How much do document control specialists make in 2026?
Document control specialists are counted in the BLS office clerks, general series: OEWS May 2025 gives SOC 43-9061 a national median of $45,010 a year ($21.64 an hour), with the bottom 10% near $30,310 and the top 10% at $64,680. That series is enormous and generic — 2,464,940 workers doing every kind of general office work — so it is a weak match, and document control specialists in regulated industries earn well above it. Say that plainly rather than treating the median as a benchmark. The role is the controlled management of documents that carry consequences: drawings, specifications, procedures, quality records and submittals, with version control, approval workflows, distribution and retention that must be demonstrable to an auditor or a court. Industry sets the pay. Pharmaceutical, medical device, aerospace, nuclear and oil and gas document control operates under regulatory expectations where a document error is a compliance failure, and specialists there are paid substantially more than the pooled median. Engineering and construction document control sits in the middle, handling drawing revisions, submittals and transmittals on capital projects. General office document management sits at the bottom. Employment across the pooled clerk series is projected to decline 6.7% through 2034, with roughly 282,400 openings a year. → Full document control specialist career guide, career path, credentials & placement →
Note: $45,010 blends every experience level and every setting in this occupation. For pay by level alone, see Pay by Level below.
- Document Control Specialists earn a national median $45,010/yr ($21.64/hr) (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 43-9061); the P10 to P90 range is $30,310 to $64,680.
- The BLS general office clerk series is a weak match for this role, and document control specialists in regulated industries earn well above its pooled median.
- Pharmaceutical, medical device, aerospace, nuclear and oil and gas document control operates under regulatory expectations where a document error is a compliance failure, and pays accordingly.
- Engineering and construction document control sits in the middle handling drawing revisions, submittals and transmittals on capital projects.
US Document Control Specialist Pay Distribution · BLS OEWS May 2025
Pay by Level · BLS OEWS May 2025
How much do document control specialists earn at each level?
BLS OEWS publishes one blended wage for the whole occupation and does not break pay out by credential or practice level. The levels below distribute the published percentile range across the credential tiers this role actually hires at.
Level medians are aligned to the BLS OEWS May 2025 percentile distribution for SOC 43-9061; GlobalCybers does not yet publish a verified placement sample for this role, so no verified median is shown.
Methodology & Sources
How the numbers on this page are built
Published (BLS): BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 43-9061, United States national estimate. Public, methodologically rigorous, but sampled on a rolling 3-year basis and published ~10 months after collection — so it reflects wages that are already 1–2 years old by the time you read them.
Level and certification medians: distributed across the published BLS percentile range for this SOC code (P10 through P90) according to the credential tiers this occupation actually hires at. They are modeled reference points, not separately surveyed wages.
State and metro figures: modeled — the BLS national median multiplied by the GlobalCybers state wage index, and for metros by the published metro index for that state. They are estimates of local pay, not BLS state or metropolitan-area observations, and are labelled as modeled in the tables below.
No verified placement sample:GlobalCybers does not yet publish a placement median for this role, so no "verified" figure appears anywhere on this page.
Pay by Career Level
How much does a document control specialist earn at each career stage?
Document control pay follows regulatory consequence and system ownership. Each median is anchored to the BLS OEWS distribution for SOC 43-9061.
By State
Which states pay document control specialists the most in 2026?
These are modeled state estimates — the BLS national general office clerk median scaled by the GlobalCybers state wage index — not BLS state observations, and the series is generic clerical work rather than document control. Real pay depends on whether the local economy has regulated manufacturing or major capital projects, which no wage index reflects.
6 of 51 state guides shown, ranked by median. Bar is relative to California ($51,760), the highest-paying state shown. See all role salary guides →
By Metro
Which cities pay document control specialists the most?
Modeled metro estimates: the national clerk median scaled by the state wage index and then by that state's published metro index. They estimate local wage levels and are not BLS metropolitan-area observations. Pharmaceutical, aerospace and energy clusters carry the best-paid document control roles.
BLS OEWS MSA estimates, May 2025. Nominal pay — weigh each metro against its cost of living before relocating.
Certification Impact
Which certifications raise a document control specialist’s pay the most?
Median annual pay before and after each credential, based on GlobalCybers placement data cross-referenced with BLS. License upgrades move the needle most; stackable certs add on top.
Impacts are not additive, the licensing rows share the same career ladder. Browse all 167 certifications →
Trade Comparison
How does document control specialist pay compare to related roles?
BLS OEWS national median across the closest trades. Document Control Specialists sit mid-pack on median but carry one of the widest P10–P90 spreads, licensing and specialization drive the upside.
BLS OEWS May 2025. Verify document control specialist wages on BLS.gov →
Take-Home Pay
What does a document control specialist actually take home after taxes?
The medians above are gross base wage.
Estimates use 2026 federal brackets, standard deduction, and 7.65% FICA. Actual take-home varies with filing status, deductions, and local tax.
FAQ
Document Control Specialist Salary, Frequently Asked Questions
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