Research Summary. After extensive research by the Zippia data science team, we identified these details of marketing director salary by state for the United States:
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California has the highest marketing director salary of $127,906
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Alabama has the lowest marketing director salary of $69,373
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The national average salary for marketing directors is $114,906
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The national hourly pay for marketing directors is $55.24
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 marketing directors 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 marketing director 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 marketing directors after this adjustment? That would be California.
Here’s a quick snapshot of the top ten states for marketing director salaries:
Let’s take a look at how we got here and a full ranking of all the states.
Highest-Paid Marketing Directors By State
| Rank | State | Average Marketing Director Salary | 10th Percentile | 90th Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | $127,906 | $78,000 | $207,000 |
| 2 | Delaware | $125,037 | $79,000 | $196,000 |
| 3 | Connecticut | $121,546 | $77,000 | $190,000 |
| 4 | Massachusetts | $121,055 | $77,000 | $189,000 |
| 5 | New Jersey | $120,315 | $76,000 | $189,000 |
| 6 | New York | $120,228 | $76,000 | $188,000 |
| 7 | Rhode Island | $117,430 | $74,000 | $184,000 |
| 8 | Idaho | $115,441 | $70,000 | $188,000 |
| 9 | New Hampshire | $114,797 | $73,000 | $180,000 |
| 10 | Washington | $114,034 | $69,000 | $186,000 |
| 11 | Vermont | $110,707 | $70,000 | $175,000 |
| 12 | Pennsylvania | $108,712 | $68,000 | $173,000 |
| 13 | Oregon | $108,291 | $65,000 | $179,000 |
| 14 | Wisconsin | $106,219 | $66,000 | $169,000 |
| 15 | Maine | $104,964 | $65,000 | $167,000 |
| 16 | Arizona | $103,935 | $60,000 | $177,000 |
| 17 | Maryland | $103,759 | $64,000 | $166,000 |
| 18 | Nevada | $103,481 | $61,000 | $173,000 |
| 19 | Virginia | $100,679 | $61,000 | $164,000 |
| 20 | Minnesota | $99,555 | $63,000 | $156,000 |
| 21 | Michigan | $98,693 | $61,000 | $158,000 |
| 22 | Ohio | $97,508 | $59,000 | $159,000 |
| 23 | Kansas | $97,208 | $57,000 | $164,000 |
| 24 | Illinois | $94,983 | $58,000 | $154,000 |
| 25 | Nebraska | $94,781 | $57,000 | $156,000 |
| 26 | South Dakota | $93,704 | $58,000 | $149,000 |
| 27 | Texas | $92,470 | $51,000 | $164,000 |
| 28 | Arkansas | $91,935 | $52,000 | $160,000 |
| 29 | Alaska | $91,170 | $54,000 | $151,000 |
| 30 | North Carolina | $89,917 | $52,000 | $153,000 |
| 31 | North Dakota | $89,029 | $57,000 | $137,000 |
| 32 | New Mexico | $87,580 | $49,000 | $153,000 |
| 33 | West Virginia | $87,281 | $52,000 | $144,000 |
| 34 | Colorado | $86,978 | $51,000 | $145,000 |
| 35 | Iowa | $86,252 | $52,000 | $140,000 |
| 36 | Montana | $85,993 | $53,000 | $137,000 |
| 37 | Indiana | $85,595 | $51,000 | $141,000 |
| 38 | Utah | $84,810 | $50,000 | $142,000 |
| 39 | Wyoming | $80,039 | $49,000 | $130,000 |
| 40 | Kentucky | $76,280 | $44,000 | $129,000 |
| 41 | Louisiana | $75,909 | $41,000 | $138,000 |
| 42 | Missouri | $74,640 | $43,000 | $127,000 |
| 43 | Georgia | $74,244 | $41,000 | $131,000 |
| 44 | Mississippi | $73,756 | $40,000 | $133,000 |
| 45 | Florida | $72,165 | $40,000 | $128,000 |
| 46 | South Carolina | $71,919 | $41,000 | $125,000 |
| 47 | Oklahoma | $71,223 | $40,000 | $125,000 |
| 48 | Tennessee | $71,066 | $40,000 | $124,000 |
| 49 | Hawaii | $69,772 | $50,000 | $95,000 |
| 50 | Alabama | $69,373 | $38,000 | $123,000 |
Methodology: Marketing Director Salary By State
To better understand marketing director 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 marketing directors by state.
We took the average annual salary data for marketing directors from these estimates and ranked every state on this criteria with the state with the highest salary ranking as highest average salary for marketing directors.
Marketing Director Salary By State FAQs
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What is the highest-paid state for marketing directors?
The highest-paid state for marketing directors is California with an average salary of $127,906 per year.
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What city pays marketing directors the most?
San Francisco, CA pays marketing directors the most with an average salary of $141,145 per year.
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What is the worst state for marketing directors?
The worst state for marketing directors is Alabama with an average salary of $69,373 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.
