Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
Job outlook for regional business managers in the United States
Regional business manager job growth summary. After extensive research, interviews, and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
The projected regional business manager job growth rate is 5% from 2018-2028.
About 23,800 new jobs for regional business managers are projected over the next decade.
Regional business manager salaries have increased 12% for regional business managers in the last 5 years.
There are over 29,880 regional business managers currently employed in the United States.
There are 148,007 active regional business manager job openings in the US.
The average regional business manager salary is $124,644.
Are regional business manager jobs in demand?
Regional business manager job and salary trends over time
Regional business manager jobs over time
Regional business manager job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 29,880 | 0.01% |
| 2020 | 25,631 | 0.01% |
| 2019 | 26,442 | 0.01% |
| 2018 | 24,903 | 0.01% |
| 2017 | 24,393 | 0.01% |
Average regional business manager salary over time
Regional business manager salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $124,644 | $59.92 | +4.5% |
| 2024 | $119,320 | $57.37 | +1.9% |
| 2023 | $117,040 | $56.27 | +2.6% |
| 2022 | $114,063 | $54.84 | +2.6% |
| 2021 | $111,142 | $53.43 | +3.6% |
Regional business manager jobs by state
Most common states for regional business managers
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 517 | 74% |
| 2 | Minnesota | 5,576,606 | 1,749 | 31% |
| 3 | Nebraska | 1,920,076 | 518 | 27% |
| 4 | Montana | 1,050,493 | 286 | 27% |
| 5 | South Dakota | 869,666 | 233 | 27% |
| 6 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 1,817 | 26% |
| 7 | Kansas | 2,913,123 | 694 | 24% |
| 8 | Alaska | 739,795 | 175 | 24% |
| 9 | Wisconsin | 5,795,483 | 1,309 | 23% |
| 10 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 947 | 23% |
| 11 | Iowa | 3,145,711 | 711 | 23% |
| 12 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 230 | 22% |
| 13 | Ohio | 11,658,609 | 2,405 | 21% |
| 14 | Missouri | 6,113,532 | 1,302 | 21% |
| 15 | North Dakota | 755,393 | 156 | 21% |
| 16 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 1,672 | 20% |
| 17 | Tennessee | 6,715,984 | 1,355 | 20% |
| 18 | Indiana | 6,666,818 | 1,338 | 20% |
| 19 | Nevada | 2,998,039 | 600 | 20% |
| 20 | Vermont | 623,657 | 123 | 20% |
Most common cities for regional business managers
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Frankfort | 3 | 11% | $117,958 |
| 2 | Juneau | 3 | 9% | $112,895 |
| 3 | Annapolis | 3 | 8% | $137,870 |
| 4 | Dover | 3 | 8% | $119,353 |
| 5 | Topeka | 4 | 3% | $106,326 |
| 6 | Lansing | 3 | 3% | $121,233 |
| 7 | Springfield | 3 | 3% | $103,240 |
| 8 | Hartford | 3 | 2% | $134,614 |
| 9 | Little Rock | 3 | 2% | $108,151 |
| 10 | Boston | 4 | 1% | $133,641 |
| 11 | Denver | 4 | 1% | $107,376 |
| 12 | Atlanta | 3 | 1% | $105,288 |
| 13 | Baton Rouge | 3 | 1% | $104,231 |
| 14 | Des Moines | 3 | 1% | $106,923 |
| 15 | Montgomery | 3 | 1% | $111,382 |
| 16 | Sacramento | 3 | 1% | $148,216 |
| 17 | Indianapolis | 3 | 0% | $112,413 |
| 18 | Phoenix | 3 | 0% | $146,187 |
Regional Business Manager job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of regional business manager experts
Wayne State University
University of Maryland
Catawba College
Pennsylvania State University - Greater Allegheny
Landmark College
University of Saint Mary
University of West Georgia
Tiffin University
The Pennsylvania State University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Louisiana Tech University
What general advice would you give to a Regional Business Manager?
