---
title: "Parts Salesperson"
description: "Sell spare and replacement parts and equipment in repair shop or parts store."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/parts-salesperson"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Parts Salesperson

**Category:** Sales and Related · **SOC code:** 41-2022 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 41-2022.00

Sell spare and replacement parts and equipment in repair shop or parts store.

Also advertised as: Parts Advisor; Parts Consultant; Parts Counter Salesperson; Parts Counterman; Parts Counterperson; Parts Person; Parts Salesman; Parts Salesperson.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $38,630 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $18.57/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $28,240 to $62,890, with the middle half between $33,110 and $49,850
- **Total US employment:** 270,070
- **Typical entry education:** No formal credential
- **Preparation required:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +3.1% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 30,200 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 51/100 — 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 270,070 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $28,240 |
| 25th | $33,110 |
| 50th (median) | $38,630 |
| 75th | $49,850 |
| 90th | $62,890 |
| Mean (average) | $43,830 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| ND | $48,600 | $54,632 | 1,610 |
| CO | $47,660 | $46,248 | 4,840 |
| MN | $47,030 | $47,688 | 5,790 |
| WA | $46,830 | $43,761 | 6,230 |
| IA | $46,670 | $53,178 | 3,810 |
| NH | $46,370 | $44,516 | 1,500 |
| VT | $46,260 | $47,224 | 780 |
| AK | $46,130 | $45,067 | 710 |
| AZ | $46,020 | $45,711 | 3,890 |
| NJ | $45,510 | $41,827 | 4,810 |
| WI | $45,380 | $48,228 | 5,200 |
| SD | $45,370 | $51,216 | 2,100 |
| ME | $45,350 | $46,728 | 1,630 |
| OR | $45,190 | $43,721 | 3,880 |
| NY | $45,180 | $41,864 | 7,460 |

38 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 53 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/parts-salesperson/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/parts-salesperson.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 272,100 in the 2024–2034 base year to 280,600 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 8,500 jobs, or +3.1%. About as fast as average: 3.1% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 30,200 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:** No formal educational credential (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Moderate-term on-the-job training.

### 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 |
| --- | --- |
| High School Diploma | 46.9% |
| Some College Courses | 25.2% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 13.6% |
| Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 9.3% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 5.0% |

## What the work involves

- Examine returned parts for defects, and exchange defective parts or refund money.
- Maintain and clean work and inventory areas.
- Receive payment or obtain credit authorization.
- Assist customers, such as responding to customer complaints and updating them about back-ordered parts.
- Advise customers on substitution or modification of parts when identical replacements are not available.
- Read catalogs, microfiche viewers, or computer displays to determine replacement part stock numbers and prices.
- Fill customer orders from stock, and place orders when requested items are out of stock.
- Discuss use and features of various parts, based on knowledge of machines or equipment.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 2.8 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.

- Persuasion — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Negotiation — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Customer and Personal Service — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Sales and Marketing — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administrative — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Computers and Electronics — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Recognition — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Clarity — importance 3.6 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 Realistic (R), Conventional (C), Enterprising (E).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 5.64 |
| C — Conventional | 5.12 |
| E — Enterprising | 3.83 |
| S — Social | 1.96 |
| I — Investigative | 1.60 |
| A — Artistic | 1.00 |

### 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) |
| --- | --- |
| ESTJ | 86.9 |
| ISTJ | 85.7 |
| ISFJ | 75.6 |
| ESFJ | 70.4 |
| ESTP | 65.7 |

Best-fitting types: ESTJ, ISTJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Counter and Rental Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/counter-and-rental-clerk) — median $41,300
- [Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/shipping-receiving-and-inventory-clerk) — median $45,260
- [Retail Salesperson](https://nuecareer.com/careers/retail-salesperson) — median $35,410
- [Engine and Other Machine Assembler](https://nuecareer.com/careers/engine-and-other-machine-assembler) — median $53,710
- [Stocker and Order Filler](https://nuecareer.com/careers/stocker-and-order-filler) — median $37,330
- [Home Appliance Repairer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/home-appliance-repairer) — median $50,990
- [Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/automotive-and-watercraft-service-attendant) — median $35,670
- [Door-to-Door Sales Worker, News and Street Vendor, and Related Worker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/door-to-door-sales-worker-news-and-street-vendor-and-related-worker) — median $41,380
- [Laborer and Freight, Stock, and Material Mover, Hand](https://nuecareer.com/careers/laborer-and-freight-stock-and-material-mover-hand) — median $40,240
- [Order Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/order-clerk) — median $46,170

## 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/parts-salesperson