Guide · 6 minutes
Sales representative salary: what inside, outside and field sales rep postings pay, by industry and state
Written by Yuma Heymans, Founder & CEO of SalesJobs.Now.
Yuma runs SalesJobs.Now out of San Francisco. Recruiting is familiar ground: Yuma also co-founded HeroHunt.ai, a platform that uses AI to find and reach candidates.
A US sales representative posting on this board typically pays $78,000 a year, with the middle half of postings between $54,080 and $109,251. Sales representative is the most common sales title in the trades, distribution, consumer goods and healthcare, and its pay depends on what you sell more than on anything else: drug company reps post a median of $125,000, equipment and distribution reps $66,900, and insurance reps an hourly base of $18 an hour before incentive pay. This guide breaks sales representative pay down by industry, inside or outside, state and company.
On 1 November 2026 this board had 2,736 open roles titled sales representative or sales rep, 2,047 of them open to US candidates, and 1,150 of those (56%) stated their pay. Every figure below is the midpoint of each posting's own range on a full year's scale (an hourly rate times 2,080 hours; base or on-target earnings, as the posting states it), and the median across the postings in each group. Postings that state an "earning potential" instead of a pay range are left out. The sales representative jobs page lists every open seat with today's figures.
Contents
- The short answer
- Pay by what the company sells
- Inside and outside sales representatives
- State by state
- The companies hiring, and what they post
- Base, commission and what the posting leaves out
- How these figures were counted
- Quick answers
1. The short answer
| Measure, US sales representative roles, 1 Nov 2026 | Posted pay per year |
|---|---|
| Median | $78,000 |
| Middle half of postings | $54,080 to $109,251 |
| Bottom tenth below | $45,000 |
| Top tenth above | $125,000 |
| Remote postings (median) | $101,201 |
| Field and office postings (median) | $75,000 |
2. Pay by what the company sells
| What the company sells | US roles posting pay | Median | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pharmaceuticals and biotech | 142 | $125,000 | $125,000 to $125,000 |
| Diagnostics and lab | 36 | $105,000 | $79,997 to $252,500 |
| Medical devices | 72 | $83,658 | $76,550 to $92,000 |
| Industrial and distribution | 550 | $66,900 | $51,483 to $92,500 |
| Fintech | 51 | $66,000 | $52,800 to $66,000 |
| Consumer goods | 125 | $64,800 | $58,900 to $85,000 |
| Insurance | 41 | $37,440 | $37,440 to $37,440 |
The pharmaceutical figure is mostly one company's band: Viatris posted 122 US sales representative roles, 116 of them at $100,000 to $150,000. The insurance figure is Allstate's hourly base for its licensed insurance sales representatives ($18 an hour), with incentive pay as its postings describe. Restaurant software is the outlier above them all: SpotOn's 51 territory sales representative roles post on-target earnings of $120,000 to $275,000.
3. Inside and outside sales representatives
| Kind of seat (title names) | US roles posting pay | Median | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outside, field or territory | 375 | $79,698 | $53,881 to $110,826 |
| Inside | 118 | $59,540 | $50,575 to $62,660 |
Outside reps meet customers in person across a territory and post about $20,000 more at the median than inside reps, who sell by phone and video. The guide Inside vs outside sales compares the two across every seat.
4. State by state
| State | US roles posting pay | Median |
|---|---|---|
| Florida | 66 | $96,250 |
| Georgia | 32 | $93,250 |
| Arizona | 22 | $89,575 |
| Texas | 76 | $88,150 |
| California | 140 | $85,000 |
| Pennsylvania | 22 | $85,000 |
| North Carolina | 26 | $82,500 |
| Massachusetts | 34 | $82,287 |
| Virginia | 45 | $80,000 |
| New Jersey | 27 | $80,000 |
| Washington | 31 | $80,000 |
| Ohio | 29 | $73,000 |
| Minnesota | 24 | $67,500 |
| Illinois | 41 | $66,000 |
| Colorado | 45 | $64,800 |
| Maryland | 31 | $62,504 |
State medians here also reflect which employers post the most in each state: where a drug maker or a restaurant software company posts many territories, the median rises.
5. The companies hiring, and what they post
The companies with the most open sales representative roles in every country on 1 November 2026 were Stryker (235), United Rentals (217), Viatris (127), Sunbelt Rentals (100), Medtronic (98), Graybar (87), Rexel (86), Fiserv (79) and Abbott (76).
The companies with the most priced US roles were Viatris (122 roles, $125,000), Sunbelt Rentals (86, $51,483), Graybar (82, $55,060), United Rentals (69, $90,000), SpotOn (51, $197,500), Johnson Controls (51, $72,200), Ferguson (47, $50,575), 3 Day Blinds (45, $85,000), Sysco (42, $64,800), Ecolab (41, $94,500) and Fiserv (37, $66,000). Among companies with at least five priced roles, the highest medians were CareDx ($252,500), SpotOn ($197,500), GSK ($156,000), 3MG Roofing and Solar ($150,000), Viatris ($125,000), Carrier ($118,500) and Arrow Electronics ($110,901).
6. Base, commission and what the posting leaves out
- Base or on-target. Many equipment rental, distribution and insurance postings state a base or an hourly rate with commission on top, while others state on-target earnings that already include it. Compare like with like.
- Earning potential is not pay. Some home improvement sellers post an "average earning potential" in place of a range; this guide leaves those out, and so should a candidate comparing offers. Ask what reps in their first year earned in total.
- The territory. How many accounts come with the seat and how much they already buy decides most of the commission.
The guide What is OTE explains base, variable and quota.
7. How these figures were counted
- The roles: every open role on this board on 1 November 2026 whose title says sales representative or sales rep, read from each company's own careers system and checked every hour: 2,736 roles, 2,047 of them open to US candidates and 1,150 of those stating pay. The postings of one employer that states an "average earning potential" rather than a pay range (about 80 roles) are left out.
- 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 US roles in each group. What the company sells comes from the company; inside and outside from the title's words; the state from the posted location.
These figures describe one day; the sales representative jobs page always shows the current roles and pay.
8. Quick answers
How much does a sales representative make? On this board, US sales representative postings state a median of $78,000 a year, with the middle half between $54,080 and $109,251 (1 November 2026), commission often on top.
Which sales representative jobs pay the most? Pharmaceutical, diagnostics and restaurant software seats: Viatris posts $100,000 to $150,000 for most of its reps, SpotOn on-target earnings of $120,000 to $275,000.
Do outside sales reps make more than inside reps? On this board, yes: outside and field reps post a median of $79,698, inside reps $59,540.
Is a sales representative job commission only? Most postings here state a base or an hourly rate with commission on top; a seat that pays commission alone says so, and is a different job.
Where can I see sales representative jobs? The sales representative jobs page lists every open seat with the pay it posts.