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Job outlook for client relationship managers in the United States
Client relationship manager job growth summary. After extensive research, interviews, and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
The projected client relationship manager job growth rate is 5% from 2018-2028.
About 23,800 new jobs for client relationship managers are projected over the next decade.
Client relationship manager salaries have increased 12% for client relationship managers in the last 5 years.
There are over 22,049 client relationship managers currently employed in the United States.
There are 85,793 active client relationship manager job openings in the US.
The average client relationship manager salary is $89,226.
Are client relationship manager jobs in demand?
Client relationship manager job and salary trends over time
Client relationship manager jobs over time
Client relationship manager job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 22,049 | 0.01% |
| 2020 | 18,428 | 0.01% |
| 2019 | 18,893 | 0.01% |
| 2018 | 17,863 | 0.01% |
| 2017 | 17,331 | 0.01% |
Average client relationship manager salary over time
Client relationship manager salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $89,226 | $42.90 | +4.5% |
| 2025 | $85,415 | $41.06 | +1.9% |
| 2024 | $83,783 | $40.28 | +2.6% |
| 2023 | $81,652 | $39.26 | +2.6% |
| 2022 | $79,561 | $38.25 | +3.6% |
Client relationship manager jobs by state
Most common states for client relationship managers
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 256 | 37% |
| 2 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 811 | 20% |
| 3 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 1,274 | 19% |
| 4 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 200 | 19% |
| 5 | Utah | 3,101,833 | 529 | 17% |
| 6 | Montana | 1,050,493 | 179 | 17% |
| 7 | Minnesota | 5,576,606 | 877 | 16% |
| 8 | Delaware | 961,939 | 156 | 16% |
| 9 | Vermont | 623,657 | 102 | 16% |
| 10 | Illinois | 12,802,023 | 1,943 | 15% |
| 11 | Nebraska | 1,920,076 | 261 | 14% |
| 12 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 182 | 14% |
| 13 | New Jersey | 9,005,644 | 1,138 | 13% |
| 14 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 1,086 | 13% |
| 15 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 706 | 13% |
| 16 | Idaho | 1,716,943 | 221 | 13% |
| 17 | North Dakota | 755,393 | 100 | 13% |
| 18 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 75 | 13% |
| 19 | California | 39,536,653 | 4,796 | 12% |
| 20 | Pennsylvania | 12,805,537 | 1,515 | 12% |
Most common cities for client relationship managers
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boca Raton | 3 | 3% | $63,065 |
| 2 | Portland | 2 | 3% | $81,469 |
| 3 | Troy | 2 | 2% | $105,048 |
| 4 | Baltimore | 4 | 1% | $92,298 |
| 5 | Boston | 4 | 1% | $113,088 |
| 6 | Atlanta | 3 | 1% | $69,050 |
| 7 | Little Rock | 2 | 1% | $71,242 |
| 8 | Orlando | 2 | 1% | $64,393 |
| 9 | Scottsdale | 2 | 1% | $99,913 |
| 10 | Tallahassee | 2 | 1% | $65,083 |
| 11 | Tempe | 2 | 1% | $99,676 |
| 12 | Chicago | 7 | 0% | $86,840 |
| 13 | New York | 6 | 0% | $113,159 |
| 14 | Denver | 2 | 0% | $67,395 |
| 15 | Houston | 2 | 0% | $81,118 |
| 16 | Memphis | 2 | 0% | $67,089 |
| 17 | Phoenix | 2 | 0% | $99,980 |
| 18 | San Francisco | 2 | 0% | $116,587 |
| 19 | San Jose | 2 | 0% | $115,679 |
Client Relationship Manager job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of client relationship manager experts
The University of West Florida
Christopher Newport University
Andrews University
Valdosta State University
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Penn State Behrend
Indiana University Southeast
William Paterson University
Minnesota State University Moorhead
University of Minnesota
Buffalo State College
Missouri State University
Eric Bostwick Ph.D.
Professor of AccountingThe University of West Florida
Department of Accounting and Finance
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Client Relationship Managers?
Eric Bostwick Ph.D.: In a word, yes. The adjustments that both individuals and businesses have made during this time have shifted our expectations for life and work. For a generation of students who were already tech-natives, the shift to more technology-enabled interactions has reinforced the "click-to-do" mentality. And for non-tech-natives, the roll-out of intuitive, easy-to-use apps has overcome much of their resistance to these types of interactions. These shifts have affected everything from business meetings to family reunions and from buying lunch to meeting with your doctor. However, graduates will need to grow beyond being technology consumers. They must be able to effectively use technology to deliver a company's value proposition, especially in service-oriented fields such as accounting, finance, law, medicine, and consulting.
