JRIJob Risk Index

Real salary data

What Retail Salespersons actually earn in 2026.

The median for Retail Salesperson is $35,880 across 489 real salary records (H-1B visa filings and tech job postings), updated Oct 26, 2026.

01 / By source

Real salary bands, by source.

Bands come from 489 real records. Each source has a different bias, disclosed below.

Approximate salary distribution$35,880
p25$32,968p50$35,880p75$40,560

Density curve fitted to the observed quartiles (log-normal). $32,968–$40,560 contains the middle 50% of records in the best-represented source; the shape between them is an approximation.

SourceRecords25th pctMedian75th pct
Job postings489$32,968$35,880$40,560

Salary data updated Oct 26, 2026. Bands are percentiles, not averages; n is the number of underlying records.

02 / By city

What Retail Salespersons earn, by city.

Real records; cities with at least 10 observations.

CityRecordsRange (p25–p75)Median
Fresno, CA56$35,256 – $41,280$36,400
New York, NY47$36,400 – $42,640$38,480
Oklahoma City, OK34$31,005 – $34,320$32,240
Chicago, IL33$33,176 – $38,688$35,880
Los Angeles, CA33$35,880 – $44,720$38,990
Albuquerque, NM30$28,210 – $33,670$30,326
Nashville, TN27$29,120 – $35,880$33,280
Louisville, KY26$28,340 – $35,100$33,280
Grand Rapids, MI21$32,240 – $39,520$35,100
Minneapolis, MN21$32,760 – $38,272$35,360
San Francisco, CA21$38,896 – $43,784$39,520
Denver, CO20$33,280 – $43,160$39,000

03 / By state

What Retail Salespersons earn, by state.

StateRecordsRange (p25–p75)Median
CA113$35,672 – $42,640$38,896
NY47$36,400 – $42,640$38,480
MI34$31,850 – $39,231$33,519
OK34$31,005 – $34,320$32,240
IL33$33,176 – $38,688$35,880
NM30$28,210 – $33,670$30,326
TN27$29,120 – $35,880$33,280
KY26$28,340 – $35,100$33,280
FL21$31,200 – $38,532$34,840
MN21$32,760 – $38,272$35,360
TX21$33,280 – $41,600$36,400
CO20$33,280 – $43,160$39,000

04 / Context

How Retail Salespersons pay compares with similar roles.

ProfessionRiskMedianOutlook
Retail CashierCritical$37,440-9.9% (2024–34)
Sales ManagerMedium$150,000+4.7% (2024–34)
Sales RepresentativeMedium$80,150+0.3% (2024–34)
Sales Representative of ServicesMedium$64,550+3.1% (2024–34)
Technical and Scientific Products Sales RepresentativeMedium$91,686+1.9% (2024–34)

05 / Next step

How to move up the pay band.

The skills below appear most often in higher-paid roles:

06 / FAQ

Salary questions, answered.

01Why are the bands different from the BLS median?
The BLS median covers all Retail Salesperson in the US. These bands come from real records with known biases — H-1B filings skew to visa-eligible (high-skill) roles and tech postings skew to tech employers — so they sit above the national median. We disclose the source of every band.
02How often is this data updated?
The dataset refreshes weekly from live job postings and quarterly from new H-1B disclosures.

Methodology