Account executive salary: what AE postings pay, by segment, product, city and company

A US account executive job posting on this board typically pays $125,000 a year, and the middle half of postings run from $80,000 to $180,000. Where a seat lands in that range depends less on the title than on four things: the size of the buyers it sells to, what the company sells, the city, and whether the seat is remote. This guide breaks account executive pay down by each of them, names the companies that post the most, and explains how to read the number in a posting.

On 1 November 2026 this board had 9,803 open account executive roles that US candidates could take, and 6,221 of them (63%) stated their pay. Every figure below is the midpoint of each posting's own range, put on a full year's scale, and the median across the postings in each group. Right now the board's account executive roles post a median of $126k/yr, with a typical band of $82.5k/yr to $320k/yr, across 16,987 open roles in every country.

Contents

1. The short answer
2. Pay by the size of the buyer
3. Pay by what the company sells
4. Pay by city
5. Remote versus office seats
6. The companies that post the highest pay
7. Base, OTE and what the posted number means
8. How to judge an offer
9. How these figures were counted
10. Quick answers

1. The short answer

The spread is wide because "account executive" covers very different jobs. At one end are inside and territory seats at distributors, insurers and building suppliers, often posting a salary of $50,000 to $70,000 with a modest commission. At the other are enterprise seats at AI, cloud and security companies that post on-target earnings of $300,000 and more. The rest of this guide shows where each kind of seat sits.

2. Pay by the size of the buyer

Titles that name a segment say how large the buyers are, and pay climbs with deal size:

An enterprise seat sells fewer, larger deals over months, carries a larger quota and is usually given to sellers with five or more years of closing behind them, which is why it pays about $60,000 more at the median than a seat with no segment in its title. Associate AE seats are the usual step up from sales development and pay roughly what an SDR earns plus a closing commission.

The selling style matters as much. Titles that say outside sales or territory post a median of $95,000, and inside sales account executives $59,300: most of those seats are at distributors, equipment rental and building products companies, where the pay is a salary with a smaller commission on reorders.

3. Pay by what the company sells

The single largest driver of account executive pay on this board is the product. Companies whose products cost more per contract can pay more per seller:

Each market counted at least 300 US account executive roles posting pay. Software, AI and security sellers sit well above the board's median; the tech and software sales jobs page lists those seats together. Medical device account executive titles often name a territory seat whose posted figure is the base salary alone, with a large commission on top that the posting does not state, so its median understates what those sellers earn; the guide How to get into medical device sales explains how those plans pay.

4. Pay by city

Among US account executive roles that post pay, by the metro the posting names (a role naming several metros counts in each):

The order follows the mix of employers more than the cost of living. The Bay Area, Washington DC and New York are where AI, security and enterprise software companies keep their closing teams; Phoenix, Minneapolis and Houston have more field territories at device, equipment and distribution companies. A seat's pay is set by the company and the segment first, and the city second. Each metro's page lists its open roles with their pay, and the guide Best cities for sales jobs compares the cities across every kind of sales seat.

5. Remote versus office seats

Remote account executive roles post more, not less: a median of $147,900 for the 1,562 remote US roles posting pay, against $115,900 for the 4,659 tied to an office or a territory. Remote AE seats are concentrated at software companies that sell by video, while the office and territory seats include most of the lower-paid field and inside roles. A remote seat usually still covers a named territory or region, and the posting says which. The remote sales jobs page lists them by kind of work.

6. The companies that post the highest pay

The employers whose US account executive postings had the highest median pay on 1 November 2026, among those with at least eight roles posting pay:

These are mostly on-target figures for enterprise seats. The companies posting the most account executive roles pay closer to the middle: Toast had 186 roles posting pay at a median of $166,500, Viatris 122 at $125,000, and Johnson Controls 141 at $88,000. Every company page on this board lists its open sales roles with the pay each one posts.

7. Base, OTE and what the posted number means

An account executive's pay has two parts: a base salary paid whatever happens, and variable pay, the commission earned against a quota. On-target earnings (OTE) is the two added together at 100% of quota. The Bridge Group's 2024 study of more than 170 B2B SaaS companies found a median split of 53:47 for account executives, close to an even split between base and variable - The Bridge Group. So a seat posting $180,000 OTE at that split pays a base of roughly $95,000, and the rest only if the quota is met.

Postings state either figure. Software companies usually post OTE, or a base range with the OTE in the text; distributors, insurers and many field seats usually post the base. That is why the same median can describe very different take-home pay, and why it pays to read the words around the number. The guide What is OTE explains how commission plans pay at, below and above quota, and the sales salary calculator shows what an OTE pays at your attainment.

8. How to judge an offer

• Compare like with like. Put an offer next to postings for the same segment and product: an SMB SaaS seat at $130,000 OTE is at the median for its group; an enterprise security seat at the same figure is well below it.
• Ask for the split and the quota. A 50:50 plan with a quota four to five times OTE is normal for a closing seat; a quota much larger than that makes the variable hard to earn.
• Ask how many reps hit quota last year. If fewer than half did, the OTE overstates what most people in the seat take home.
• Check what is inherited. A seat with an existing book of customers or a strong pipeline earns its commission sooner than one starting from an empty territory.
• Read the commission terms. When commission is earned (at signature or at payment), accelerators above quota, caps, and whether a deal can be clawed back.

The guide Account executive vs account manager compares how the two seats are measured and paid, and Sales career path shows where each step leads.

9. How these figures were counted

• The roles: every open account executive role on this board on 1 November 2026 that a US candidate could take (its posting names the United States or a US location), read from each company's own careers system and checked every hour: 9,803 roles, 6,221 of them stating pay. The board sorts roles by what the job does, so territory managers and sales representatives who close new business count as account executive roles.
• The pay: the midpoint of each posting's own range, base or OTE as the posting states it, on a full year's scale (an hourly rate times 2,080 hours), and the median across the roles in each group.
• Segments and selling styles come from the title's own words, products from what the employer sells, and cities from the posted location, the same rules the board's market and city pages use. A group is shown when at least 30 roles in it post pay; a company when at least eight do.
• Left out: one employer whose postings state a monthly figure the board read as a yearly one, which would have put it at the top of section 6.

These figures describe one day; the board's pages always show the current pay.

10. Quick answers

How much do account executives make? On this board, US account executive postings pay a median of $125,000 a year, with the middle half between $80,000 and $180,000 (1 November 2026). Most software postings state on-target earnings, base plus commission at 100% of quota.

How much do enterprise account executives make? A median of $185,600 among US postings whose title says enterprise, and $182,000 for strategic and major account titles.

Which account executive jobs pay the most? Seats at AI and cloud companies, with medians of $204,800 and $200,000, and enterprise seats in the San Francisco Bay Area, Washington DC and New York.

What is a normal base for an account executive? At the median 53:47 split for B2B software, about half of OTE: roughly $95,000 base on a $180,000 OTE.

Where can I see account executive roles with their pay? The account executive roles page lists every open one with the pay it posts, and the sales pay report compares account executive pay with every other kind of sales seat.