What soft skills should all Client Relationship Managers possess?
Eric Bostwick Ph.D.: Similar to the answer above, oral and written communication skills have been important for a number of years, but in our current environment, these skills have become much more important. Our ability to pick up on the context surrounding email messages is reduced since we have fewer in-person interactions, and even our virtual meetings eliminate much of the body language that we use--both consciously and unconsciously--to interpret what other people mean by what they say. Thus, candidates will stand out when they can clearly articulate their thoughts in both written form, via email or chat, and in oral form, via the ubiquitous "Brady Bunch" layout on their coworkers' computer screens.
What certifications/licenses/courses can have the biggest impact for Client Relationship Managers?
Eric Bostwick Ph.D.: Although the use of office productivity software has been important for a number of years, the importance of fluency with these types of programs has been heightened by our increased virtual interactions. In addition, the use of online collaboration tools has grown and will continue to grow. Thus, candidates will stand out when they demonstrate knowledge/skill (e.g., certification) with respect to basic collaborative productivity tools as well as specific technology commonly used in their career fields.
Todd Lee Goen
Instructor & Internship DirectorChristopher Newport University
Department of Communication
What technical skills for a Client Relationship Manager stand out to employers?
Todd Lee Goen: Technical skills are often industry and/or position specific. Applicants should highlight any technical skills related to the position advertisement and those that add value to the position/organization. Most importantly, requirements for technical skills change with time and technological advances. This means employers value workers capable of adapting to change and continually improving and acquiring new technical skills. Thus, it's usually more important to demonstrate you are capable of learning and developing technical skills than it is to have a specific skill set upon hire (although this is not true for some positions/industries).
That said, technical skills related to online presentations, virtual meetings, virtual networking, remote working and the like are hot commodities right now. While most organizations were in the process of adopting many of these technologies and ways of doing business pre-pandemic, the pandemic accelerated the process. Organizations are making it work, but they often don't know best practices or the most efficient means of working in the largely virtual, pandemic environment. Post-pandemic, many of the remote/virtual changes the pandemic brought will stay in some form. Technical skills that support this type of workplace will make applicants stand out to many employers because they need/want to do virtual/remote business better.
What's a good job out of college for Client Relationship Managers?
Todd Lee Goen: Pandemic or no pandemic, the best job out of college is one that sets you on the path to achieve your ultimate career goal(s). Reflect on where you want to be in five or ten years or even twenty-five years. Then consider positions that will set you on the path to achieve that goal. Very few people land their dream job upon graduation - dream jobs are typically those we're not qualified to do without some additional work experience and training. A good job is one that will help you achieve your goal(s) - just don't frame it that way in the interview.
Good jobs pay a livable salary for the location, offer benefits (health insurance and retirement at minimum), and provide professional development opportunities (these can take a variety of forms). Too often, college grads overlook professional development. If an employer isn't willing to invest in you, there's no guarantee you will succeed in the job. Good employers understand they need qualified employees who continually develop their skills and abilities, and good employers will make sure employees have the resources they need to succeed.
What's a good job out of college for Client Relationship Managers?
Todd Lee Goen: Pandemic or no pandemic, the best job out of college is one that sets you on the path to achieve your ultimate career goal(s). Reflect on where you want to be in five or ten years or even twenty-five years. Then consider positions that will set you on the path to achieve that goal. Very few people land their dream job upon graduation - dream jobs are typically those we're not qualified to do without some additional work experience and training. A good job is one that will help you achieve your goal(s) - just don't frame it that way in the interview.
Good jobs pay a livable salary for the location, offer benefits (health insurance and retirement at minimum), and provide professional development opportunities (these can take a variety of forms). Too often, college grads overlook professional development. If an employer isn't willing to invest in you, there's no guarantee you will succeed in the job. Good employers understand they need qualified employees who continually develop their skills and abilities, and good employers will make sure employees have the resources they need to succeed.
Lucile Sabas
Associate Professor of Finance & EconomicsAndrews University
School of Business Administration
What Client Relationship Manager skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Lucile Sabas: Along with the competencies mentioned above related to a restructuration of the labor market, many other competencies would be needed. We can mention some few of them, like, competencies in NTIC, web developers and designer, teleworking software specialists, technician-supports, software developers, drone specialists, cybersecurity specialists, teleworking software specialists. With the pandemic, we saw the intensification of online education. This later has proven to be very efficient in almost all domains. A graduate can take this option to use her gap year acquiring new competencies, if being on campus represents a challenge in the pandemic context. With this said, we assume that as an international business graduate, the student has had an international experience of at least six months (in a foreign country).
