All careersBusiness & finance

Customer Service Representative

$44,770
median / year
$31,750 – $63,590
what most earn per year (10th–90th percentile)

What the job actually is

Answer questions, resolve complaints, and help customers with orders, accounts, and products.

You may also see this posted as: Account Representative, Customer Service Representative (CSR), Customer Service Specialist, Member Services Representative (Member Services Rep), Call Center Representative, Client Services Representative.

Where you work

Call centers, offices, or remote; at a desk with headset or chat.

The hours

Full-time and part-time; shifts including evenings and weekends.

The day to day

What you'd actually spend time doing

  • Confer with customers by telephone or in person to provide information about products or services, take or enter orders, cancel accounts, or obtain details of complaints.
  • Keep records of customer interactions or transactions, recording details of inquiries, complaints, or comments, as well as actions taken.
  • Check to ensure that appropriate changes were made to resolve customers' problems.
  • Contact customers to respond to inquiries or to notify them of claim investigation results or any planned adjustments.
  • Determine charges for services requested, collect deposits or payments, or arrange for billing.

Good fit if you like…

Conventional

organizing information, following systems, and getting details right

Enterprising

leading, persuading, selling, or turning an idea into action

Social

helping, teaching, caring for, or supporting other people

O*NET job zone 2 of 5

Some preparation—often a high school credential and on-the-job learning—is usually needed.

Work styles that matter most

DependabilitySelf-ControlCooperationSocial Orientation

Software that shows up in the work

Examples employers report—not a checklist you must already know.

Microsoft ExcelMicrosoft Office softwareMicrosoft OutlookAdobe AcrobatAdobe Creative Cloud softwareAdobe Illustrator

By the numbers

May 2025 BLS wage & employment data · 2024–34 BLS employment projections.

Median pay
$44,770
per year
Hourly median
$21.53
per hour
What most earn
$31,750–$63,590
yearly, 10th to 90th percentile
Openings a year
~341,700
projected, 2024–34
Outlook to 2034
-5.5%
Declining
Working in the U.S.
2,595,750
people, nationwide

Openings a year counts new jobs plus the ones that open when people retire or move on — a truer picture of your odds than growth alone.

“Median” means half earn more and half earn less. Your city, employer, and years on the job move it a lot — that is what the 10th-to-90th range shows.

BLS estimates 0.8% of workers in this occupation are self-employed.

What it pays in your state

Statewide medians are a better starting point than the national number. Your city and experience still matter.

BLS state wage tables

How you get in

Typical starting education

High school / no degree

Training path: Trained on the job.

Related work experience: None.

On-the-job training: Short-term on-the-job training.

License or certification

No license required; on-the-job training is standard.

You can earn while you train. This field has a genuinely paid pathway in — an apprenticeship, a paid academy, or employer-funded training — so you draw a paycheck instead of taking on debt to learn it.

Check the path where you live

Licensing rules and available programs change by state. These federal tools take you to the current official listings.

What it takes

CommunicationPatienceProblem solvingEmpathy

The honest take

Everywhere, but automating — the skills transfer to better-paid ops roles.

Standard Occupational Classification 43-4051. Pay and employment from the BLS May 2025 OEWS survey; outlook and openings from the 2024–34 employment projections; job context from the Occupational Outlook Handbook; tasks, interests, work styles, software examples, and job zone from O*NET 30.3. See something off? Tell us.