Research Summary. After extensive research by the Zippia data science team, we identified these details of operations director salary by state for the United States:
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California has the highest operations director salary of $128,743
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Iowa has the lowest operations director salary of $66,615
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The national average salary for operations directors is $104,050
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The national hourly pay for operations directors is $50.02
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 operations 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 operations 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 operations directors after this adjustment? That would be California.
Here’s a quick snapshot of the top ten states for operations director salaries:
Let’s take a look at how we got here and a full ranking of all the states.
Highest-Paid Operations Directors By State
| Rank | State | Average Operations Director Salary | 10th Percentile | 90th Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | $128,743 | $79,000 | $208,000 |
| 2 | New Jersey | $126,450 | $80,000 | $199,000 |
| 3 | Hawaii | $124,736 | $89,000 | $172,000 |
| 4 | Connecticut | $123,818 | $78,000 | $195,000 |
| 5 | Delaware | $121,430 | $76,000 | $193,000 |
| 6 | Alaska | $120,262 | $73,000 | $196,000 |
| 7 | Washington | $119,237 | $72,000 | $196,000 |
| 8 | New York | $112,357 | $70,000 | $179,000 |
| 9 | Colorado | $109,564 | $64,000 | $187,000 |
| 10 | Rhode Island | $109,369 | $68,000 | $174,000 |
| 11 | Nevada | $107,078 | $63,000 | $180,000 |
| 12 | Virginia | $106,654 | $64,000 | $175,000 |
| 13 | Wisconsin | $103,718 | $61,000 | $173,000 |
| 14 | Michigan | $102,933 | $62,000 | $170,000 |
| 15 | Massachusetts | $102,864 | $63,000 | $165,000 |
| 16 | North Carolina | $102,554 | $60,000 | $173,000 |
| 17 | Minnesota | $102,004 | $61,000 | $170,000 |
| 18 | Georgia | $101,438 | $59,000 | $173,000 |
| 19 | Texas | $101,044 | $58,000 | $174,000 |
| 20 | Oregon | $99,715 | $58,000 | $169,000 |
| 21 | Illinois | $97,849 | $57,000 | $166,000 |
| 22 | Maryland | $97,634 | $59,000 | $160,000 |
| 23 | South Dakota | $97,398 | $56,000 | $166,000 |
| 24 | Arizona | $96,973 | $56,000 | $165,000 |
| 25 | Pennsylvania | $96,063 | $58,000 | $157,000 |
| 26 | Nebraska | $94,554 | $54,000 | $165,000 |
| 27 | New Mexico | $94,519 | $54,000 | $164,000 |
| 28 | New Hampshire | $93,809 | $58,000 | $151,000 |
| 29 | Alabama | $91,770 | $52,000 | $159,000 |
| 30 | Indiana | $89,585 | $51,000 | $155,000 |
| 31 | Ohio | $89,154 | $52,000 | $151,000 |
| 32 | Maine | $88,903 | $54,000 | $145,000 |
| 33 | Louisiana | $88,672 | $50,000 | $155,000 |
| 34 | Tennessee | $87,575 | $49,000 | $153,000 |
| 35 | Kansas | $85,172 | $47,000 | $151,000 |
| 36 | Montana | $82,989 | $48,000 | $141,000 |
| 37 | North Dakota | $81,852 | $49,000 | $135,000 |
| 38 | Idaho | $80,516 | $46,000 | $138,000 |
| 39 | South Carolina | $80,267 | $46,000 | $138,000 |
| 40 | Florida | $80,122 | $46,000 | $138,000 |
| 41 | Missouri | $78,046 | $43,000 | $139,000 |
| 42 | Vermont | $77,842 | $47,000 | $127,000 |
| 43 | Arkansas | $76,256 | $42,000 | $136,000 |
| 44 | Oklahoma | $75,209 | $41,000 | $134,000 |
| 45 | Utah | $73,773 | $42,000 | $129,000 |
| 46 | Wyoming | $72,442 | $41,000 | $126,000 |
| 47 | Mississippi | $71,223 | $40,000 | $125,000 |
| 48 | West Virginia | $70,699 | $41,000 | $120,000 |
| 49 | Kentucky | $67,881 | $38,000 | $119,000 |
| 50 | Iowa | $66,615 | $37,000 | $117,000 |
Methodology: Operations Director Salary By State
To better understand operations 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 operations directors by state.
We took the average annual salary data for operations directors from these estimates and ranked every state on this criteria with the state with the highest salary ranking as highest average salary for operations directors.
Operations Director Salary By State FAQs
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What is the highest-paid state for operations directors?
The highest-paid state for operations directors is California with an average salary of $128,743 per year.
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What city pays operations directors the most?
San Francisco, CA pays operations directors the most with an average salary of $141,492 per year.
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What is the worst state for operations directors?
The worst state for operations directors is Iowa with an average salary of $66,615 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.
