Where cashiers work, and how that changes the job
There are about 3.1 million cashier jobs. Food and beverage retailers, mostly grocery stores, employ 30% of them. Gasoline stations account for 19%, general merchandise retailers 16%, food services and drinking places 11%, and building material and garden supply dealers 5%. Those settings produce quite different jobs under the same title.
A grocery cashier works a lane with a belt, scanner and scale, applies coupons and loyalty cards, and bags orders; at peak hours the line rarely stops. A gas station cashier often works alone or with one colleague, takes fuel prepayments, checks ID for tobacco and alcohol, and fills quiet hours with restocking and cleaning, sometimes overnight. In restaurants the cashier may also take orders. In a home improvement store, customers ask where products are, so knowing the store matters as much as speed at the register. Common job titles show the range: checker, store clerk, sales associate, center aisle cashier, cage cashier and toll collector.
What the pay really looks like
The median wage is $15.81 an hour, or $32,880 a year. The lowest-paid 10% earned less than $11.79 an hour ($24,530 a year) and the top 10% more than $19.43 ($40,410). The middle half earned between $28,720 and $36,330. Keep in mind that these annual wages are calculated as if people work full time, year round. Because part-time work is common for cashiers, the yearly income of many cashiers is well below these figures.
Location makes a large difference. California has the most cashier jobs, 336,110, with a median of $37,100. Texas follows with 245,730 jobs but a median of only $29,230. Florida (201,370 jobs, median $30,530), New York (158,890, median $35,500) and Illinois (139,630, median $34,490) complete the top five. The highest medians are in the District of Columbia ($38,880), Washington ($38,720) and California ($37,100).
Official wage statistics are not broken down by years of experience. In practice, cashier pay rises mainly by moving up to head cashier or supervisor, or by switching to related work that pays more. The median is $35,560 for retail sales workers, $43,030 for bank tellers and $44,770 for customer service representatives.
Self-checkout and the outlook
Cashier employment is projected to fall from 3,106,300 jobs to 2,905,700 over the next decade, a loss of 200,600 jobs, or 6%. Retail sales are expected to keep growing, but self-service checkout stands and online shopping mean stores need fewer people at the register.
That does not make the job hard to find. About 521,300 openings a year are still expected, all of them from cashiers who move to other occupations or leave the labor force. Turnover keeps hiring steady. What changes is the work itself: fewer staffed lanes, more time overseeing self-checkout, fixing scanning errors, approving age-restricted items and retrieving orders for in-store pickup.
What employers look for
There is no formal education requirement, though some employers prefer a high school diploma or equivalent. Basic math is expected, since you count money, make change and tally receipts. Beyond that, hiring managers mostly look for three things: availability, reliability and a friendly manner with customers.
On a resume or application, state your availability clearly, including evenings, weekends and holidays, because that is often the deciding factor. Mention any job where you handled money or served the public, and say so concretely: you balanced a cash drawer, handled returns, or dealt with customer complaints. Volunteering, school jobs and food service all count. If you have no work history yet, the NRF Foundation's RISE Up credentials in retail fundamentals and customer service are an optional way to show basic preparation.
The honest downsides
The work is repetitive, and cashiers spend most of their time standing behind a counter: 51% of cashiers surveyed say they stand continually or almost continually. Dealing with dissatisfied customers is stressful, and 58% say they deal with unpleasant, angry or discourteous people once a week or more, though not every day. Schedules often change week to week and include the hours most people have off. Pay sits near the bottom of the wage scale, part-time cashiers often get limited benefits, and employment is shrinking. The job works best as a first job, a flexible second income or a way into retail management, not as a destination.