School office and clerical pay in California, by district (2026–27)

Updated 2026-11-05

The typical California district pays school office staff about $21.77 to $28.34 an hour this school year. The highest posted pay right now is at Sequoia Union High School District ($37.98–$53.27/hr), Portola Valley Elementary ($40.13–$51.24/hr) and San Francisco Unified School District ($29.40–$49.17/hr). 181 office jobs are open today at 128 districts and schools.

The tables below cover 242 districts and schools, from 647 postings since July 1, and they update every day.

What's in "office"

A school office runs on a few jobs with many names: office assistant, school secretary, attendance clerk, health clerk, front-desk or receptionist, and clerk typist. The secretary at a school site is usually the senior job and pays the most; attendance and front-office jobs are where most people start. These are among the few school staff jobs that are usually full days, and many of them are 10- or 11-month jobs that follow the school year.

Postings usually ask for a high school diploma, office or customer-service experience, and comfort with computers; many ask for a typing test or certificate, with the exact speed stated in the posting. Bilingual Spanish is asked for often and sometimes carries extra pay. Larger districts hire through a "merit system": you take a written test, land on a ranked list, and get interviewed from it, so watch the exam dates.

Payroll, accounting and management jobs are paid on different ranges and aren't in these tables.

Office pay by district

Where these numbers come from

We read every office and clerical posting on EDJOIN and on the job boards of districts that post elsewhere, as long as it's open now or went up after July 1, 2026, and keep the ones that list an hourly rate. Substitutes, accounting and payroll jobs, and managers are left out. New hires usually start at the low end of a range. Pay changes, so check the posting before you apply.