Wholesale and Manufacturing Sales Reps salary in the US
What do wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives actually earn, and how does that change with age, education and location? These figures come straight from Census survey microdata.
How much do wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives earn?
If you lined up all wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives by pay, the person in the middle would earn about $78,754 a year — 50% more than the $52,508 median for all US earners aged 25 and older. Of the 171 occupation groups we compare, 44 have a higher median and 126 have a lower one. 57,525 respondents aged 25+ reported this occupation, which is what the median is calculated from.
| Position | Annual earnings |
|---|---|
| Top 10% start at | $203,050 |
| Top 25% start at | $129,085 |
| Median (top 50%) | $78,754 |
| Bottom 25% earn below | $47,730 |
How wide is the pay range?
This is a field with a long upper tail: $129,085 gets you into the top quarter, but the top 10% starts near $203,050, 2.6× what the median worker earns. A quarter of workers in the field made $47,730 or less over the year — a figure shaped by part-time and seasonal work as much as by hourly rates. The median is 1.6 times that lower-quarter line.
Earnings by age
The career curve is steep: workers aged 25–34 have a median of $62,968, but by 45–54 it reaches $91,651 (+46%). Among those 65 and older who still work, the median is $60,915, 34% below the peak — reduced schedules explain much of that.
Men and women
By sex, the medians are $83,958 (men) and $65,628 (women) — a 22% difference. In the raw sample, roughly 28 in 100 workers in this job are women. The comparison isn't like-for-like on hours or seniority, so read it as a description rather than a pay-equity measure.
| Group | Median earnings | Survey records |
|---|---|---|
| Men | $83,958 | 41,279 |
| Women | $65,628 | 16,246 |
Does education change the pay?
Workers with a master's degree ($122,202) earn 112% more than those with a high school education or less ($57,721). 23,212 of the records belong to people with a bachelor's degree, the biggest single group; we suppress levels with fewer than 100.
| Education | Median earnings | Survey records |
|---|---|---|
| High school or less | $57,721 | 12,045 |
| Some college / associate | $68,015 | 17,018 |
| Bachelor's | $101,525 | 23,212 |
| Master's | $122,202 | 4,621 |
| Professional degree | $101,525 | 377 |
| Doctorate | $111,719 | 252 |
Where the most work, and what they earn there
Most of the sample comes from California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Illinois, the five states where this occupation is most common in the data. Illinois pays best of the five ($83,958 median); Florida pays least ($73,321). State figures aren't price-adjusted; 47 states have a large enough sample to report.
| State | Median earnings | Survey records |
|---|---|---|
| California | $76,144 | 6,392 |
| Texas | $78,710 | 5,065 |
| Florida | $73,321 | 3,660 |
| New York | $77,561 | 2,957 |
| Illinois | $83,958 | 2,716 |
Occupations with similar pay
Nearby on the pay scale are registered nurses ($78,204), market research analysts and marketing specialists ($79,431), accountants and auditors ($80,205), and education and childcare administrators ($81,220). Each of these takes a different path in, but a typical year's earnings lands in the same range.
| Occupation | Median earnings | vs. this job |
|---|---|---|
| Registered Nurses | $78,204 | −1% |
| Market Research Analysts And Marketing Specialists | $79,431 | +1% |
| Accountants and Auditors | $80,205 | +2% |
| Education and Childcare Administrators | $81,220 | +3% |
| Compliance Officers | $81,220 | +3% |
About these figures
About the data: the American Community Survey asks people their occupation and earnings; we pool the 2020–2024 responses, convert them to 2024 dollars, and weight each person to represent the population. The 57,525 records for wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives include part-time workers, so these are annual totals rather than full-time salaries.
See where your pay ranks among wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives
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Open the calculatorSource: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-Year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) — personal earnings (PERNP) in 2024 dollars, person-weighted
Reference statistics only — not financial advice.