How much does a professional consultant make?

The average professional consultant salary in the United States is $80,770. Professional consultant salaries typically range between $69,000 and $93,000 yearly. The average hourly rate for professional consultants is $38.83 per hour. Professional consultant salary is impacted by location, education, and experience. Professional consultants earn the highest average salary in New Jersey.

Professional consultant salary

Q: What state pays Professional Consultants the most?

New Jersey pays Professional Consultants the most in the United States, with an average salary of $91,529 per year, or $44.00 per hour.

Q: How do I know if I'm being paid fairly as a professional consultant?

You know if you are being paid fairly as a professional consultant if your pay is close to the average pay for the state you live in. For example, if you live in Washington you should be paid close to $89,688 per year.

Quoted expert

Robin Cormier

Average professional consultant salary

$80,770

$38.83 hourly rate

Entry-level professional consultant salary

$69,000 yearly salary

Updated December 15, 2025

Understanding Professional Consultant Salaries

The field of professional consulting offers diverse opportunities across various industries, with an average salary of $80,770 per year. This figure can fluctuate significantly based on location, years of experience, and specific industry focus. For example, consultants in metropolitan areas often earn more due to higher demand and cost of living.

Consultants with 5-10 years of experience typically earn around $90,000, while those with over 10 years can reach upwards of $110,000 annually. Entry-level positions may start at approximately $55,000, depending on the sector.

To maximize earning potential, consider exploring states with higher demand for consultancy services. States like California, New York, and Texas often feature higher salaries due to their robust economies and extensive business networks. Additionally, industry specialization can enhance salary prospects; sectors like technology, healthcare, and finance frequently offer competitive compensation.

Conclusion

Understanding the salary landscape can aid aspiring consultants in making informed career choices and negotiating better compensation packages. Utilize resources like Zippia to explore current trends and salary estimates to help you navigate your career path successfully.

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Where can a Professional Consultant earn more?

Compare salary by location

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100k

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40k

Columbus, OH$93,360

Omaha, NE$69,547

Compare salary by company

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104k

84k

64k

44k

Citi$111,881

Steris$73,565

Professional consultant salaries by experience level

Professional consultant salary estimates from across the web

Based on the latest salary information compiled by Zippia, Salary.com, Glassdoor and Payscale, the average salary for a professional consultant typically falls between $79,670 and $110,535.

zippia

$80,770yearly

glassdoor[1]

$97,048yearly

Salary.com[2]

$79,670yearly

payscale[3]

$110,535yearly

Average professional consultant salary by state

The highest-paying states for professional consultants are New Jersey, Washington, and California. The lowest average professional consultant salary states are Indiana, Tennessee, and Mississippi.

State view
County view

Average salary:

Highest paying states for professional consultants

Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
1	New Jersey	$91,529	$44.00
2	Oklahoma	$84,807	$40.77
3	Massachusetts	$86,831	$41.75
4	Rhode Island	$80,488	$38.70
5	Minnesota	$81,730	$39.29
6	District of Columbia	$88,714	$42.65
7	Pennsylvania	$78,391	$37.69
8	South Dakota	$77,504	$37.26
9	Washington	$89,688	$43.12
10	Texas	$82,150	$39.50
11	Colorado	$87,444	$42.04
12	Connecticut	$83,219	$40.01
13	California	$88,568	$42.58
14	New Hampshire	$80,343	$38.63
15	North Carolina	$80,776	$38.83
16	Michigan	$83,848	$40.31
17	Oregon	$80,931	$38.91
18	Illinois	$80,531	$38.72
19	West Virginia	$77,555	$37.29
20	Maryland	$88,567	$42.58
21	Virginia	$82,062	$39.45
22	Maine	$76,357	$36.71
23	Ohio	$76,670	$36.86
24	New York	$86,023	$41.36
25	Wyoming	$74,706	$35.92
26	Alabama	$74,977	$36.05
27	Missouri	$77,045	$37.04
28	Georgia	$77,983	$37.49
29	Nevada	$74,784	$35.95
30	Wisconsin	$74,236	$35.69
31	Alaska	$79,042	$38.00
32	Hawaii	$76,288	$36.68
33	Kentucky	$75,870	$36.48
34	Delaware	$73,379	$35.28
35	Arizona	$73,550	$35.36
36	Vermont	$70,184	$33.74
37	Indiana	$67,766	$32.58
38	Utah	$69,817	$33.57
39	Iowa	$70,893	$34.08
40	Montana	$70,076	$33.69
41	South Carolina	$72,988	$35.09
42	North Dakota	$65,295	$31.39
43	Kansas	$70,240	$33.77
44	Idaho	$68,244	$32.81
45	Florida	$69,832	$33.57
46	Nebraska	$69,430	$33.38
47	Mississippi	$65,306	$31.40
48	Tennessee	$66,176	$31.82
49	Louisiana	$68,773	$33.06
50	New Mexico	$60,696	$29.18
51	Arkansas	$60,679	$29.17