Herbert Fiester Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Program Coordinator, Curriculum and Instruction Doctoral ProgramValdosta State University
Department of Curriculum, Leadership, and Technology
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Client Relationship Managers to find work opportunities?
Herbert Fiester Ph.D.: I used to think of "place" as a geographic location, but with the technological changes that have occurred within the past several years, and especially this past year, many doors have opened to allow flexible working conditions. Telecommuting, remote work, working from home, and telework, which were once frowned upon by many employers, have now been embraced. With this new acceptance, "place" becomes much less about geographic location and much more about industry type. I have not observed a lot of activity in higher education and P-12 domains lately due to the pandemic and tight budgets, and industry probably holds the most opportunity. Applicants who are willing to work in flexible work models will have access to many more job opportunities.
What Client Relationship Manager skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Celeste Spier Ph.D.: If a student opts to take a gap year, recommended skills to gain include the Naceweb sought by employers according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), which are critical thinking, communication, teamwork, digital technology, leadership, professionalism/work ethic, and global/intercultural fluency. Technical skills are especially powerful in catching the eye of a recruiter in today's job market. Many free resources like EdX and Coursera exist to boost technical skills at no cost. For students who are taking a gap year because they are uncertain of their future career goals, their gap year should focus on exploration and reflection to ensure they end the year with a better sense of direction and next steps.
What general advice would you give to a Client Relationship Manager?
Celeste Spier Ph.D.: My advice would focus on three areas. First, adopt a growth/learner mindset. While your college degree has given you a great foundation of knowledge and skills, there is still much to learn. Second, build a community of support. Work (and life) are all about relationships. Put extra focus on building and maintaining strong relationships at work as well as outside of work. Finally, establish healthy work habits. Organizing your work, managing distraction, and getting the important work done (well and on time) are all essential skills for today's employees.
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Client Relationship Managers to find work opportunities?
Dr. Mark Owens Ph.D.: Historically, the greatest number of jobs in international business have been located in the major trade areas like New York, Los Angeles, and Houston. However, the work from anywhere trend could open more opportunities for international business in areas outside traditional trade centers.
What Client Relationship Manager skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Uric Dufrene: First, I would not recommend a gap year. One of the skills that is critically important, regardless of the time period, is adaptability. Learning how to adapt to the circumstances around you is a skill that is valued in the workplace, regardless of the year. This is a key part of problem solving. Solving problems with the conditions and resources on hand will prepare you for a lifelong success in any field. As a graduate develops a reputation for problem solving, they emerge as a "go to" employee and will be seen by others as a leader, in their department or company.
What general advice would you give to a Client Relationship Manager?
Dr. Uric Dufrene: Graduates must make a commitment to life-long learning. This does not have to be in a traditional graduate program, for example. Although, graduate school is highly recommended. Outside of a formal degree program, graduates must find ways to continue to invest in their professional development. This includes hard skills within their profession and soft skills, regardless of the occupation.
Find ways to meet people. This includes both within the organization and the industry. Think about face-to-face networking, when available, but also be very sensitive and intentional with respect to your online brand. Use the social media tools as a way of maintaining a very professional image and 24/7 virtual networking. Graduates need to think of their name as a brand. That brand will be influenced by your digital footprint, and how one might communicate, both in writing and in a virtual sense (video technologies). With working in a remote environment, the impression that one might develop of you will be based on writings co-workers receive from you (emails, memos, etc.) and your video presence. Graduates need to invest time in developing and enhancing these important skills.
What skills stand out on Client Relationship Manager resumes?
Giuliana Andreopoulos: I do not think that the pandemic has been and will be able to reverse the importance of certain skills on students` resumes. There is no doubt in my mind that communication, team working, problem solving, leadership, still come at the top of the list for business students. However, the pandemic has added new skills: ability to work remotely, manage crisis, and deal with data. We hope that Business Colleges and Schools will take into consideration these new developments when they plan new courses, programs, or certificates.
Wooyang Kim Ph.D.
Associate ProfessorMinnesota State University Moorhead
Paseka School of Business
What Client Relationship Manager skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Wooyang Kim Ph.D.: I believe diverse recommendations exist dependent upon the job positions in the different industry sectors. Generally speaking, even marketing-related jobs encompass numerous functional areas in many business organizations, such as advertising and PR, branding, customer experience and service, digital marketing, new product development, product management, sales and promotions, social media marketing, and more.
Regardless of the diversity above, I commonly recommend two skills to enhance marketing-related competence: 1) communication skills as a soft skill and 2) analytical skills as a hard skill responding to the concurrent marketing environment. These two skills would be fundamental skills to be marketers since marketing job activities always interplay with people (colleagues, consumers, partners, etc.) and products/services, and therefore, job seekers should understand human behavior and are capable of comprehending the marketability of products/services.
