Counter and rental clerks job market in Massachusetts

Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.

The headline

Industry employment fell while average weekly industry wages rose

A data-driven view of the industries that employ Counter and rental clerks in Massachusetts.

Verified QCEW 2026 Q1January to March 2026 · State coverage 99.7% · BLS QCEWCitationEvidence record

Occupation pay

What Counter and rental clerks earn in Massachusetts

BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.

BLS OEWS source

Median annual wage

$44,070Massachusetts
Middle 50% of published wages
$38,430 – $50,780
U.S. median annual wage
$41,300
Reference period
May 2025

The middle 50% is the 25th-to-75th percentile wage range, not an experience-level band. Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.

Pay around Massachusetts

How median pay varies by metro area

Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Counter and rental clerks, compared with the Massachusetts median of $44,070.

Massachusetts median$44,070
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH$45,510+3.3% vs. state
Middle 50%$39,010 – $54,430Published employment6,030
Barnstable Town, MA$45,250+2.7% vs. state
Middle 50%$38,440 – $54,160Published employment230
Providence-Warwick, RI-MA$43,980−0.2% vs. state
Middle 50%$35,930 – $58,780Published employment1,380
Worcester, MA$42,840−2.8% vs. state
Middle 50%$36,860 – $47,520Published employment830
Pittsfield, MA$41,860−5.0% vs. state
Middle 50%$36,190 – $52,930Published employment140
Amherst Town-Northampton, MA$39,690−9.9% vs. state
Middle 50%$37,020 – $55,110Published employment80
View 1 more published metro area
Springfield, MA$38,860−11.8% vs. state
Middle 50%$36,260 – $47,390Published employment460

Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the Massachusetts median. Some BLS metropolitan areas cross state lines, so a metro estimate can cover workers in more than one state.

Verified snapshot

Market at a Glance

Key changes in Massachusetts’s weighted industry mix.

-1.0%Industry employmentMassachusetts industry employmentU.S. -0.2%vs. -0.2% U.S.
+0.4%Establishments in weighted industriesMassachusetts establishments in weighted industriesU.S. +1.5%vs. +1.5% U.S.
+6.7%Avg. weekly industry wageMassachusetts avg. weekly industry wageU.S. +5.2% · not occupation payvs. +5.2% U.S. · not occupation pay
-0.8 ppGap vs. U.S. industry employmentState minus U.S. industry employment change

Percentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.

Published coverage: 84,483 represented establishments, 89.71% of the published industry mix.

Local research

What the data shows for counter and rental clerks in Massachusetts

Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 10, 2026.

Published median pay is above the U.S. median

Median annual pay in Massachusetts stands 6.7% above the U.S. estimate for counter and rental clerks. The underlying OEWS May 2025 figures are $44,070 for the state and $41,300 nationally. This is a nominal wage comparison; living costs and individual pay differences are outside its scope.

OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWS

Pay differs widely between metro areas

Springfield, MA and Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH define the low and high ends of this published median-pay comparison for Massachusetts. Their estimates are $38,860 and $45,510, respectively, in OEWS May 2025; the high end is 17.1% higher. The comparison includes 6 metro areas on the same wage basis and does not measure living costs or job availability.

OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWS

Metro estimates may include areas in neighboring states. The comparison covers published metro estimates, not every part of the state.

Findings describe published data and do not establish causes. Methodology

Employment trends

Year-over-year change in the weighted industries. The U.S. line is the latest-quarter benchmark because a comparable national quarterly history is not published here.

Latest published values
  • Massachusetts · 2026 Q1-1.0%
  • U.S. · latest-quarter benchmark-0.2%

The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.

View every published value
Quarterly Massachusetts industry employment changes and coverage
QuarterMassachusettsCoverage
2024 Q2-0.6%100%
2024 Q3-0.9%100%
2024 Q4-1.0%100%
2025 Q1-0.2%99.7%
2025 Q2-0.8%99.7%
2025 Q3-1.1%99.7%
2025 Q4-0.1%99.7%
2026 Q1-1.0%99.7%

How to read this chart

State trend and national reference

The solid line follows Massachusetts’s published year-over-year industry employment changes by quarter. The dashed U.S. line is a latest-quarter reference, not a second time series.

Published quarters
8
Earliest quarter
2024 Q2
Latest quarter
2026 Q1
U.S. benchmark
-0.2%

Quarters with no published value are omitted rather than interpolated.

Industry context

Where Counter and rental clerks Work

The occupation mix determines which Massachusetts industries are weighted into this view.