Andrew Spicer: Resiliency is a particularly important skill for international business and career progression. Resiliency – the ability to recover quickly in the face of obstacles and failures – has always been a critical part of successful international assignments. The only constant of working abroad is that there will be miscommunication and mistakes. Successful international business careers depend on the ability to learn from these inevitable setbacks to improve over time. The constant change in the global business environment also leads to the demand for resiliency among international business specialists. An important role for those with a global mindset is to help companies adapt to the massive disruption to the global business environment for international trade and investment presently taking place across the world.
What Regional Business Manager skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Kim Roberts: Business professionals lead organizations by focused efforts that revolve around products/services, processes, and people. Business professionals work to ensure the firm's products and/or services meet customer expectations, with an eye toward an ever-changing market. They manage processes that produce or support the firm's products. This requires the ability to analyze data to make informed decisions, to drive continuous improvement, and to solve problems through critical thinking. Successful business professionals must also create climates that promote teamwork and foster collaboration.
Attila Yaprak Ph.D.
Professor of Marketing and International Business, Director, Doctoral ProgramsWayne State University
Mike Ilitch School of Business
What skills will help Regional Business Managers earn the most?
Attila Yaprak Ph.D.: Portfolio of the above three with different weights depending on context.
Roland Rust Ph.D.
Distinguished University Professor, David Bruce Smith Chair in Marketing, Executive Director, Center for Excellence in Service, Ph.D., Business Administration, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill MarketingUniversity of Maryland
Robert H. Smith School of Business
What skills stand out on Regional Business Manager resumes?
Roland Rust Ph.D.: One might think that a stellar sales record would be most important, but that would be most relevant only if the individual has prior sales manager experience. If promoting a salesperson to sales manager, the thing that may be missing is administrative and managerial skills. In addition, we are in a technological revolution, driven by AI, which means that prior knowledge and experience with AI-related analysis would also definitely stand out (although probably hard to find).
Dr. Elizabeth Homan Ph.D.
Professors, Department ChairCatawba College
Theatre Arts
What soft skills should all Regional Business Managers possess?
Dr. Elizabeth Homan Ph.D.: Networking, networking, networking. And being a nice, friendly, honest human being. Flexibility and a level head in the face of persistent change. Resilience and an ability to work with the conditions in which you find yourself. Working with what you have, not what you wish you had.
Bernie Cerasaro
Assistant Teaching ProfessorPennsylvania State University - Greater Allegheny
Business Department
What skills stand out on Regional Business Manager resumes?
Bernie Cerasaro: Skills employers would be looking for would be functional skills and interpersonal skills. Functional skills should stand out on a resume and be aligned to the business job in question. For example, if focused on marketing positions, marketing skills such as data analytics, market research, consumer behavior, global marketing, and professional selling skills would be areas for which employers would be looking. If the job market is looking for someone in accounting, then functional skills that would stand out would be intermediate financial accounting skills and courses on taxation and auditing. For those seeking positions in project management or supply chain management, skills that would stand out would encompass subject matter such as project management, portfolio management, operations planning and control, purchasing and materials management, and knowledge of ERP type systems and other business processes.
Skill sets can be enhanced via various types of certification. For example, those interested in accounting might pursue a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) license, which requires 150 credits. As most universities require 120 credits for a bachelor's degree in business, a CPA would require just an additional 30 credits, which students can start accumulating while still at college. Project management certification is also an opportunity to enhance the aforementioned skills and would certainly stand out on an applicant's resume. The Project Management Institute (PMI) promotes PMP certification, which validates that you are highly skilled in soft skills to lead project teams and have the required technical aspects of managing projects. Some universities are working with the PMI to have PMI-approved courses. Approved courses are used toward the PMP training hours required to sit for the exam. For example, Penn State University has received approval for two such courses, Portfolio Management and Organizations and Project Planning and Resource Management.
Due to the high rate of interaction with the global marketplace and the complexity of international business, managers are looking more closely at applicants who have some familiarity with global markets and international culture, such as applicants who may have study abroad experience, traveled internationally, speak a foreign language or have lived or worked in another country.
