Guide · 6 minutes
Sales salary by state: 31 states ranked by the pay their sales postings 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.
California's sales postings pay the most of any state on this board: a median of $172,500 a year across 2,603 US postings that state pay, ahead of Washington ($147,000), Virginia ($143,588) and Illinois ($140,000). At the other end, Oklahoma, Iowa and Nevada post medians near $100,000. The state matters less than it looks, though: a state's figure mostly follows which companies hire there, and a remote seat's pay is often set by the company's own bands rather than the state. This guide ranks 31 states by posted sales pay and explains what moves each number.
On 1 November 2026 this board had more than 20,000 open sales roles that US candidates could take, read from each company's own careers page. Every figure below is the midpoint of each posting's own range on a full year's scale (base or on-target earnings, as the posting states it), and the median across the postings that name the state or one of its cities. New York has a city page rather than a state page: New York City's sales postings post a median near $170,000, and the New York sales jobs page shows today's figure.
Contents
- The ranking
- Why the states differ
- Where postings show their pay
- How to use these figures
- How these figures were counted
- Quick answers
1. The ranking
| Rank | State | Open sales roles | Postings stating pay | Median posted pay | Account executive median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 3,125 | 2,603 | $172,500 | $154,969 |
| 2 | Washington | 486 | 403 | $147,000 | $118,551 |
| 3 | Virginia | 467 | 387 | $143,588 | $125,000 |
| 4 | Illinois | 923 | 718 | $140,000 | $129,300 |
| 5 | Pennsylvania | 424 | 246 | $136,084 | $108,638 |
| 6 | North Carolina | 491 | 273 | $135,200 | $125,000 |
| 7 | Texas | 1,551 | 849 | $135,000 | $125,000 |
| 8 | Kentucky | 89 | 39 | $134,250 | $101,000 |
| 9 | Oregon | 104 | 68 | $131,900 | $80,000 |
| 10 | Georgia | 543 | 321 | $131,250 | $125,000 |
| 11 | Massachusetts | 712 | 604 | $130,000 | $118,500 |
| 12 | Florida | 645 | 323 | $125,000 | $101,975 |
| 13 | Minnesota | 286 | 229 | $125,000 | $95,650 |
| 14 | Michigan | 248 | 119 | $125,000 | $99,200 |
| 15 | Wisconsin | 175 | 87 | $125,000 | $99,250 |
| 16 | Kansas | 70 | 33 | $125,000 | too few |
| 17 | Alabama | 85 | 51 | $122,500 | $125,000 |
| 18 | Maryland | 208 | 183 | $120,000 | $90,000 |
| 19 | Colorado | 535 | 440 | $119,714 | $97,250 |
| 20 | Indiana | 158 | 78 | $118,500 | $100,402 |
| 21 | Arizona | 313 | 167 | $117,000 | $101,450 |
| 22 | South Carolina | 104 | 52 | $115,750 | $85,000 |
| 23 | Utah | 250 | 144 | $115,500 | $109,500 |
| 24 | New Jersey | 225 | 192 | $114,500 | $85,000 |
| 25 | Connecticut | 114 | 86 | $113,750 | $95,000 |
| 26 | Ohio | 379 | 241 | $110,000 | $96,250 |
| 27 | Missouri | 185 | 104 | $110,000 | $97,250 |
| 28 | Tennessee | 183 | 101 | $105,000 | $90,000 |
| 29 | Nevada | 97 | 63 | $100,000 | $87,025 |
| 30 | Iowa | 84 | 32 | $96,500 | $85,875 |
| 31 | Oklahoma | 80 | 43 | $95,201 | $85,000 |
"Too few" marks a state with fewer than 20 account executive postings stating pay. Each state's name opens its page, with its open roles and today's figures.
2. Why the states differ
- Which companies hire there. California's lead comes from the software, AI and security companies in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, which post the highest pay for every kind of seat; the guide Tech sales salary shows how far apart software and other markets are. States where distribution, equipment and consumer brands hire most of the sellers post lower medians.
- Which seats. A state with many sales engineering and leadership seats posts a higher median than one with many field and inside sales representative seats; the guide Highest-paying sales jobs ranks the seats.
- Small samples. Kentucky, Kansas, Iowa and Oklahoma had fewer than 45 postings stating pay each, so one large employer can move their medians by tens of thousands of dollars.
3. Where postings show their pay
The share of postings that state pay follows each state's law. In California, Washington, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and Virginia, which require a pay range in job postings, between 78% and 88% of sales postings stated one; in most states without such a law, about half did. Kentucky (44%) and Iowa (38%) stated it least. The guide Which sales jobs show their pay lists the laws and their dates.
4. How to use these figures
- Compare the seat, not the state. An account executive offer in Ohio should be compared with Ohio's account executive median and with the same seat at the same kind of company, not with California's median for every seat.
- Remote seats follow the company. Some employers pay remote sellers one national band, others by location tier; ask which, since it can move an offer more than the state's median. The guide Remote sales jobs covers remote pay.
- Cities are not the state. A state's median mixes its big cities with the rest; the city pages (Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta and the rest) show each metro alone.
5. How these figures were counted
- The roles: every open sales role on this board on 1 November 2026 whose posted location names the state or one of its cities, read from each company's own careers system and checked every hour. A role posted for several states counts in each.
- The pay: the midpoint of each posting's own range on a full year's scale, and the median across the postings in each state. Postings that state an "earning potential" rather than a pay range, and postings whose stated period the board misread, are left out.
These figures describe one day; each state's page always shows the current roles and pay.
6. Quick answers
Which state pays salespeople the most? On this board, California: a median of $172,500 across its sales postings that state pay (1 November 2026), then Washington ($147,000) and Virginia ($143,588).
Which states pay salespeople the least? Of the 31 states with a page, Oklahoma ($95,201), Iowa ($96,500) and Nevada ($100,000) posted the lowest medians.
Does Texas pay salespeople well? Texas sales postings state a median of $135,000, seventh of the 31 states, and its account executive postings $125,000.
Do salespeople earn more in big cities? Usually, because the companies that pay the most hire there: San Francisco and New York are among the highest city medians on the board.
Where can I see sales jobs in my state? Each state's name in the ranking above opens its page, with every open role and the pay it posts.