Career Explorer Sales
Changing shape
Cashiers
Receive and disburse money in establishments other than financial institutions. May use electronic scanners, cash registers, or related equipment. May process credit or debit card transactions and validate checks.
Among the careers AI is changing fastest: more resilient than 9% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is high (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it high), and US jobs are projected to change by -6.5% by 2035, expected to shrink.
AI can do many of the tasks, and hiring is expected to grow slower than average or to shrink. The job is likely to change, so build the human parts of it.
- Median pay (2025)
- $32,880
- Job growth to 2035
- -6.5%
- Openings a year
- 521,000
- People doing it (2025)
- 3.1 million
- Usual route in
- No formal credential, then short on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Execute financial transactions
- Provide information to guests, clients, or customers
- Explain technical details of products or services
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Reconcile financial data
- Maintain sales or financial records
- Monitor financial data or activities
What the work looks like
- Receive payment by cash, check, credit cards, vouchers, or automatic debits.
- Greet customers entering establishments.
- Calculate total payments received during a time period, and reconcile this with total sales.
- Issue receipts, refunds, credits, or change due to customers.
- Count money in cash drawers at the beginning of shifts to ensure that amounts are correct and that there is adequate change.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as online sales increase and self-checkout systems become more common.
- Fewer of these jobs, as self-checkout systems become more common and increasingly replace cashiers.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Gambling and sports book writers and runnersChanging shape, Index 26, +1.8%
- Food preparation workersHuman edge, steady, Index 40, -3.0%
- Cooks, fast foodHuman edge, steady, Index 42, +0.6%
- Parking attendantsHuman edge, steady, Index 58, +2.0%
Also known as: Cashier, Checker, Sales Associate, Store Clerk, Cage Cashier, Center Aisle Cashier, Central Aisle Cashier, Customer Assistant.
Is this career on your child's list?
Build a free Career Playbook matched to your child, or get a 90-day Action Plan with dated next steps, written for your child by name.
Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.