What hard/technical skills are most important for Regional Business Managers?
Bernie Cerasaro: Most technical skills required in today's marketplace are associated with task requirements in specific functional areas. However, some skillsets can be considered general, such as using Word, Excel, or Zoom. Technical skills relevant to social media are also critical. The ability to construct a web page and post on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter is essential. For [CBC1] functional areas, examples of needed technical expertise would be Microsoft Project for project management and SAP for supply chain management.
What skills will help Regional Business Managers earn the most?
Bernie Cerasaro: Some of the same skills as indicated above are important as the person works their way up the ranks and increases their salary. Prominent skills include strong leadership, superior performance, handling conflict, and creating a trusting and productive work environment.
The choice of a functional area can also impact one's earnings depending upon the market's needs. Areas such as corporate accounting and finance, project management, supply chain management, and entrepreneurship can command higher earnings due to a higher demand for such individuals in the marketplace. However, the higher salaries for some of these positions might require a master's degree.
As a concluding note, even though we are amid a pandemic, which has resulted in certain industries/companies being unable to find sufficient employees, this does not imply that this will be the situation for all industries or that the graduate can relax as to developing a strong skill-oriented resume. Graduates still need to focus on functional, technical, and soft skills in order to design impactful resumes that clearly indicate their strongest skills and experience.
What skills stand out on Regional Business Manager resumes?
Dr. Jeanette Landin: Skills that stand out on contemporary business manager resumes are soft skills. Business managers indeed need insight and knowledge about the business and hard skills, including financial and other technical skills. What stands out on contemporary, successful business manager resumes are their soft skills. Interpersonal skills are atop the list because business is all about people working with other people to achieve a common goal: The business's mission. The people skills of communication, collaboration, and delegation are a vital part of the manager's ability to influence colleagues, delegate work, and achieve the company's mission.
What soft skills should all Regional Business Managers possess?
Dr. Jeanette Landin: The most important soft skills have a common denominator: Communication. Communicating effectively across various media and with widely varying personalities is the key to being an effective business manager. Another critical soft skill is time and information management. The amount of information business managers process on an everyday basis has grown at an increasing rate during the last couple of decades. Business managers must manage multiple priorities, meetings, written and verbal communications, and social media efficiently. Therefore, handling multiple commitments and massive amounts of information is another essential soft skill.
What hard/technical skills are most important for Regional Business Managers?
Dr. Jeanette Landin: The most important hard skill is using current technology and the aptitude to learn innovative technology. Old-world technologies such as office technology skills are an absolute minimum for business managers. A business manager must be willing to learn and adapt to emerging electronic communication media to reach organizational goals. Managers can learn other hard or technical skills as needed to accomplish the company's objectives if the manager possesses the aptitude and disposition to be effective.
What skills will help Regional Business Managers earn the most?
Dr. Jeanette Landin: The skill that will help you earn the most is inspiring other people to increase company productivity and high employee morale. An engaged and productive employee is the most important product of an effective manager. Managers who possess the ability to inspire colleagues and drive company objectives are invaluable.
Dr. Mark Harvey Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Director of Graduate and Undergraduate Programs, Coordinator of All-University Honors ProgramUniversity of Saint Mary
Division of Business and Information Technologies (DBiT)
What hard/technical skills are most important for Regional Business Managers?
Dr. Mark Harvey Ph.D.: Familiarity with software-basic windows packages, particularly MS Word and Excel. Candidates should not be afraid of quantitative data analysis. Analytics are necessary to figuring out what your business is doing and how it can grow. Also, familiarity with whatever social media platforms are used in that industry can be very important.
What skills will help Regional Business Managers earn the most?
Dr. Mark Harvey Ph.D.: One consideration is, does the position pay commission? If so, the soft skills listed above are extremely important because the more you apply those skills, the more likely you are to grow your business.
