These Are The 10 States With The Highest Sales Representative Salaries For 2017

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. Virginia
2. Kansas
3. Michigan
4. Illinois
5. Wyoming
6. New Hampshire
7. Ohio
8. Texas
9. Colorado
10. Delaware

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 Virginia
• These Are The 100 Highest Paying Jobs In Virginia Beach
• These Are The 100 Largest Companies In Virginia

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 $66450, so our index value would be:

$66,450 * (100 / 135.9) = $48,896

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	Virginia	$76,815	$77,430	100.8
2	Kansas	$71,501	$64,280	89.9
3	Michigan	$70,606	$62,840	89.0
4	Illinois	$69,059	$65,330	94.6
5	Wyoming	$67,331	$61,810	91.8
6	New Hampshire	$66,760	$78,110	117.0
7	Ohio	$66,673	$62,540	93.8
8	Texas	$66,515	$60,330	90.7
9	Colorado	$65,886	$68,390	103.8
10	Delaware	$64,763	$65,670	101.4
11	Minnesota	$64,414	$64,930	100.8
12	Georgia	$64,299	$58,770	91.4
13	Iowa	$63,681	$57,950	91.0
14	Pennsylvania	$63,441	$64,330	101.4
15	Kentucky	$62,906	$56,930	90.5
16	North Carolina	$62,864	$59,030	93.9
17	Indiana	$62,379	$55,830	89.5
18	New Jersey	$61,091	$74,470	121.9
19	Wisconsin	$60,464	$58,530	96.8
20	North Dakota	$60,261	$59,900	99.4
21	Nebraska	$59,847	$54,820	91.6
22	Oklahoma	$59,136	$52,750	89.2
23	Missouri	$59,092	$53,420	90.4
24	Tennessee	$59,038	$52,780	89.4
25	New York	$58,045	$76,040	131.0
26	Mississippi	$58,009	$49,830	85.9
27	Florida	$57,324	$56,350	98.3
28	Massachusetts	$57,293	$76,430	133.4
29	Louisiana	$56,751	$53,800	94.8
30	Washington	$56,302	$59,230	105.2
31	Connecticut	$56,272	$71,860	127.7
32	Maryland	$56,175	$70,500	125.5
33	Idaho	$56,145	$51,710	92.1
34	Alabama	$55,427	$50,550	91.2
35	Utah	$55,064	$51,210	93.0
36	Nevada	$53,126	$54,880	103.3
37	Arizona	$52,336	$51,290	98.0
38	Rhode Island	$51,441	$62,090	120.7
39	Montana	$51,071	$51,480	100.8
40	New Mexico	$49,989	$48,240	96.5
41	Oregon	$49,766	$57,530	115.6
42	South Dakota	$49,585	$51,420	103.7
43	South Carolina	$49,405	$49,010	99.2
44	Arkansas	$49,288	$42,930	87.1
45	California	$48,896	$66,450	135.9
46	West Virginia	$47,730	$44,580	93.4
47	Maine	$47,220	$52,320	110.8
48	Vermont	$47,159	$57,110	121.1
49	Alaska	$44,805	$58,740	131.1
50	Hawaii	$31,137	$52,280	167.9