Official annual estimates for the whole country, mapped to the closest published occupation.
United States · annual wage estimate
25th percentile
$29,900
Median
$35,410
75th percentile
$38,670
BLS covers wage and salary employees, including part-time workers, but excludes self-employed workers and owners or partners in unincorporated firms. Wages include commissions and production bonuses, but exclude overtime premiums, employer benefits, and non-production bonuses; this is not a base-pay-only or total-compensation measure. Annual wage estimates generally convert hourly rates using a full-time, year-round schedule of 2,080 hours. Actual annual earnings on a shorter schedule can be lower.
This is a country-level occupation benchmark, not a local offer estimate. Pay can differ by location, employer, duties, and working pattern.
National median with 25th–75th percentile band, 2003–2025.
Source: BLS, 2025-05-01. Mapped to Retail salespersons; the occupation is broader than the page role. Figures are estimates, not advertised salaries.
Quick interpretation
For a U.S. Sales Advisor, the closest national benchmark is Retail Salespersons (41-2031), which covers selling merchandise to consumers. The match is useful for comparing an offer with the occupation, but it is not a promise that every Sales Advisor job includes every listed retail task or uses the same pay structure.
Benchmark fit
Why this benchmark applies to Sales Advisor
Sales Advisor is treated here as a Retail Sales Associate alias within the Retail Salespersons occupation. That comparison covers consumer merchandise sales, but the occupational profile spans products and retail settings, so it does not establish that every Sales Advisor position has the same duties.
Overlapping responsibilities
Both labels can describe work selling merchandise directly to consumers.
Customer assistance and payment handling fit the benchmark, while the exact mix of selling, stock, display, and returns work depends on the individual position.
What the occupation combines
The benchmark includes selling merchandise, helping customers choose or locate products, processing payments, and a range of stock, display, exchange, and return activities.
Nearby titles: Retail Sales Associate.
Use the benchmark to compare the occupation, not to assume that a particular employer assigns every listed task or that the benchmark is the exact pay for one Sales Advisor offer.
Role scope
What Sales Advisor work usually includes
A Sales Advisor helps consumers buy merchandise. In the mapped U.S. occupation, the work can include identifying what a customer wants, recommending or locating products, and completing the sale. If the job focuses on answering questions and handling complaints rather than selling merchandise, compare the [Customer Service salary benchmark](/salaries/customer-service).
Responsibilities
Greet customers and find out what they want or need. · Recommend, select, and help locate or obtain merchandise suited to customer needs. · Compute prices and totals, then receive and process cash or credit payments. · Depending on the role, ticket, arrange, and display merchandise; inventory or requisition stock; and handle exchanges or returns. · A generic Sales Advisor model also includes unpacking deliveries, attaching price tags, operating a cash register, and processing transactions; these are role-model examples rather than universal U.S. requirements.
Typical outputs
The work produces completed merchandise sales and processed customer payments.
Read the range
Three points, one pay distribution
A customer-facing Sales Advisor assignment may focus on greeting shoppers, recommending products, and taking payment. Another assignment under the same occupational benchmark may add stock counts, displays, exchanges, or returns. Treat that difference as a scope question to check in the offer, not as a guaranteed pay band.
25th percentile
One quarter of employees earn below this figure.
Median
Half of employees earn below this figure and half above it; it is not the arithmetic midpoint of the displayed range.
75th percentile
One quarter of employees earn above this figure.
Beyond salary
Salary versus total compensation
Compare the offer on the same cash-pay basis first. Check whether the quoted amount includes commissions or production bonuses, then separate those conditional amounts from fixed pay. Review schedule and expected hours separately, and treat employer benefits as additional terms rather than wage.
Fixed cash pay: confirm the guaranteed hourly rate or salary, pay frequency, and whether any stated figure assumes a particular schedule.
This gives you a like-for-like starting point before considering variable pay.
Conditional cash: ask how commissions or production bonuses are calculated, when they are paid, and whether the quoted figure includes them.
Commissions and production bonuses are included in the wage measure, so you need the rules behind any offered amount.
Benefits: check the employer's terms for health coverage, retirement contributions, paid leave, or equity if the offer includes them.
Employer benefits are excluded from the wage measure and should be evaluated separately.
Employment model
Compare the employment arrangement
The benchmark covers wage and salary employees, including part-time workers. It excludes self-employed workers and owners or partners in unincorporated firms.
For an employee offer, compare the guaranteed cash terms and schedule with the benchmark. A self-employed arrangement is outside this employee dataset and should not be treated as the same employment model.
Ask whether you will be hired as an employee and how many paid hours the offer assumes.
Part-time work is covered, but annualized figures generally use a full-time, year-round schedule; actual annual earnings can be lower on a shorter schedule.
Compare the hourly rate and expected paid hours, not only the annualized figure.
Offer review
How to evaluate your Sales Advisor offer
What part of the quoted cash amount is guaranteed, and what part depends on commission or a production bonus?The wage definition includes commissions and production bonuses, so a headline figure may not be entirely fixed.
How many paid hours does the offer assume, and is the schedule full-time or part-time?Annual estimates generally use a full-time, year-round schedule, while a shorter schedule can produce lower actual annual earnings.
Which duties are assigned: customer advice and checkout only, or also displays, stock work, exchanges, and returns?Those tasks sit within the broad occupational match but are not established as part of every Sales Advisor job.
If benefits are offered, what are the eligibility rules and employer contributions for health cover, retirement, or paid leave?Employer benefits are separate from the wage measure, so their value and conditions need their own comparison.
Compare roles
Roles near Sales Advisor
Customer Service
Different salary dataset
Customer Service focuses on resolving customer questions, concerns, and routine problems, while Sales Advisor work focuses on selling merchandise and completing related retail transactions. Customer Service is a different role and dataset relationship from this Retail Salespersons benchmark.
Source: BLS, 2025-05-01. The figures cover Retail salespersons (41-2031) and all employment. Updated October 15, 2026. This broad occupation benchmark may not match every Sales Advisor vacancy.
Put the benchmark to work
Build your Sales Advisor resume for the roles you want.
Use the salary range as context. Tailor your resume around the experience that supports your target level.