When a manager is not on commission, there's little correlation between skills and pay while doing the job. The employer will hire you at a given salary level, and it is your job to negotiate to the best position. Once they have chosen you-that's the moment when you have the most leverage. You will never get a raise that is as substantial as what you might be able to ask for upon hire. After that, most raises are not going to be tied mechanically to performance and skills. Your next chance at a raise will be when you move or are promoted to a new position. Thus, those soft skills can affect your ability to negotiate.
I will repeat a previous theme: education and experience are probably more important than skills in terms of making more money. An employer can't really tell what your skills are from your resume. Just because you say you have a skill doesn't mean that you really do. They can reasonably guess that somebody with a degree is responsible enough to have accomplished something big. Somebody who makes it through a graduate program is probably very good at what they know. And somebody who has been in the industry and/or in a similar job is more likely to be able to walk in with little orientation and know what they are doing. Employers take risks on employees and hope that they can deliver. Thus, with more education and more experience, you are able to apply for higher-level jobs, which usually come with higher salaries.
What skills stand out on Regional Business Manager resumes?
Dr. Mark Harvey Ph.D.: Resumes are hard. It is very difficult to predict what any employer is looking for on any resume. The "skills" section of a resume is probably not the first thing most employers are looking at. The first consideration is probably education. Those with a bachelor's degree will be sorted first in fields-such as those who have business degrees, or particularly sales and marketing majors. Those with MBAs will be placed on the top. Those who have MBAs and marketing concentrations will likely be valued the most. The second consideration would probably be experience. Someone with several years of experience in business development or sales and marketing will be moved to the top. Someone with a bachelor's degree who has a lot of experience might beat out a fresh MBA. However, MBA plus experience beats almost everything. Someone with an MBA going for an entry-level position with little experience needed will likely beat out all bachelor challengers. For new graduates, getting some kind of internship in sales and marketing can differentiate them from those who do not.
Most hiring managers will probably assume that somebody who has sales and marketing education and/or experience probably has the skills necessary to do the job. An interviewer may probe on specific skills. I'll comment more specifically on other kinds of skills below, but it's also fair to say that a candidate's soft skills should shine in the interview. Simply saying that you have certain skills on a resume doesn't mean that you actually have them.
I think that the best thing a candidate can do is to research the company they hope to work for and tailor their resume to that employer. What does the business do? What kinds of things do you think that development manager is going to do in that particular industry? How do your skills as a candidate match what you guess they're looking for? The more you customize your resume, the better chances you have of resonating with the company. Employers are impressed when you already know something about the job and the industry.
What soft skills should all Regional Business Managers possess?
Dr. Mark Harvey Ph.D.: First, critical and creative thinking. Employers value problem solvers. A Business Development Managers' problem usually is finding growth opportunities. Candidates need to learn to take the initiative to figure out how to solve problems like those.
Second, writing. The best employees know how to communicate in writing. More and more communication occurs through email and other forms of social media and apps, and as such, this skill is absolutely critical. You don't need to be a creative writing genius, but you do need to know how to write in a professional tone, present your ideas in an organized way, get to the point, and avoid errors. There is a direct line between a student's ability to write an academic essay with a clear thesis and an employee's ability to write a good email or proposal. If you can't do those things, then you risk embarrassment and possibly limited options for promotion.
Third, speaking. The American business world discriminates against introverts-sometimes at their own peril. Everyone needs to know how to give a quality speech, but more importantly, you need to sound confident and assertive in a board room during meetings. You need to be confident in front of clients. Fake it if you have to. The way you present yourself is absolutely critical.
Fourth, social skills. You need to be friendly. Get to know co-workers and clients. Find out what they like and show an interest. Find common ground. Your undergraduate degree hopefully exposed you to a wide diversity of topics you may have thought were irrelevant at some point. Now is the time to remember that stuff and use it to connect with people. Nearly everything you learned will have some application someday. It will help you connect with others. In addition, put away your cell phone when you are at work or on social occasions. To some people, a preoccupation with a cell phone communicates a lack of interest in the person you are with. It can alienate bosses, co-workers, and clients.
Thomas Gainey Ph.D.
Chair and ProfessorUniversity of West Georgia
Department of Management in the Richards College of Business
What skills will help Regional Business Managers earn the most?
