities and activities
Cashiers typically do the following:
- Greet customers
- Scan or register customers’ purchases
- Accept payments from customers and give change and receipts
- Bag or wrap customers’ purchases
- Process returns and exchanges of merchandise
- Answer customers’ questions and provide information about store policies
- Help customers sign up for store rewards programs or credit cards
- Count the money in their register at the beginning and end of each shift
In some establishments, cashiers have to check the age of their customers when selling age-restricted products, such as alcohol and tobacco. Some cashiers may have duties not directly related to sales and customer service, such as mopping floors, taking out the trash, and other custodial tasks. Others may stock shelves or mark prices on items.
Cashiers use scanners, registers, or calculators to process payments and returns or exchanges of merchandise.
Salary
Median salary: $25,020 annually
Half of those employed in this career earn between $21,310 and $28,840.
Context: Median Salary
How do salaries for this career compare to other jobs' salaries?
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Salary growth for cashiers
Is this job likely to reward you for sticking with it through pay raises and promotions? The higher a job’s “experience quotient,” the more you are likely to get as you stay there.
Experience quotient percentile
Take a minute to look at how much you might expect your salary to increase with each five years' experience, as well as how the numbers working at each age change. Does this seem to be a job for the young or the old, or could it be a career offering steady salary growth for many years?
Salary distribution
Number employed
About Cashiers
How do benefits for this career compare to other jobs? The availability of health care, especially employer provided health care, and pension plans can add significantly to the value of compensation you receive in a career. These charts compare how this career compares to other careers with regard to health care and pension plans.
Employee has health insurance
Employer is providing health insurance
Employer-provided pension plan is available
Worker concerns
Some jobs are more stressful than others, and some are just plain dangerous. The following list gives the percentages of cashiers who report hazardous or difficult situations typically occurring at least once a week.
- Unpleasant or Angry People (70%)
- High Conflict Frequency (61%)
- Time Pressure (41%)
- Consequence of Error (31%)
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Personality and skills
Can you see yourself in the ranks of Cashiers? Here are the skills and traits that could lead to success.
Communication skills
Cashiers must pay attention to customers’ questions and explain pricing.
Customer-service skills
Cashiers must be courteous and friendly when helping customers.
Dexterity
Cashiers use their hands to operate registers and scan purchases.
Near vision
Cashiers need to see well enough to scan items and process transactions accurately.
Patience
Cashiers must be able to remain calm when interacting with customers.
Physical stamina
Cashiers stand for long periods.
Injury and Illness
About 36 cashiers become injured or ill for every 10,000 workers, making this job more dangerous than 62% of other careers. The most common specific illnesses or injuries are detailed following.
Heat (thermal) burns
Carpal tunnel syndrome
All multiple traumatic injuries
Education pathways to this career
Education attained by cashiers
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), cashiers typically hold no formal educational credential.
Sometimes the typical education identified by the BLS differs a bit from the reality of the how much education current workers actually have. The donut shows the education level held by people currently working as cashiers as reported in responses to the American Community Survey.
Details: Education and training recommended for cashiers
Although most jobs for cashiers have no specific education requirements, some employers prefer applicants with a high school diploma or equivalent. Cashiers should have a basic knowledge of mathematics, because they need to be able to make change and count the money in their registers.
Education level of Cashiers
Only 9% of cashiers have a bachelor's degree or higher.
Education attained by cashiers
None
High School
Some College
Associate's Degree
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
Where are the jobs
State-by-state employment numbers
Some careers tend to be centered in specific parts of the country. For example, most jobs in fashion are in New York or California. Let's see if your dream job is easy to find in your dream location! We have a few choices for viewing the data that can help you get a full employment picture.
Select a state to see local area details
Number of Cashiers per 1,000 workers (ACS)
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Job density versus job count
Which states hire the most cashiers? We wonder if that's a fair question since states come in all sizes, so instead let's start with the question of which states have the highest density of people working as cashiers. You can choose to view the number of jobs per state if you prefer.
Salaries by state
Let's get a feel for where cashiers earn the highest salaries. There are several choices for which data we consider and how we view that data, and each can lead to different conclusions, so please read on...
Median salary versus state ratio
We use two methods to compare salaries across states:
- In-state comparisons: the ratio of median (middle) salaries for cashiers compared to the median salary for all people working in each state, or
- Median salary: the unaltered median salaries for cashiers.
The darkest shading corresponds to states in which cashiers earn the highest salary when compared to other jobs in the state. We think this figure might be a better indicator than the actual salary for your buying power as a state resident.
Select a state to see local area details
Location-adjusted median salary for Cashiers (ACS for all specialties)
Employment
63% of Cashiers are working part time.
We’ve found that some jobs have a huge number of part-time workers, and typically that is because they are unable to find full-time work or the job itself can’t provide full-time hours. With 63% part-time workers, this occupation has a higher percentage of part-time workers than 98% of careers.
Employer types
This donut shares the break-down of workers by employer type, giving us a picture of what employers most typically hire for this career.
Employers of undefined (ACS)
Private for-profit
Private not-for-profit
Local government
State government
Federal government
Self-employed incorporated
Self-employed not incorporated
Working without pay
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Distribution: Salaries of cashiers by type of employer
Here are the salary distributions based on employer type.
Gender
Cashiers and gender
With 71% women, this occupation has a higher percentage of women than 81% of careers.
Gender of Cashiers
Men (29%)
Women (71%)
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary in this career? The closer the bars are, the less discrepancy there is.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
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Context: Women in the workforce
How does this career compare to other careers with regard to the percentage of women in the career.
Context: Salary inequity
The median salary for all full-time male workers in the
US exceeds the full-time median salary for women
by 19%.
The situation is a little better for cashiers, with the
median salary for men 8%
higher than the median salary for women.
Race/Origin
Race and origin of Cashiers
This donut shows the distribution of race and origin among those employed as Cashiers.
Race/origin of cashiers
White (59% )
Black (18% )
Asian (9% )
Other (8% )
Multiracial (3% )
American Indian (1% )
Hispanic (1% )
Pacific Islander (0% )
Distribution: salaries by race/origin
Some careers might have a pay disparity based on race or origin, the closer the below bars are the less of a discrepancy is present.
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
