How to hire a receptionist
for a small business (2026)
A receptionist in the United States earns a median of $38,010 a year, or $18.27 an hour, by the Bureau of Labor Statistics' May 2025 count, and the middle half of receptionists earn between $33,960 and $45,130. Allying does the phone half of this job priced off the salary you post, with a monthly minimum of $1,395 that most receptionist postings land on, and does the first week before any call with you.
Last updated
What a receptionist earns in 2026
| Percentile | Annual | Hourly |
|---|---|---|
| 10th | $28,760 | $13.83 |
| 25th | $33,960 | $16.33 |
| Median | $38,010 | $18.27 |
| 75th | $45,130 | $21.70 |
| 90th | $49,950 | $24.01 |
Data: BLS OEWS May 2025 (released 2026-05-15); O*NET 31.0 (August 2026). National figures for Receptionists and Information Clerks (SOC 43-4171), 910,180 employed. Last updated 2026-09-17.
The six largest metros by employment in this occupation, with the median in each: New York $44,690; Los Angeles $43,280; Chicago $38,060; Philadelphia $38,030; Dallas-Fort Worth $37,060; Miami $37,570. If your posting reads "customer service representative" (a home-services office, a call center), BLS files it under Customer Service Representatives instead, where the median is $44,770.
BLS expects about 105,100 openings for receptionists each year over the decade to 2035, all of them to fill seats people leave, with the total number of jobs falling about 2% (Occupational Outlook Handbook, read 2026-09-17).
What does a receptionist actually do all day?
O*NET's task list for the job, in plain words:
- Answers the phone, screens and forwards calls, takes messages and books appointments.
- Greets whoever walks in, works out what they need, and points them to the right person or room.
- Takes payments and writes up receipts.
- Keeps the appointment calendar current: books, moves and cancels.
- Answers the questions callers ask, sometimes by looking something up first.
- Quotes prices from the price list.
- Sends people the forms and documents they need, by email or post.
- Hears complaints and sorts the ones they can.
- Keeps the files straight.
- Explains where things are, who does what, and what the business offers.
- Helps with the paperwork: proofreading, typing up notes, invoices.
- Sorts and hands out the mail and deliveries.
Half of that list happens at the counter and half of it happens on the phone. The two halves fail differently: a full waiting room at the counter, and on the phone the call that rang out to voicemail at lunch and booked with the practice down the street.
What to look for in a receptionist
Calm on a busy line. Someone who takes one question at a time, says what happens next and when, and does not hide behind "that's our policy." Ask about the booking system you already run (ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, Jobber, Open Dental, Dentrix, OpenTable, Resy); hands-on time in it saves you weeks. Ask what they do when a caller is anxious rather than urgent, because the answer tells you whether they can hear the difference.
How to write the posting
Say which half you are hiring for, or both. List the hours the phone must be answered, including lunch, evenings and Saturdays if that is when your customers call. Name the booking system. List the emergencies that must reach a person at once (no heat, an active leak, dental trauma, a reaction after a visit). Say what the receptionist may quote (a service call fee, a new-patient exam) and what needs the owner. Put the pay in the posting; BLS says the middle half of receptionists earn $33,960 to $45,130.
Five interview questions for a receptionist
1. "A caller says the basement is flooding. Walk me through the next sixty seconds." A good answer gets the address and a callback number first, keeps the caller on the line, and reaches whoever is on call before saying anything about price or timing.
2. "Someone asks for a price that isn't on our sheet. What do you say?" A good answer never guesses. It promises a callback with a time attached, and then makes the callback.
3. "It is 12:40, two lines are ringing and a patient is at the counter. What do you do first?" A good answer has an order, says it out loud, and knows the person at the counter can see them while the caller cannot.
4. "Show me how you would book a Tuesday afternoon slot in our system." A good candidate reads the confirmation number back before telling the caller it is booked.
5. "It is 11 p.m. on a Saturday and a caller has no heat. What happens?" A good answer knows that call is on the emergency list, gets the address and a callback number, reaches the on-call technician with the caller still on the line, and never quotes an arrival window the dispatch board has not given.
How much does it cost to hire a receptionist?
Start with the salary, then add what an employer pays on top of it. In June 2026 wages and salaries were 70.0% of what private employers paid per hour worked and benefits the other 30.0%, by the Bureau of Labor Statistics' count (Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, released 2026-09-09, read 2026-09-17). At that split, a $38,010 salary implies about $54,300 a year in total cost before recruiting and training.
If you only want the phone answered, the alternatives are an answering service or phone software. Smith.ai's staffed plans read $300 a month for 30 calls, $810 for 90 and $2,100 for 300, with appointment booking at $1.50 a call (smith.ai/pricing, read 2026-09-17). Rosie's plans read $49 a month for 250 minutes, $149 for 1,000 and $299 for 2,000 (heyrosie.com/pricing, read 2026-09-17). Both price the minute or the call.
