Sales Representative, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Product Salary (2026), outlook and how to become one

Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products earn a median of $104,920 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025). That is 106% above the $50,980 median for all US occupations. That works out at $50.44/hr. The middle half earn between $75,030 and $158,160. The top 10% earn $200,440 or more.

The median hourly wage for sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, technical and scientific products is $50.44 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). On a full-year basis the $104,920 annual median works out to about $8,740 a month before tax.

BLS does not publish a starting salary. The nearest measure is the low end of the pay range: the lowest-paid 10% of sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, technical and scientific products earn less than $52,600 a year and the bottom quarter less than $75,030 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). New workers often start near that end, but where a particular job starts depends on the employer, the state and the credentials you bring, so read these as the bottom of the range rather than a guaranteed entry wage.

Yes, more often than not. The median is $104,920, so more than half of sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, technical and scientific products earn over $100,000 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025). In 29 states the median itself is above $100,000: Colorado ($135,000), New Jersey ($131,360), Kansas ($130,850), New York ($129,410), and 25 more.

The highest state medians for Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products are Colorado ($135,000), New Jersey ($131,360), Kansas ($130,850) (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Adjusted for local prices using BEA Regional Price Parities, Kansas moves to the top at $145,279.

BLS does not split sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, technical and scientific products' pay by specialty or employer, but its range shows how far the top end runs: the highest-paid 10% earn more than $200,440, against a median of $104,920 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Location moves pay the most in the published data: the best-paying states are Colorado ($135,000), New Jersey ($131,360), Kansas ($130,850). BLS also counts a specialty career inside this occupation (enterprise account executive), which shares its federal pay figures.

Yes. BLS reports a bachelor's degree as the typical entry-level education for Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products, and O*NET rates the preparation needed as considerable preparation. BLS also lists moderate-term on-the-job training as typical on-the-job training. In O*NET's survey of people already doing the job, 39.5% hold bachelor's degree.

It is growing, but slowly: 1.2% over 2025–2035 against 3.5% for all occupations (BLS EP, 2025–2035). BLS still projects about 23,600 openings a year, mostly from workers retiring or moving to other work.

Wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives sell goods for wholesalers or manufacturers to businesses, government agencies, and other organizations. A core O*NET task: answer customers' questions about products, prices, availability, or credit terms. Employers most often ask for Accounting software, Analytical or scientific software, Customer relationship management CRM software.

Most work more than 40. In O*NET's survey of people in the job, 79% of sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, technical and scientific products usually work more than 40 hours a week, 22% work exactly 40 and 0% work fewer. 60% say their schedule is regular and 40% irregular. Source: O*NET 31.0 Database, Work Context.

O*NET scores Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products highest on the Enterprising, Conventional and Investigative interest areas, so the work mixes leading, persuading, selling and making decisions with organising, following procedures and working precisely with data. On NueCareer's MBTI-to-interest mapping that lines up most closely with ESTJ personalities. Personality is a fit signal, not a gate. The free NueCareer quiz scores your own profile against all 1,731 careers in the bank.

4 years for a bachelor's degree. BLS records a bachelor's degree as typical for the technical and scientific products group and a high school diploma or equivalent for the wider wholesale and manufacturing sales occupation. Where a jurisdiction does license the activity, as the District of Columbia does for pharmaceutical detailers, the requirement is an application and a fee rather than a course of study.

Not a state license. The occupation is not licensed by any state. What varies is whether the specific product category is regulated in the jurisdiction where you call on customers. The District of Columbia is the clear example: it regulates the practice of pharmaceutical detailing through its Board of Pharmacy alongside the practice of pharmacy itself, defining detailing as communicating in person with a licensed health professional to sell, provide information about or promote a pharmaceutical product on behalf of a manufacturer or labeler. Sales representatives should check the jurisdictions in their territory rather than only the one they live in.

Women make up 29.7% of sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, technical and scientific products, against 47.1% of all employed people: more men than in the workforce as a whole. 25.5% are 55 or older, close to the 23.2% across all jobs. The median worker is 44.2 years old (all workers: 42.1). Source: BLS Current Population Survey, 2025 annual averages, for the Census group "Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing".