The 10 States With The Highest Sales Representative Salaries For 2019

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, Services, All Other.

Here’s a quick snapshot of the top ten states for salaries:

1. Kansas
2. Virginia
3. Indiana
4. Colorado
5. Michigan
6. Washington
7. Georgia
8. Ohio
9. Texas
10. Illinois

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 100 Highest Paying Jobs In Kansas
• These Are The 100 Largest Companies In Kansas

How we determined pay by state

As we mentioned earlier, we took the average annual salary data for sales representatives from the 2018 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 $67280, so our index value would be:

$67,280 * (100 / 135.9) = $49,506

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.

Detailed List Of Sales Representative Salaries By State

Rank	State	Adjusted Salary	Average Wage	Cost Of Living
1	Kansas	$77,241	$69,440	89.9
2	Virginia	$75,525	$76,130	100.8
3	Indiana	$74,424	$66,610	89.5
4	Colorado	$69,836	$72,490	103.8
5	Michigan	$69,775	$62,100	89.0
6	Washington	$68,184	$71,730	105.2
7	Georgia	$68,019	$62,170	91.4
8	Ohio	$67,974	$63,760	93.8
9	Texas	$67,320	$61,060	90.7
10	Illinois	$67,061	$63,440	94.6
11	Iowa	$66,989	$60,960	91.0
12	Delaware	$66,360	$67,290	101.4
13	New Jersey	$66,013	$80,470	121.9
14	Pennsylvania	$65,877	$66,800	101.4
15	Minnesota	$64,424	$64,940	100.8
16	North Carolina	$64,419	$60,490	93.9
17	Tennessee	$64,384	$57,560	89.4
18	Oklahoma	$63,049	$56,240	89.2
19	Utah	$62,989	$58,580	93.0
20	Kentucky	$61,779	$55,910	90.5
21	Arkansas	$61,584	$53,640	87.1
22	Missouri	$60,752	$54,920	90.4
23	North Dakota	$60,663	$60,300	99.4
24	Maryland	$60,239	$75,600	125.5
25	Mississippi	$59,650	$51,240	85.9
26	New Hampshire	$59,358	$69,450	117.0
27	New York	$59,297	$77,680	131.0
28	Wisconsin	$58,502	$56,630	96.8
29	Alabama	$57,905	$52,810	91.2
30	Nebraska	$57,576	$52,740	91.6
31	Florida	$57,527	$56,550	98.3
32	Nevada	$57,357	$59,250	103.3
33	Wyoming	$57,287	$52,590	91.8
34	Massachusetts	$57,121	$76,200	133.4
35	Idaho	$56,438	$51,980	92.1
36	Arizona	$55,632	$54,520	98.0
37	Connecticut	$55,285	$70,600	127.7
38	Louisiana	$53,554	$50,770	94.8
39	Oregon	$53,520	$61,870	115.6
40	New Mexico	$53,398	$51,530	96.5
41	Maine	$52,111	$57,740	110.8
42	West Virginia	$52,077	$48,640	93.4
43	Rhode Island	$51,847	$62,580	120.7
44	Montana	$50,317	$50,720	100.8
45	South Carolina	$50,070	$49,670	99.2
46	California	$49,506	$67,280	135.9
47	Vermont	$48,414	$58,630	121.1
48	South Dakota	$47,309	$49,060	103.7
49	Alaska	$45,095	$59,120	131.1
50	Hawaii	$39,630	$66,540	167.9