Allying's price for this job is 30% of the salary you post, billed monthly, with a floor of $1,395 a month. At $38,010 that arithmetic gives $950 a month, which is below the floor, so the floor applies; a posting at $56,000 would be $1,400 a month. The exact figure is in your proposal before you decide.
| Option | What it costs | What week one looks like | Who decides, who spends |
|---|---|---|---|
| An employee at the median | $38,010 in salary; about $54,300 a year all in at the 70.0/30.0 split | Training on the phones and the booking system | You manage them; they quote from your sheet |
| An answering service | Smith.ai from $300 a month for 30 calls; booking $1.50 a call | Scripts set up; calls answered from a shared floor | The service's script; ask who books into your system |
| Phone software | Rosie from $49 a month for 250 minutes | A greeting recorded and a number forwarded | The software's settings; you check the transcripts |
| Allying | $1,395 a month at the floor; $1,400 on a $56,000 posting | The mystery-shop count, the answer book, the escalation plan and a baseline, before any call | Bookings are requests your office converts until you say a kind no longer needs asking; nothing is spent in your name |
What should the first week produce?
Whoever you hire, ask for these by Friday:
- A count of how the phone is answered today: which calls rang out, when, and for how long.
- A written price sheet and an answer book for the ten questions callers ask most, each line taken from somewhere you can check.
- An escalation plan: the emergency list, who is on call, and what the receptionist says while the hand-off happens.
- A baseline booking rate to beat, with the number of bookable calls it was measured on.
If the first week does not produce a plan for after-hours calls, you will still be losing the same calls in month three.
When not to hire a receptionist
If the job you need is mostly the counter (check-in, co-pays, opening the office, seating guests), you need a person at the desk, and the phone is the part to add later. If your calls are under a handful a day and none are urgent, a shared line and a good voicemail may do. And if you cannot yet say which emergencies must reach a person, settle that first, because no hire can guess it.
How Allying does this job
Allying takes the phone half of this posting and says so on the page: greeting, check-in, co-pays and the front stay with the person at the desk. Every inbound call on the numbers you forward is answered inside the agreed ring time at the hours the agreement names, including lunch, evenings, weekends and after close. Every text and missed call gets a text-back. Bookings go into the system you already run, and the system's own confirmation number is read back before the caller is told it is booked; on day one every booking is a request your office converts, and direct booking follows once you have approved that kind of booking and say it no longer needs asking. Prices are quoted only from your approved sheet. The emergencies on your list are recognized in the first sentences and handed to your on-call person with the caller still on the line. Every call is logged into your own customer, patient or guest record, and you get a morning briefing and a daily and weekly report in counts your phone and booking systems can confirm.
The first week, before any conversation with you:
- The mystery-shop count: five calls and three texts to your public number over a week, placed by a person on Allying's team asking a real question, logged with rings, hold time and whether a text-back arrived.
- The call we would have answered: a written transcript of the voicemail call as it should have gone, in your own phrases.
- Price sheet and answer book, drafted, every line from a source you can check, with blanks where your site is silent.
- Escalation and after-hours plan.
- Baseline, briefing sample and month-one plan.
- With access, a shadow week on your call log, then a test line you call yourself before the published number is forwarded.
Nothing is dialed or texted to a customer in the first week. A dental or medical line starts only once the business associate agreements are signed. Refund demands, legal threats, injuries, records requests and anyone who asks for a person go to you or the named person on the same call. The work is done with AI and overseen by a named specialist who answers for it.
Mae Santos, Allying's co-founder, is the person you talk to; write to hello@allying.com and she answers. Before Allying she ran the office of a family investment company as Chief of Staff. The work is reviewed before it reaches you.
What Allying refuses on this job
- Speaking a price, fee, discount, arrival window or availability that is not on your approved sheet or the live calendar read on that call. You or the named person supplies it, and the caller is told when they will hear back.
- Giving medical, dental or clinical advice, or telling a caller whether a symptom can wait. A clinical question goes to the clinician on call on the same call.
- Taking, repeating or storing a card number, bank detail, Social Security number or insurance identifier. The caller is stopped, recording is paused, and your own payment link or terminal takes it.
- Placing an outbound marketing call or text, or dialing a list. Outbound is the callback the caller asked for and the confirmation for the booking that caller made.
- Dispatching a technician or moving a job or reservation your office placed. Your dispatch board and your office do that.
Questions owners ask
Does the caller know they are not talking to a person?
That is your choice, recorded in the agreement. Where a place has a rule about it, we mention it once, in one plain sentence, when the job starts. A fixed opening line can play in full on every call, and the question "are you a person?" is always answered plainly.
Can it book straight into my calendar?
On day one it files a booking request your office converts, and the caller is told a confirmation will follow. Direct booking is a standing permission you grant per booking type after approving the first ones.
What happens with an emergency after hours?
The emergencies on your list are handed to your on-call person within seconds, with the caller kept on the line until the hand-off is confirmed.
Will it quote prices?
Only the ones on the sheet you approved. Anything else becomes a callback from you or the named person, promised with a time.
Can it also handle the front desk?
No. The walk-in half stays with the person at the desk, and the page says so.
Sources
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates, national and metropolitan workbooks (released 2026-05-15). Read on 2026-09-17.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), Receptionists and Information Clerks 43-4171.00. Read on 2026-09-17.
- O*NET license, CC BY 4.0. Read on 2026-09-17.
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Receptionists (last modified 2026-08-27). Read on 2026-09-17.
- BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026 (released 2026-09-09): private industry wages and salaries 70.0 percent of employer costs per hour worked, benefits 30.0 percent. Read on 2026-09-17.
- Smith.ai pricing. Read on 2026-09-17.
- Rosie pricing. Read on 2026-09-17.
- Allying playbook, receptionist / phone CSR, version 1.3.0. Read on 2026-09-17.