These Are The 10 States With The Highest Sales Representative Salaries For 2017
We used the most recent data to determine the states that pay sales representatives the best.
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 sales representatives 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 sales representatives 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.
To better understand how salaries change across America, we decided to take a look the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on average pay for sales representatives by state.
Additionally, we wanted to adjust the salary based on the cost of living in a state — because your salary goes further in North Carolina than it does in California.
The state with the best salary for sales representatives after this adjustment? That would be Sales Representatives, Wholesale And Manufacturing, Technical And Scientific Products.
Here’s a quick snapshot of the top ten states for salaries:
Let’s take a look at how we got here and a full ranking of all the states.
If you’re interested, you can read more about the job scene here:
- These Are The 10 Best Small Companies to Work For in Minneapolis
- These Are The 100 Highest Paying Jobs In Minneapolis
- These Are The 100 Highest Paying Jobs In Minnesota
How we determined pay by state
As we mentioned earlier, we took the average annual salary data for sales representatives from the 2016 Bureau of Labor Statistics — specifically their ‘Occupational Employment Statistics.’
To make the comparison of salaries apples to apples across states, we also took into account the cost of living in each state.
We then created an index by dividing the average wage for a state by the cost of living relative to average. As an example, the cost of living index in California is 135.9 and the average pay is $95090, so our index value would be:
$95,090 * (100 / 135.9) = $69,970
We then ranked every state on this criteria with the state with the highest salary index ranking as highest average salary for sales representatives.
Here’s a look at the full ranking for all states.
For more reading, check out:
Detailed List Of Sales Representative Salaries By State
| Rank | State | Adjusted Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minnesota | $116,349 |
| 2 | West Virginia | $113,929 |
| 3 | Kansas | $110,422 |
| 4 | Texas | $109,988 |
| 5 | Kentucky | $109,093 |
| 6 | Delaware | $107,613 |
| 7 | Indiana | $105,675 |
| 8 | North Carolina | $105,495 |
| 9 | Michigan | $102,775 |
| 10 | Virginia | $101,815 |
| 11 | Colorado | $98,872 |
| 12 | Utah | $98,193 |
| 13 | Pennsylvania | $98,145 |
| 14 | Louisiana | $96,518 |
| 15 | Georgia | $96,291 |
| 16 | Alabama | $94,616 |
| 17 | New Jersey | $94,208 |
| 18 | Wisconsin | $89,669 |
| 19 | Tennessee | $89,485 |
| 20 | Ohio | $88,891 |
| 21 | New Hampshire | $88,547 |
| 22 | Missouri | $87,732 |
| 23 | Florida | $87,527 |
| 24 | South Dakota | $87,135 |
| 25 | Washington | $87,053 |
| 26 | Iowa | $85,186 |
| 27 | Nebraska | $84,606 |
| 28 | Idaho | $84,484 |
| 29 | Arizona | $83,224 |
| 30 | Nevada | $81,510 |
| 31 | Vermont | $81,106 |
| 32 | Illinois | $80,549 |
| 33 | Oklahoma | $79,753 |
| 34 | Arkansas | $77,738 |
| 35 | Connecticut | $77,674 |
| 36 | New York | $75,862 |
| 37 | Maine | $75,577 |
| 38 | Massachusetts | $75,449 |
| 39 | North Dakota | $75,311 |
| 40 | Mississippi | $74,610 |
| 41 | Oregon | $73,788 |
| 42 | Rhode Island | $73,380 |
| 43 | South Carolina | $73,165 |
| 44 | California | $69,970 |
| 45 | Montana | $64,583 |
| 46 | Alaska | $63,852 |
| 47 | New Mexico | $63,512 |
| 48 | Hawaii | $41,774 |