Top professional consultant jobs near you

Highest paying cities for professional consultants

The highest-paying cities for professional consultants are San Rafael, CA, Jersey City, NJ, and Baltimore, MD.

Rank	City	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
1	San Rafael, CA	$93,360	$44.88
2	Jersey City, NJ	$91,442	$43.96
3	Baltimore, MD	$88,623	$42.61
4	Englewood, CO	$87,359	$42.00
5	New York, NY	$86,095	$41.39
6	Hartford, CT	$83,041	$39.92
7	Austin, TX	$82,334	$39.58
8	Minneapolis, MN	$81,761	$39.31
9	Raleigh, NC	$81,355	$39.11
10	Hillsboro, OR	$80,821	$38.86
11	Northbrook, IL	$80,754	$38.82
12	Cranston, RI	$80,512	$38.71
13	Atlanta, GA	$77,922	$37.46
14	Saint Louis, MO	$77,272	$37.15
15	Westerville, OH	$76,571	$36.81
16	Milwaukee, WI	$74,273	$35.71
17	Phoenix, AZ	$73,564	$35.37
18	Greenville, SC	$72,830	$35.01
19	Tampa, FL	$69,956	$33.63
20	Omaha, NE	$69,547	$33.44

Professional consultant salary details

A professional consultant's salary ranges from $69,000 a year at the 10th percentile to $93,000 at the 90th percentile.

Average professional consultant salary graph, trends, and summary

What is a professional consultant's salary?

Percentile	Annual salary	Monthly salary	Hourly rate
90th Percentile	$93,000	$7,750	$45
75th Percentile	$87,000	$7,250	$42
Average	$80,770	$6,731	$39
25th Percentile	$74,000	$6,167	$36
10th Percentile	$69,000	$5,750	$33

Highest paying professional consultant jobs

The highest paying types of professional consultants are senior management consultant, strategy consultant, and manager and consultant.

Job title	Annual salary	Monthly salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
Manager And Consultant	$112,992	$9,416	$54.32	158,178
Small Business Consultant	$47,982	$3,999	$23.07	116,476
Contractor/Consultant	$84,811	$7,068	$40.77	64,573
Management Consultant	$99,360	$8,280	$47.77	153,045
Consultant	$78,912	$6,576	$37.94	171,733
Program Management Consultant	$101,157	$8,430	$48.63	177,578

How would you rate the starting salaries for professional consultants, as well as the prospects for salary advancement?

Robin Cormier

Assistant Professor, Montana State University - Billings

I would rate starting salaries for graduates in the field of school counseling as average to above average. School counselors' median starting salaries range anywhere from $56,000 to $90,000 a year in the United States. While school counseling is not one of the highest paying career fields, it is a fulfilling career that provides a practical work and private life balance in stress level and flexibility. School counselors have opportunities to advance their careers and salary through years of experience and continuing education.

Top companies hiring professional consultants now:

Which companies pay professional consultants the most?

Professional consultant salaries at Citi and Best Buy are the highest-paying according to our most recent salary estimates. In addition, the average professional consultant salary at companies like A.T. Kearney and The Children's Place are highly competitive.

Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate
1	Citi	$111,881	$53.79
2	Best Buy	$104,834	$50.40
3	A.T. Kearney	$100,442	$48.29
4	The Children's Place	$98,565	$47.39
5	Talend	$97,198	$46.73
6	Colgate-Palmolive	$96,298	$46.30
7	Highmark	$92,137	$44.30
8	ICONMA	$91,624	$44.05
9	Dresser-Rand Group	$87,772	$42.20
10	Kofax	$86,449	$41.56
11	Allergan plc	$85,694	$41.20
12	Q Analysts	$83,068	$39.94
13	Wood Group Mustang	$81,790	$39.32
14	Infosys Public Service	$80,255	$38.58
15	Beyer Blinder Belle	$78,391	$37.69
16	VLK Architects	$77,584	$37.30
17	Colgate University	$77,485	$37.25
18	Cavco Industries	$74,527	$35.83
19	Steris	$73,565	$35.37

Wage gap by gender, race and education

$81,000$80,400$79,800$79,200$78,600$78,000

MaleFemale

Professional Consultant salary by industry

The average professional consultant salary varies across industries:

The average professional consultant salary in the finance industry is $89,968, the highest of any industry.
The average professional consultant salary in the finance industry is $89,608.
Professional consultants in the construction industry earn an average salary of $74,489, the lowest of any industry.

Highest paying industries for professional consultants

Rank	Industry	Average salary	Hourly rate
1	Finance	$89,968	$43.25
2	Technology	$89,608	$43.08
3	Pharmaceutical	$87,261	$41.95
4	Professional	$84,591	$40.67
5	Energy	$84,142	$40.45
6	Health Care	$81,011	$38.95
7	Manufacturing	$80,266	$38.59
8	Construction	$74,489	$35.81

High paying professional consultant jobs

Professional consultant salary trends

The average professional consultant salary has risen by $8,449 over the last ten years. In 2014, the average professional consultant earned $72,321 annually, but today, they earn $80,770 a year. That works out to a 8% change in pay for professional consultants over the last decade.

Compare professional consultant salaries for cities or states with the national average over time.

Average professional consultant salary over time

Compare professional consultant salaries for individual cities or states with the national average.

Professional consultant salary by year

Year	Avg. salary	Hourly rate	% Change
2025	$80,800	$38.83	+2.7%
2024	$78,600	$37.77	+1.9%
2023	$77,000	$37.04	+1.4%
2022	$76,000	$36.52	+1.4%
2021	$74,900	$36.03	+0.0%

Recently added professional consultant salaries

Company	Job	Location	Date added	Salary
Steris Corporation	Senior Professional Consultant	Birmingham, AL	06/27/2025	$93,000
Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation	Co-Occurring Professional	Plymouth, MN	06/18/2025	$78,238
Athena Property Services	Remodelling Professional	Palm Bay, FL	06/12/2025	$31,305
Revance	Professional Aesthetic Consultant	Little Rock, AR	06/11/2025	$95,000
Revance	Professional Aesthetic Consultant-Upper Manhattan	New York, NY	05/27/2025	$95,000
Ramapo College of New Jersey	English Language Learner (ELL) Professional Consultant/Tutor	Mahwah, NJ	05/24/2025	$62,610
Revance	Professional Aesthetic Consultant-Denton County Texas	Denton, TX	05/15/2025	$95,000
Alta Cima	Professional Housing Consultant (Sales Associate)	Topeka, IN	05/11/2025	$60,000
Factory Expo Home Centers	Professional Housing Consultant (Sales Associate)	Topeka, IN	05/10/2025	$60,000
Factory Expo Home Centers	Professional Housing Consultant (Sales Associate)	Athens, TX	05/08/2025	$150,000

Professional consultant salary FAQs

What state pays Professional Consultants the most?

How do I know if I'm being paid fairly as a professional consultant?

Have more questions? See all answers to common business and financial questions.

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Updated December 15, 2025

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