How To Become A Town Clerk: What It Is and Career Path

What is a town clerk and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a town clerk. For example, did you know that they make an average of $22.61 an hour? That's $47,026 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -5% and produce -130,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreTown ClerkUS Average

Salary

3.7

Avg. Salary $47,026

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.6

Growth rate -5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.86%

Asian 6.32%

Black or African American 9.69%

Hispanic or Latino 13.20%

Unknown 4.17%

White 65.75%

Gender

female 87.46%

male 12.54%

Age - 50

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 50

Stress level

6.6

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

4.3

Complexity level is basic

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.1

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a town clerk

Explore town clerk education requirements

Most common town clerk degrees

Bachelor's

40.2 %

Associate

29.2 %

High School Diploma

16.6 %

Start to develop specific town clerk skills

Skills	Percentages
Payroll	14.29%
Customer Service	10.53%
Birth Certificates	7.86%
Meeting Minutes	7.05%
Financial Statements	6.30%

Complete relevant town clerk training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New town clerks learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a town clerk based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real town clerk resumes.

Research town clerk duties and responsibilities

Manage municipal finances which include accounts payable/receivable, and payroll
Issue court orders such as; warrants, subpoenas, summons, and payments of fines.
Process all accounts payable, using AS400 system.
Assist with collections and maintain accounting records using QuickBooks.

Prepare your town clerk resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your town clerk resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a town clerk resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable town clerk resume templates

Build a professional town clerk resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your town clerk resume.