Court Reporters and Simultaneous Captioners
US occupation · SOC 27-3092
Job titles people report: Captioner, Certified Shorthand Reporter (CSR), Court Recorder, Court Reporter, Court Stenographer, Deposition Reporter, Digital Court Reporter, Official Court Reporter, Realtime Court Reporter, Stenographer
Pay and outlook
- Median annual wage, May 2025
- $72,420
- Half earn more, half earn less
- Middle half earn
- $53,760 – $100,780
- 25th to 75th percentile
- People employed, May 2025
- 12,870
- Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)
- Projected change, 2025–35
- -0.1%
- Shrinking (below 0%)
- Openings a year (projected)
- 1,800
- New jobs plus replacing people who leave
- Typical education to enter
- Postsecondary nondegree award
- BLS
- All figures are for the United States as a whole. Pay varies a lot by state and city.
- Wages are for everyone working in the occupation in May 2025, at every career stage. They are not starting salaries or figures for new graduates.
- Growth and openings are BLS projections for 2025–35. They are estimates, not promises. Openings include jobs that open up when people retire or change occupation, not just new jobs.
What the work involves
Use verbatim methods and equipment to capture, store, retrieve, and transcribe pretrial and trial proceedings or other information. Includes stenocaptioners who operate computerized stenographic captioning equipment to provide captions of live or prerecorded broadcasts for hearing-impaired viewers.
Main tasks
- Provide transcripts of proceedings upon request of judges, lawyers, or the public.
- Record symbols on computer storage media and use computer aided transcription to translate and display them as text.
- Record verbatim proceedings of courts, legislative assemblies, committee meetings, and other proceedings, using computerized recording equipment, electronic stenograph machines, or stenomasks.
- Record depositions and other proceedings for attorneys.
- Ask speakers to clarify inaudible statements.
- Proofread transcripts for correct spelling of words.
- File a legible transcript of records of a court case with the court clerk's office.
- Transcribe recorded proceedings in accordance with established formats.
Description and tasks from the O*NET® 31.0 Database.
Getting in
- Typical education to enter (BLS)
- Postsecondary nondegree award
- Training once hired: short-term on-the-job training
- O*NET Job Zone 3
- Medium preparation
- Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
Interests it suits
The strongest of the six O*NET interest types for this occupation, highest first. The short glosses are ours.
- Conventional: organising information, records and procedures
- Artistic: creating, designing and self-expression
- Social: helping, teaching and caring for people
Fields of study that lead here
From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 4 programmes to this occupation. A link means the programme prepares people for this kind of work. It doesn't mean the programme is required, or that it's the only route.
Fields
Our college matcher doesn't offer these fields as a major, so we can't suggest colleges for them here.
Communications Technologies/Technicians and Support Services
- Voice Writing Technology/Technician
Legal Professions and Studies
- Court Reporting and Captioning/Court Reporter
- Court Interpreter
- Scopist
Related careers
Related occupations from the O*NET database, in its order.
- Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
$55,570 median · -5.2% projected
- Paralegals and Legal Assistants
$62,890 median · -0.3% projected
- Word Processors and Typists
$49,280 median · -34.4% projected
- File Clerks
$43,600 median · -15.8% projected
- Correspondence Clerks
$46,800 median · -5.6% projected
- Medical Transcriptionists
$40,410 median · -4.4% projected
Sources
This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. CollegeMatcher has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET 31.0 Database · CC BY 4.0
Changes: we show the core tasks in the O*NET database with the highest importance ratings (up to eight, in that order), the top three O*NET interest types by score, and shortened Job Zone names. Titles, descriptions and task text are unchanged.
Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Projections, typical entry education and training: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–35. Fields of study: NCES and BLS CIP 2020–SOC 2018 Crosswalk. All public domain. OEWS · Employment Projections · CIP–SOC crosswalk