Research Summary. After extensive research by the Zippia data science team, we identified these details of benefit specialist salary by state for the United States:
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Connecticut has the highest benefit specialist salary of $55,731
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Montana has the lowest benefit specialist salary of $28,208
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The national average salary for benefit specialists is $48,756
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The national hourly pay for benefit specialists is $23.44
You can read more on the specific methodology.
Background
Without fail, in surveys across basically every demographic, the number one most important aspect of a job for most people is the salary — how much do benefit specialists get paid where I live?
And while there are many things to go into how much you, specifically, can expect to make, there’s really good data for average salaries for benefit specialist by state across America broken down by seniority level. So while your city may be slightly different than the state average, these averages give you a rough sense of what to expect for your salary.
The state with the best salary for benefit specialists after this adjustment? That would be Connecticut.
Here’s a quick snapshot of the top ten states for benefit specialist salaries:
Let’s take a look at how we got here and a full ranking of all the states.
Highest-Paid Benefit Specialists By State
| Rank | State | Average Benefit Specialist Salary | 10th Percentile | 90th Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Connecticut | $55,731 | $37,000 | $82,000 |
| 2 | California | $55,356 | $38,000 | $80,000 |
| 3 | New York | $54,615 | $36,000 | $81,000 |
| 4 | New Jersey | $54,317 | $36,000 | $81,000 |
| 5 | Massachusetts | $53,787 | $36,000 | $79,000 |
| 6 | Vermont | $52,206 | $35,000 | $75,000 |
| 7 | Mississippi | $51,462 | $36,000 | $72,000 |
| 8 | North Dakota | $51,131 | $38,000 | $67,000 |
| 9 | Nevada | $50,725 | $35,000 | $73,000 |
| 10 | Virginia | $50,647 | $34,000 | $74,000 |
| 11 | Maryland | $50,560 | $34,000 | $75,000 |
| 12 | Alaska | $50,126 | $43,000 | $57,000 |
| 13 | New Hampshire | $49,990 | $33,000 | $73,000 |
| 14 | Colorado | $49,644 | $36,000 | $68,000 |
| 15 | Rhode Island | $49,464 | $33,000 | $73,000 |
| 16 | Pennsylvania | $49,318 | $33,000 | $73,000 |
| 17 | Nebraska | $48,177 | $35,000 | $66,000 |
| 18 | Oregon | $47,960 | $34,000 | $67,000 |
| 19 | Illinois | $47,801 | $33,000 | $67,000 |
| 20 | Minnesota | $47,277 | $34,000 | $64,000 |
| 21 | Washington | $47,162 | $34,000 | $64,000 |
| 22 | Texas | $46,067 | $32,000 | $65,000 |
| 23 | Delaware | $45,192 | $30,000 | $67,000 |
| 24 | Ohio | $44,906 | $31,000 | $64,000 |
| 25 | North Carolina | $44,370 | $30,000 | $64,000 |
| 26 | Georgia | $44,185 | $30,000 | $62,000 |
| 27 | Indiana | $43,846 | $30,000 | $62,000 |
| 28 | Missouri | $43,757 | $31,000 | $61,000 |
| 29 | Kansas | $43,063 | $31,000 | $59,000 |
| 30 | Tennessee | $42,114 | $29,000 | $59,000 |
| 31 | Arizona | $41,886 | $29,000 | $59,000 |
| 32 | Louisiana | $41,723 | $29,000 | $59,000 |
| 33 | Wisconsin | $41,590 | $29,000 | $58,000 |
| 34 | Michigan | $41,506 | $28,000 | $59,000 |
| 35 | South Carolina | $41,020 | $28,000 | $58,000 |
| 36 | Alabama | $40,931 | $28,000 | $58,000 |
| 37 | Iowa | $40,704 | $29,000 | $56,000 |
| 38 | Maine | $40,307 | $27,000 | $58,000 |
| 39 | Idaho | $40,272 | $29,000 | $55,000 |
| 40 | New Mexico | $39,997 | $28,000 | $56,000 |
| 41 | Utah | $39,837 | $28,000 | $55,000 |
| 42 | Florida | $39,524 | $26,000 | $57,000 |
| 43 | Kentucky | $39,198 | $27,000 | $55,000 |
| 44 | Wyoming | $38,765 | $28,000 | $52,000 |
| 45 | West Virginia | $37,089 | $25,000 | $54,000 |
| 46 | Arkansas | $35,276 | $25,000 | $49,000 |
| 47 | Hawaii | $33,724 | $24,000 | $45,000 |
| 48 | Oklahoma | $33,105 | $23,000 | $45,000 |
| 49 | South Dakota | $28,547 | $21,000 | $38,000 |
| 50 | Montana | $28,208 | $21,000 | $37,000 |
Methodology: Benefit Specialist Salary By State
To better understand benefit specialist pay by state, Zippia has aggregated data across a multitude of channels including the BLS, FLC, and OPM. We then supplement that data with actual listed salaries from job posts. Finally, the data science team calculates a weighted average of these inputs to create an average pay for benefit specialists by state.
We took the average annual salary data for benefit specialists from these estimates and ranked every state on this criteria with the state with the highest salary ranking as highest average salary for benefit specialists.
Benefit Specialist Salary By State FAQs
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What is the highest-paid state for benefit specialists?
The highest-paid state for benefit specialists is Connecticut with an average salary of $55,731 per year.
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What city pays benefit specialists the most?
San Francisco, CA pays benefit specialists the most with an average salary of $56,557 per year.
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What is the worst state for benefit specialists?
The worst state for benefit specialists is Montana with an average salary of $28,208 per year.
Author
Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.