Industries weighted into the Massachusetts Counter and rental clerks context
Industry groupOccupation mixEmployment changeEstablishmentsAvg. weekly industry wage
Financial activities44.9%-0.8%20,244$5,744
Trade, transportation, and utilities30.5%-1.7%40,443$1,509
Other services14.2%-0.2%23,796$1,070
Professional and business services5.8%-1.3%61,083$3,549
Leisure and hospitality3.2%-0.1%21,191$787
State and local0.5%+0.3%6,563$1,660

Which industries are growing?

One weighted industry is growing

Only weighted industries with a published positive Massachusetts employment change are listed.

  • State and local+0.3%

The remaining weighted industries published a flat or negative change in January to March 2026.

Current Massachusetts context

Current Massachusetts Market Signals

Statewide indicators for all occupations in Massachusetts. They are not Counter and rental clerks demand and are not part of the Job Market Health score.

Statewide job postings

Indeed job postings · Massachusetts

Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score

88.3Postings index · February 1, 2020 = 100Observation: Oct 23, 2026
-11.7%Versus the February 2020 baseline
+0.9%Change over about four weeksSep 25, 2026 to Oct 23, 2026

Total postings index (seasonally adjusted) by observation date · baseline 100

The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.

View values: Indeed postings index
Indeed postings index
Observation dateIndex (Feb 2020 = 100)
Jul 24, 202685.51
Jul 31, 202685.85
Aug 7, 202685.54
Aug 14, 202685.21
Aug 21, 202685.51
Aug 28, 202685.72
Sep 4, 202686.50
Sep 11, 202687.14
Sep 18, 202687.45
Sep 25, 202687.46
Oct 2, 202687.60
Oct 9, 202687.53
Oct 16, 202687.82
Oct 23, 202688.29

This is statewide demand across all occupations, not demand for this specific job. Postings are not a count of vacancies or hires, and Indeed does not cover the entire labor market.

Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0. Seven-day average, seasonally adjusted; publisher refreshes weekly and may revise history. Retrieved Nov 1, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.

Explore states and career fields · Methodology and limits

Statewide layoff notices

Statewide layoff-notice filings

Massachusetts statewide

13 notices in this source

Notice dates from Aug 5, 2026 to Nov 2, 2026 (UTC), a rolling 90-calendar-day period.

What this means: These are statewide totals from notices dated in this period in Massachusetts’s official tracking system. Reported positions are the counts published in those notices, not a count of people confirmed to have lost their jobs. No employer is identified.

Notices describe planned workforce changes, not confirmed job losses. Notices may be amended or withdrawn. This statewide context is not occupation-specific and does not affect the Job Market Health score. Massachusetts’s state tracking system also records smaller Rapid Response events that fall below federal WARN thresholds, so it is not a list of federal WARN filings only.

MassHire Department of Career Services About WARN data

Source last checked

Career context

Related roles from the occupation’s published O*NET profile.

Questions answered by this release

Counter and rental clerks in Massachusetts FAQs

Each answer is limited to what QCEW 2026 Q1 actually publishes for this state.

Is employment growing for Counter and rental clerks in Massachusetts?

The available QCEW measure is not direct occupation employment. Employment across the Massachusetts industries weighted to Counter and rental clerks changed -1.0% year over year in January to March 2026, compared with -0.2% nationwide.

Are wages for Counter and rental clerks rising in Massachusetts?

QCEW does not publish pay for Counter and rental clerks in this view. Average weekly wages across the weighted industries changed +6.7% year over year; that must not be read as an occupation salary change.

How complete is this Massachusetts industry view?

The three core state trends each meet the site’s coverage floor; the minimum published coverage is 99.7% of the occupation’s industry mix.

Does this page show current Counter and rental clerks openings?

No. QCEW measures industry employment, establishments and wages. Any postings, news or WARN figures shown here are statewide context and are not occupation-specific openings.

Methodology & sourcesQCEW 2026 Q1 · coverage 99.7% · full evidence record

Methodology & Sources

Derived by JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix. This is occupation-weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment and not a count of current job openings.

Occupation
Counter and rental clerks
SOC code
41-2021
State
Massachusetts
QCEW release label
QCEW 2026 Q1
Data period
2026 Q1
State industry employment, year over year
-1.0%State data coverage 99.7%
U.S. benchmark, year over year
-0.2%
Difference from U.S. benchmark
-0.8 percentage pointsPercentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
Establishments, year over year
+0.4%State data coverage 99.7%
Average weekly industry wage, year over year
+6.7%State data coverage 99.7%
Industry mix vintage
EP-2025-2035
BLS publication date
Aug 28, 2026
Source verification
Verified against the committed source snapshotVerified Sep 17, 2026
Canonical record URL
https://jobmarkethealth.com/occupations/counter-and-rental-clerks/massachusetts#evidence-record
Derived by
JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix

Weighted industry conditions are not direct occupation employment, occupation wages, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. No causal explanation is inferred.

Counter and rental clerks in other states