---
title: "Human Resources Manager"
description: "Plan, direct, or coordinate human resources activities and staff of an organization."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/human-resources-manager"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Human Resources Manager

**Category:** Management · **SOC code:** 11-3121 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 11-3121.00

Plan, direct, or coordinate human resources activities and staff of an organization.

Also advertised as: Employee Relations Manager; HR Admin Director (Human Resources Administration Director); HR Director (Human Resources Director); HR Manager (Human Resources Manager); HR Ops Manager (Human Resources Operations Manager); HR VP (Human Resources Vice President); Recruitment Director.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $149,280 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $71.77/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $88,200 to $267,810, with the middle half between $111,110 and $199,290
- **Total US employment:** 220,660
- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's
- **Preparation required:** Medium preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +5.0% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 17,900 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 35/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 220,660 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $88,200 |
| 25th | $111,110 |
| 50th (median) | $149,280 |
| 75th | $199,290 |
| 90th | $267,810 |
| Mean (average) | $164,230 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| DC | $184,350 | $167,742 | 2,250 |
| MA | $181,780 | $171,885 | 7,540 |
| NY | $176,650 | $163,685 | 17,920 |
| NJ | $172,440 | $158,485 | 6,400 |
| CA | $170,080 | $153,613 | 27,450 |
| RI | $167,110 | $163,385 | 530 |
| CO | $166,400 | $161,472 | 3,620 |
| VA | $165,980 | $164,168 | 5,770 |
| CT | $165,930 | $160,149 | 3,020 |
| WA | $165,530 | $154,682 | 4,560 |
| DE | $153,890 | $154,186 | 580 |
| MN | $153,770 | $155,920 | 4,370 |
| MD | $152,770 | $145,552 | 3,820 |
| IL | $151,370 | $151,434 | 13,520 |
| GA | $150,700 | $156,502 | 7,270 |

39 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 54 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/human-resources-manager/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/human-resources-manager.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 221,900 in the 2024–2034 base year to 233,000 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 11,100 jobs, or +5.0%. Faster than average: 5.0% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 17,900 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's degree (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Medium preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** 5 years or more.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** None.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Bachelor's Degree | 81.8% |
| Post-Baccalaureate Certificate | 9.1% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 4.6% |
| Master's Degree | 4.6% |

## What the work involves

- Serve as a link between management and employees by handling questions, interpreting and administering contracts and helping resolve work-related problems.
- Plan, direct, supervise, and coordinate work activities of subordinates and staff relating to employment, compensation, labor relations, and employee relations.
- Represent organization at personnel-related hearings and investigations.
- Advise managers on organizational policy matters, such as equal employment opportunity and sexual harassment, and recommend needed changes.
- Plan and conduct new employee orientation to foster positive attitude toward organizational objectives.
- Identify staff vacancies and recruit, interview, and select applicants.
- Analyze statistical data and reports to identify and determine causes of personnel problems and develop recommendations for improvement of organization's personnel policies and practices.
- Administer compensation, benefits, and performance management systems, and safety and recreation programs.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Management of Personnel Resources — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Negotiation — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Personnel and Human Resources — importance 4.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 4.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Law and Government — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Expression — importance 4.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Clarity — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Enterprising (E), Conventional (C), Social (S).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| E — Enterprising | 7.00 |
| C — Conventional | 5.54 |
| S — Social | 3.88 |
| I — Investigative | 2.31 |
| A — Artistic | 1.50 |
| R — Realistic | 1.26 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ESFJ | 80.2 |
| ESTJ | 76.3 |
| ENFJ | 68.6 |
| ENTJ | 66.2 |
| ESFP | 59.3 |

Best-fitting types: ESFJ, ESTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Human Resources Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/human-resources-specialist) — median $75,940
- [Human Resources Assistant, Except Payroll and Timekeeping](https://nuecareer.com/careers/human-resources-assistant) — median $50,610
- [Management Analyst](https://nuecareer.com/careers/management-analyst) — median $101,860
- [Industrial-Organizational Psychologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-organizational-psychologist) — median $193,950
- [Labor Relations Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/labor-relations-specialist) — median $95,420
- [Training and Development Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/training-and-development-manager) — median $133,000
- [Compensation, Benefit, and Job Analysis Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/compensation-benefit-and-job-analysis-specialist) — median $78,210
- [Social and Community Service Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/social-and-community-service-manager) — median $80,390
- [Compensation and Benefits Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/compensation-and-benefits-manager) — median $149,230
- [Equal Opportunity Representative and Officer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/equal-opportunity-representative-and-officer) — median $80,730

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/human-resources-manager