Thomas Gainey Ph.D.: With such a growing reliance on technology and data analytics, skills related to these areas will likely command higher salaries. Individuals with training in areas such as software engineering, digital marketing, web design, and quantitative analysis should find well-paid opportunities in the job market.
Dr. Bonnie Tiell
Professor of Sport ManagementTiffin University
School of Business
What skills stand out on Regional Business Manager resumes?
Dr. Bonnie Tiell: Experience and proven record of accomplishments, achievements, and added value to an organization (e.g., demonstration of increasing market shares, sales quotas, membership acquisition, etc.).
James Wilkerson Ph.D.
Business Program Coordinator, Project and Supply Chain Management Program CoordinatorThe Pennsylvania State University
Business Department
What skills stand out on Regional Business Manager resumes?
James Wilkerson Ph.D.: Skills, experience, knowledge, and abilities that matter especially strongly include target market analysis (including market research skills and knowledge), product/service positioning within competitive field, project work or coordination with sales staff, major client relationship management, and enough general business and industry knowledge to be able to relate business development to operational/production realities.
What soft skills should all Regional Business Managers possess?
James Wilkerson Ph.D.: Verbal skills (both speaking and writing), negotiation skills, unfailing honesty, ability to empathize with clients' wants, and teamwork skills suitable for working collaboratively with sales and operations staff.
What hard/technical skills are most important for Regional Business Managers?
James Wilkerson Ph.D.: Spreadsheet (Excel) skills (including graph production from data), basic statistical knowledge, and online information search skills.
What skills will help Regional Business Managers earn the most?
James Wilkerson Ph.D.: Skill at rapidly learning market trends, relating business development to product development, and persuading major prospective clients when brought in to help with closing sales. Bottom line: the business development manager must be on the cutting edge of new market conditions and new business opportunities to help the firm organically grow its sales, especially in new markets or product/service lines.
Hagit Weihs Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Accounting in the Brandeis International Business School and the Undergraduate Advising Head to the Business ProgramBrandeis University
International Business School
What skills will help Regional Business Managers earn the most?
Hagit Weihs Ph.D.: Students who specialize in a certain discipline will earn a higher initial salary. Examples are accounting or finance, marketing, real estate - having a deeper understanding of the discipline and internship and/or field project experience in that discipline. Networking, drive, and creativity, as well as the willingness to continue to learn and grow, will all continue to increase salary down the road.
Aldo Musacchio Ph.D.
Professor, Program Director of the MBABrandeis University
Brandeis International Business School
What skills stand out on Regional Business Manager resumes?
Aldo Musacchio Ph.D.: I think experiences or experiential learning in which they worked in teams with real companies using the hard skills that the market values. Summer internships doing data analytics or business development at a startup stand out. But also working on field projects at your school with a company in which you can display that you used your data analytics or digital marketing skills goes far.
What soft skills should all Regional Business Managers possess?
Aldo Musacchio Ph.D.: When we talk to employers, they usually tell you they want students who know how to listen and drive. They want someone who is going to be happy to be in the company, who is going to participate actively in meetings and teams, and who is going to be good at listening and the following guidance.
Patrick Scott Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of EconomicsLouisiana Tech University
Economics and Finance Department
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Regional Business Managers to find work opportunities?
Patrick Scott Ph.D.: We have had success in placing our candidates from the College of Business at Louisiana Tech University in all portions of the country. Small towns, to large cities, to graduate programs, and beyond are all able to benefit from the skills learned by these majors.
How do you envision technology impacting Regional Business Managers in the next 5 years?
Patrick Scott Ph.D.: I'm so glad you asked this question. COVID-19 has structurally changed the economy we knew. Technology will continue to drive these changes at a faster rate than we have seen in previous generations. While the cost of analyzing data and making fast business decisions will likely drop in the coming years due to increased efficiency, the need to have someone interpret what the numbers mean to business leaders and policymakers will continue to remain strong. Business economics majors are poised to be able to capitalize on these opportunities for the foreseeable future.