Couriers and Messengers
Also called: Bank Courier, Bank Messenger, Bicycle Messenger, Call Person, Call Worker Person, Caller, Circular Distributor, Copy Messenger
Pick up and deliver messages, documents, packages, and other items between offices or departments within an establishment or directly to other business concerns, traveling by foot, bicycle, motorcycle, automobile, or public conveyance.
What couriers and messengers do
Typical tasks
- Deliver and pick up medical records, lab specimens, and medications to and from hospitals and other medical facilities.
- Walk, ride bicycles, drive vehicles, or use public conveyances to reach destinations to deliver messages or materials.
- Load vehicles with listed goods, ensuring goods are loaded correctly and taking precautions with hazardous goods.
- Receive messages or materials to be delivered, and information on recipients, such as names, addresses, telephone numbers, and delivery instructions, communicated via telephone, two-way radio, or in person.
- Deliver messages and items, such as newspapers, documents, and packages, between establishment departments and to other establishments and private homes.
- Record information, such as items received and delivered and recipients' responses to messages.
- Unload and sort items collected along delivery routes.
- Sort items to be delivered according to the delivery route.
- Plan and follow the most efficient routes for delivering goods.
- Perform routine maintenance on delivery vehicles, such as monitoring fluid levels and replenishing fuel.
- Obtain signatures and payments, or arrange for recipients to make payments.
- Unload goods from large trucks, and load them onto smaller delivery vehicles.
Typical path into the job (BLS)
Couriers and Messengers salary
The median annual wage for couriers and messengers is $39,200 (BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025–35, national). The lowest 10 percent earn less than $31,550 and the highest 10 percent earn more than $50,330. The mean annual wage is $40,970.
The mean hourly wage of $19.00 is 2.6× the federal minimum wage of $7.25. State minimums are higher in most large states. Minimum wage by state →
How does your pay compare with people your age?
Your numbers are not sent or stored. The comparison uses this occupation's BLS wage percentiles, adjusted for age with BLS median weekly earnings by age group (Q3 2026).
Pay by percentile
Annual wage percentiles from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). Percentiles are a good proxy for pay by experience.
Projected pay for Couriers and Messengers (3, 5 and 10 years)est.
Today $39,200 → in 3 years $43,200 → in 5 years $46,100 → in 10 years $54,100 (10-year range $46,500–$62,800). The model assumes pay growth of +3.3% per year.
What drives the annual growth rate
Projected pay = current pay × (1 + annual growth)^years. The annual growth rate starts from a base wage-growth rate and adds or subtracts labor demand (BLS projected employment growth), wage momentum and AI replacement risk for each occupation. Projections are not guarantees. How it is calculated →
Outlook score for Couriers and Messengers
Each component is a percentile rank among all occupations in the same country (0–100). Weights: labor demand 25, wage momentum / openings 15, pay level 15, AI resistance 25, aging workforce 10 (Japan only), entry barrier 10.
Will AI replace Couriers and Messengers? AI replacement risk
How AI is changing this job
A written analysis for this occupation is being prepared.
AI replacement risk compares the parts of a job that are easy to hand to AI or software (processing information, documentation, repetitive computer work) with the parts that are hard to automate (physical work, working closely with people, judgment in unpredictable settings), using O*NET work activities, work context, skills and knowledge. The result is a relative position among all occupations in the country, scaled to 0–100%. Methodology →
Labor demand for Couriers and Messengers
Employment projections are from the BLS Employment Projections program (2025–35). Annual openings include both new jobs and replacement of workers who leave the occupation.
Skills, education and requirements for Couriers and Messengers
Key skills
O*NET skill level ratings (0–7).
Key knowledge areas
What the work involves
Important abilities
Training before entry
Related work experience
Job Zone 2 — some preparation needed (O*NET)
Difficulty of entry: ★☆☆☆☆ Easy to enter (from education, training, experience and Job Zone)
How to become couriers and messengers
A step-by-step guide for this occupation is being prepared. The education, training and experience data above show the typical path.
Career path and how to earn more as couriers and messengers
Career-path guidance is being prepared. Pay by percentile is shown in the Pay section.