Salary Range

• The U.S. Department of Labor includes ward clerks with all types of medical secretaries for this occupational category. As of May 2010, the average salary as was $15.30 per hour, or $31,820 per year, says the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle 50 percent earned $12.16 to $17.86 per hour, or $25,300 to $37,160 per year. The bottom 10 percent of the pay scale was at or below $10.20 per hour, and the top 10 percent was at $21.60 per hour and higher, or $44,920 per year and more.
  
  

High-Paying States

• The top-paying area for ward clerks by state or district in 2010 was the District of Columbia, where these workers had an average wage of $19.60 per hour, equaling $40,770 per year. Rounding out the top five were Massachusetts at $18.52 per hour on average, Alaska at $18.15, Washington at $18.04 and Nevada at $17.87.
  
  

High-Paying Metro Areas

• Ward clerks in seven U.S. metropolitan areas earned more than $19 per hour on average in 2010. The greater Boston, Massachusetts, region was the top-paying metro area in the country for this occupation, with an average pay rate of $19.92 per hour. The Taunton-Norton-Raynham area of this state ranked second at $19.75. Salaries ranged from $19.01 to $19.56 per hour in the greater Portsmouth, New Hampshire, area, in the Atlantic City, New Jersey, area, in the greater Seattle and Mount Vernon-Anacortes regions of Washington, and in the greater San Francisco, California, metro area.
  
  

Employment Per Capita

• Rochester, Minnesota, had the most ward clerks and other medical secretaries per capita in 2010. Their average pay rate in that city was $18.61 per hour. Rounding out the top five metro areas with the largest concentrations of these workers were the Cape Girardeau, Missouri, area, with an average salary of $13.12 per hour; Medford, Oregon, at $14.72; Bend, Oregon, at $15.31, and Columbia, Missouri, at $14.04.