Inside sales vs outside sales: what each does, what each pays and who hires each

Inside sales is selling from a desk by phone, email and video; outside sales is selling in person across a territory. On this board, US outside sales postings pay a median of $97,000 a year and inside sales postings $62,100. Most of that gap comes from who hires each seat, not from the work itself: two thirds of inside sales seats are at distributors, while inside seats at software companies post more than outside seats at most other kinds of company. This guide compares the two by the work, the pay, the employers and the path.

On 1 November 2026 this board had 1,542 open outside sales roles and 476 inside sales roles that US candidates could take, counted by the words in each title (outside, field, territory or route sales; inside sales). The outside sales jobs and inside sales jobs pages list every open seat with today's pay.

Contents

1. The short answer
2. What each seat does
3. What each pays
4. Who hires each
5. Which suits you
6. Moving between them
7. How these figures were counted
8. Quick answers

1. The short answer

Most closing seats at software companies sell from a desk too, but they are titled account executive rather than inside sales, so this guide compares the seats that use the words. The guide Account executive salary covers those.

2. What each seat does

An inside sales rep works a phone, a dialer, email and video calls. At a distributor, that usually means quoting and reordering for existing customers, taking inbound requests and supporting an outside rep who visits the same accounts; at a software or media company, it means selling smaller contracts end to end without travel. Inside reps hold many more customer conversations a day than outside reps, and their targets are often counted in calls, quotes and orders as well as revenue.

An outside sales rep owns a territory and visits buyers where they work: a contractor's job site, a clinic, a restaurant, a plant, a store. The work is planning a week of visits, showing the product in person and keeping relationships for years. Most outside seats ask for a valid driver's license and a clean record, and many involve overnight travel. Territory manager is the single most common outside title on the board (295 US roles that day), followed by outside sales representative (390 across its spellings) and territory account executive (151).

3. What each pays

Three things stand out.

• The employer matters more than the seat. An inside seat at an industry software company posts $102,500 at the median, more than outside seats at device, health services, industrial or fintech companies. An inside seat at a distributor posts $57,000.
• Outside pay leans on commission. Many outside postings at device and distribution companies state the base salary alone, with commission on top; the posted median understates what a rep in a strong territory earns. The guide Medical device sales salary explains how to estimate a territory's commission.
• Leading a team pays similarly in both. Inside sales managers post a median of $115,000 and outside sales and territory team managers $120,000.

4. Who hires each

The employers with the most open US roles of each kind on 1 November 2026:

Inside sales is concentrated: 312 of the 476 US inside roles were at industrial, building and logistics companies (equipment rental, electrical, plumbing and roofing supply, auto parts). Outside sales is spread wider: industrial companies (524 roles), industry software such as restaurant point-of-sale (258), medical devices (231), health services (163) and payments (99). Equipment rental hires both in large numbers: United Rentals had 114 inside and 99 outside roles open.

5. Which suits you

• Choose inside sales if you want a fixed schedule and no travel, like a high volume of short conversations, and want a way into sales that often asks for customer-facing experience rather than a sales record. At a distributor, it is often the first step toward an outside territory.
• Choose outside sales if you like being on the road, building relationships in person and running your own week, and you are comfortable with more of your pay riding on results. Most outside postings ask for a driver's license and some ask for overnight travel.
• Either way, ask how the target is counted, how much of the pay is variable and paid when, and for outside seats how large the territory is and how the car, mileage and phone are paid.

6. Moving between them

The common move is from inside to outside: a distributor's inside rep learns the products, the customers and the pricing, then takes a territory when one opens, usually with a pay rise and a car. The reverse move happens too, for people who want to stop traveling, and at software companies the closest step from inside sales is an account executive seat. The guide Sales career path maps how the seats connect, and How to get into sales shows where the first seats are.

7. How these figures were counted

• The roles: every open sales role on this board on 1 November 2026 that a US candidate could take and whose title says inside sales (476) or outside, field, territory or route sales (1,542), read from each company's own careers system and checked every hour. A title like "Field Service Technician" or "Field Marketing Manager" is not a sales seat and is not counted.
• The pay: the midpoint of each posting's own range on a full year's scale (an hourly rate times 2,080 hours), and the median across the roles in each group. Groups are shown when at least 20 roles post pay. Employers come from what each sells; one employer whose postings state a monthly figure the board read as a yearly one is left out.

These figures describe one day; the inside and outside sales pages always show the current seats and pay.

8. Quick answers

Which pays more, inside or outside sales? On this board, outside sales: a median posted pay of $97,000 against $62,100 for inside sales (1 November 2026). The gap is mostly the employers: inside seats at software companies post $102,500.

Is inside sales a good first job? For many people, yes: many inside postings at distributors and equipment rental companies ask for customer-facing experience rather than a sales record, and the seat often leads to an outside territory.

Do outside sales jobs come with a car? Many do, or pay a car allowance and mileage; nearly all ask for a valid driver's license.

Is inside sales the same as sales development? No. A sales development rep books meetings for others; an inside sales rep usually sells and takes orders directly.

Where can I see inside and outside sales jobs? The inside sales jobs and outside sales jobs pages list every open seat with the pay it posts.