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The differences between sales associates and brokers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a broker has an average salary of $124,861, which is higher than the $32,167 average annual salary of a sales associate.
The top three skills for a sales associate include customer service, sales floor and cash handling. The most important skills for a broker are brokerage, financial services, and insurance products.
| Sales Associate | Broker | |
| Yearly salary | $32,167 | $124,861 |
| Hourly rate | $15.46 | $60.03 |
| Growth rate | - | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 579,849 | 2,770 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 38% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Average age | 41 | 49 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
Sales associates are responsible for promoting the company's goods or services. They are expected to provide exceptional customer service to prospective buyers. They should be familiar with all features of the company's products or services so that they can answer the customers' inquiries. Sales associates also assist customers in processing their checkouts, refunds, returns, and other needs. They should be customer-oriented, and they should have great communication skills. They should know how to sell their products or services to customers. They are considered the company's representatives on the ground.
Brokers can either be a firm or an individual acting as an intermediary between a securities exchange and an investor. They often provide services to individual investors and traders who cannot engage directly with security exchanges, which only accept orders from their members. They provide investors and traders with an investment plan, market intelligence, and research. They may cross-sell some financial services and products offered by their brokerage firms. They are also typically classified as discount or full-service brokers.
Sales associates and brokers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Sales Associate | Broker | |
| Average salary | $32,167 | $124,861 |
| Salary range | Between $21,000 And $47,000 | Between $68,000 And $227,000 |
| Highest paying City | New York, NY | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | New York | New York |
| Best paying company | Barclays | Child Guidance & Family Solutions |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | Insurance |
There are a few differences between a sales associate and a broker in terms of educational background:
| Sales Associate | Broker | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 38% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | University of Southern California |
Here are the differences between sales associates' and brokers' demographics:
| Sales Associate | Broker | |
| Average age | 41 | 49 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 38.4% Female, 61.6% | Male, 63.8% Female, 36.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.6% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 21.4% Asian, 6.9% White, 55.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% | Black or African American, 5.3% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 13.2% Asian, 6.9% White, 70.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 13% |