Occupation salary profile

Sales Managers

SOC 11-2022 BLS OEWS May 2025 H-1B LCAs, last 12 months

Plan, direct, or coordinate the actual distribution or movement of a product or service to the customer. Coordinate sales distribution by establishing sales territories, quotas, and goals and establish training programs for sales representatives. Analyze sales statistics gathered by staff to determine sales potential and inventory requirements and monitor the preferences of customers.

National median · BLS
$148,270
▲ +7.4% YoY
H-1B sponsor median
$155,000
▲ +3.33% YoY · 710 LCAs
Average salary · BLS
$164,350
Mean annual wage
U.S. employment
637,080
Jobs (BLS)
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Enter your pay and a location to see where you stand against BLS and H-1B pay, your estimated take-home pay, and your purchasing power.

Pay range for Sales Managers

Annual base pay at each percentile. BLS covers all U.S. workers in this occupation; H-1B covers 710 certified Labor Condition Applications filed by sponsoring employers in the last 12 months.

Percentile All U.S. workers (BLS) H-1B sponsored
10th — entry pay$73,170$83,900
25th$100,360$118,123
Median (50th)$148,270$155,000
75th$207,340$202,500
90th — top pay$290,540$257,131
H-1B sponsors pay a median of $155,000 for Sales Managers — 4.5% above the BLS national median of $148,270.

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Based on hrs/week × weeks/year = 2,080 hrs
Projections 2025–2035

Job outlook for Sales Managers

BLS projects employment of sales managers to grow 4.5% from 2025 to 2035, faster than the 3.5% average for all occupations. About 47,300 openings are projected each year, on average, from new jobs and from replacing workers who retire or move to other occupations.

Jobs 2025 → 2035
650,100 → 679,100
+29,000 jobs
Projected change
+4.5%
All occupations: +3.5%
Openings per year
47,300
Average, 2025–2035
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree
Plus less than 5 years experience
Self-employed
0.8% of workers (2025)
Preparation needed (O*NET Job Zone 4)
Considerable Preparation Needed. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
Fastest-growing jobs → Best-paying jobs that need a bachelor's degree →

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–2035 · BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook →

H-1B sponsored pay

Pay by H-1B wage level

Employers assign every H-1B filing a Department of Labor prevailing-wage level, from Level I (entry) to Level IV (fully competent). Pay rises steeply with level.

H-1B median $155,000
Change vs prior year +3.33%
After inflation (CPI-U) +0.19%
Wage level LCAs Share P25 Median P75
Level I 171 24.1% $75,564 $92,312 $120,000
Level II 214 30.1% $120,000 $137,880 $177,875
Level III 148 20.8% $161,716 $194,236 $235,000
Level IV 116 16.3% $196,206 $250,000 $290,702
H-1B job titles

Salaries by job title in Sales Managers

The 6 most-filed job titles inside SOC 11-2022, from 710 H-1B filings. Seniority words and level numbers are grouped (“Senior Data Engineer II” counts as Data Engineer). Tap a title for its full range, wage levels and the exact titles employers used.

Job title LCAs Share P25 Median P75 YoY
Sales Manager 91 12.82% $81,476 $120,578 $155,000 +0.48%
Sales Director 43 6.06% $122,112 $149,469 $200,000 -0.35%
Vice President, Sales 19 2.68% $181,000 $210,000 $250,000 +29.76%
Account Executive 17 2.39% $110,000 $143,978 $160,000 +22.53%
Business Development Manager 14 1.97% $84,750 $117,177 $165,646 -21.73%
Account Manager 10 1.41% $99,470 $126,948 $148,585 +3.63%

Titles are cleaned from the employer's own LCA text (codes and typos removed, nothing invented). Rows need 10+ filings in this SOC.

Skills & tools

Skills needed for Sales Managers

How important each skill and knowledge area is for this job, rated by O*NET on a 1–5 scale from surveys of workers and occupational analysts.

Top skills
  • Active Listening4.0
  • Negotiation4.0
  • Speaking4.0
  • Critical Thinking3.9
  • Judgment and Decision Making3.9
  • Management of Personnel Resources3.9
  • Monitoring3.9
  • Persuasion3.9
  • Reading Comprehension3.9
  • Social Perceptiveness3.9
Top knowledge areas
  • Sales and Marketing4.8
  • Customer and Personal Service4.3
  • English Language4.1
  • Administration and Management4.0
  • Personnel and Human Resources3.4
  • Computers and Electronics3.2
  • Education and Training3.2
  • Communications and Media3.0
Software and technology used
Microsoft ExcelMicrosoft Office softwareMicrosoft OutlookMicrosoft PowerPointSalesforce softwareAdobe AcrobatAdobe Creative Cloud softwareBentley MicroStationEclipse IDEFacebookGoogle AnalyticsGoogle DocsHubSpot softwareHypertext markup language HTMLIBM SPSS StatisticsMarketo Marketing AutomationMicrosoft AccessMicrosoft Azure software

Highlighted = in demand: frequently listed in employer job postings for this occupation (O*NET).

Source: O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.

About the job

What sales managers do

  • Oversee regional and local sales managers and their staffs.
  • Resolve customer complaints regarding sales and service.
  • Monitor customer preferences to determine focus of sales efforts.
  • Confer with potential customers regarding equipment needs, and advise customers on types of equipment to purchase.
  • Review operational records and reports to project sales and determine profitability.
  • Plan and direct staffing, training, and performance evaluations to develop and control sales and service programs.
  • Direct and coordinate activities involving sales of manufactured products, services, commodities, real estate, or other subjects of sale.
  • Determine price schedules and discount rates.
Also called
District Sales ManagerSales DirectorSales ManagerSales VP (Sales Vice President)Fractional Sales ExecutiveNational Sales ManagerRegional Sales ManagerSales and Marketing VP (Sales and Marketing Vice President)Sales Operations Manager (Sales Ops Manager)Sales Supervisor
More job titles for this occupation (39)
Account ManagerArea Sales ManagerArea SupervisorBD Director (Business Development Director)BD Executive (Business Development Executive)BD Manager (Business Development Manager)Business DeveloperChannel ManagerClient Relationship ManagerCommercial DirectorCommercial Sales ManagerDealership ManagerDepartment Store ManagerDistrict ManagerDivision ManagerE-Commerce Director (Electronic Commerce Director)Export ManagerGlobal Account Manager (GAM)Hotel Sales ManagerImport Export ManagerInside Sales ManagerMarketing Sales SupervisorNational Account ManagerProfessional Equipment Sales and Service ManagerRegional DirectorRegional ManagerRegional Sales DirectorRetail Chain Store Area SupervisorRetail District ManagerSales Account ManagerSales and Marketing DirectorSales and Marketing ManagerSales CoordinatorSales Promotion ManagerTerritory ManagerTerritory Sales ManagerUtility Sales and Service ManagerVehicle Leasing and Rental ManagerZone Manager

Source: O*NET 31.0 (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0). These are general job titles, not H-1B filings; for titles employers actually filed, see “Job titles” above.