To obtain these two skills, I suggest that students need repetitive practices by conducting continuous observations and interacting with others in the college and workplace. In this process, I urge them to keep asking three essential questions - what (it is), why (it occurs), and how (to act) questions, according to the principle of 5W and 1H, when facing the situation needed to react or solve. In my opinion, this continuous training would help to develop the recommended skills: communication and analytical skillsets.
What general advice would you give to a Client Relationship Manager?
Wooyang Kim Ph.D.: I have frequently observed anxieties about the new job and doubts about their capability toward uncertainties to the new journey and future. This encountered situation is a very different immediate environment beyond their comfort zone, which is rarely experienced in the school-affiliated environment. Accordingly, I have commonly given relatable and motivational advice to encourage my advisees and mentees; but importantly, the advice should be tailored to an individual's interests and circumstances since all individuals are not the same. Although I cannot describe all the individual cases here, I have commonly encouraged my students and mentees who first step into their careers as follows.
'Trust yourself and realize and develop your potentials. Enjoy your job for achieving your happiness.'
I believe having confidence and realizing potentials are critical factors to enter and adapt to new fields. Since humans, as we are, experience repeatedly mistakes and successes during the lifespan, we should recognize the rises and falls. In this premise, we should trust ourselves and develop our potentials as a baseline. Also, I believe we attempt to begin with a career path for achieving happiness by doing where individuals have values. Although some discussion points exist to establish the personal meaning of happiness (e.g., financial status, job security, etc.), pursuing happiness is an innate and ultimate goal to us all the time.
What are the biggest trends we'll see in the Client Relationship Manager job market given the pandemic?
Geoff Kaufmann: Working remotely and integration of personal and professional lives and in many cases increased productivity of those workers.
What general advice would you give to a Client Relationship Manager?
Geoff Kaufmann: Do your best in school, volunteer, gain leadership experience and see if you can hitch yourself to professor-based research.
What are the biggest trends we'll see in the Client Relationship Manager job market given the pandemic?
Annemarie Franczyk: Workplaces will be shifting to remote formats as businesses discover how much money is to be saved by not having to pay rent, a mortgage, WiFi, utilities and other expenses of a brick-and-mortar location. Workers will need to continue to prove to bosses that they can work independently and be productive and responsive from their home offices. Today's students and tomorrow's workers will have had that experience in spades for more than a year as the majority of courses and many activities moved online. Therefore, they and will be poised to do quite well the new and evolving remote employment environment.
What Client Relationship Manager skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Annemarie Franczyk: Every industry is looking for professionals who can write and communicate visually, so any activity, extra course or private tutor who can help graduates keep up or build these skills will be to their advantage professionally. Additionally, data analysis has application across all disciplines, so a course or two in that area will be of value. And if the graduate can put these two areas of study together and communicate data effectively, he or she will be in demand.
What Client Relationship Manager skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Jerri Lynn Kyle: Whatever your career goals are, stay informed! Keep up to date with what's going on in the world, and what's happening in your field. A lot can happen in 24 hours, so imagine what happens in a year. Just because a student takes a year off, doesn't mean learning has to stop. I recommend volunteering or interning to gain experience in your field and stay up to date on trends. It's important to remember that a gap year refers to a gap in time, not a gap in learning or productivity. Continue to live for your purpose!
What general advice would you give to a Client Relationship Manager?
Jerri Lynn Kyle: 1.Don't be discouraged! Jobs are out there but you might not get your dream job starting out. It's a journey, so try to make the most of every stop.
2.Start building your professional credibility, both with how you perform your job, and how you interact with your coworkers.
3.Finally, be confident, but at the same time be teachable and coachable. Your degree doesn't make you an expert. Sometimes you realize you don't even know what you don't know, and that's okay. You aren't going to know everything and that's why you need to be coachable.
What are the biggest trends we'll see in the Client Relationship Manager job market given the pandemic?
Jerri Lynn Kyle: There are three major lessons I think we have learned from the pandemic that will affect us moving forward in the job market. First, we learned how much we rely on technology. Second, we learned how capable technology is in allowing us to change our "business as usual" operation, adapt, and continue to move forward. Third, we learned in most cases, that working remotely does not result in lower workplace productivity. We have digitized every industry to some degree, and we are not going back!
What we have gained in innovative ways to reach our stakeholders will continue in some way. Now, how does that translate to the job market? Digital literacy. There will be an increased need for digital communication strategists in every industry. The need for people who can design, develop, and maintain platforms will grow, with an increased emphasis on analysis of performance and results. We are a data driven society, and digital communication provides the data needed for strategists to help organizations accomplish their goals.