What a sales development representative costs in the US
The wage BLS measured across 1,256,010 jobs, what an employer pays on top of it, the pay in every state, and which of the job's core tasks already show up in AI use.
Medians for the whole US. Your own cost depends on where you hire, the benefits you offer and the hours worked.
- Median wage
- $69,990
- Hourly wage
- $33.65
- Loaded per hour
- $41.91
- Middle half earns
- $47,670 to $100,480
- Jobs in the US
- 1,256,010
Wage × 1.2455 for benefits and payroll taxes, from BLS.
A sales development representative in the US is paid a median $69,990 a year, $33.65 an hour, across 1,256,010 jobs. With benefits, a small employer pays about $87,170. Of its 10 core tasks, 8 showed up in Claude.ai conversations in May 2026, and in 4 of those Claude mostly did the task rather than assisting.
The work, task by task
The 10 core tasks O*NET lists for sales representatives of services, except advertising, insurance, financial services, and travel, most important first, and how each showed up in Claude.ai conversations in May 2026. The bar splits those conversations between Claude doing the task and Claude helping a person do it.
- 01Consult with clients after sales or contract signings to resolve problems and provide ongoing support.Claude.ai: 62% did the task, 38% helped · API: 92% did the task
- 02Answer customers' questions about services, prices, availability, or credit terms.Claude.ai: 55% did the task, 45% helped · API: 86% did the task
- 03Develop sales presentations or proposals to explain service specifications.Claude.ai: 35% did the task, 65% helped · API: 88% did the task
- 04Create forms or agreements to complete sales.
- 05Contact prospective or existing customers to discuss how services can meet their needs.Claude.ai: 72% did the task, 28% helped · API: 98% did the task
- 06Negotiate prices or terms of sales or service agreements.Claude.ai: 49% did the task, 51% helped · API: 99% did the task
- 07Quote prices, credit terms, contract terms, or fulfillment dates for services.Claude.ai: 38% did the task, 62% helped · API: 88% did the task
- 08Maintain customer records using automated systems.Claude.ai: 88% did the task, 12% helped · API: 98% did the task
- 09Identify prospective customers using business directories, leads from clients, or information from conferences or trade shows.
- 10Emphasize or recommend service features based on knowledge of customers' needs and vendor capabilities and limitations.Claude.ai: 43% did the task, 57% helped · API: 93% did the task
8 of 10 tasks appear in the Claude.ai sample of the Anthropic Economic Index for May 2026. A task without a row had too few conversations for Anthropic to publish, which is not the same as none. Shares are of all sampled Claude.ai conversations, so small figures are normal: 0.34% of every conversation that month was about this occupation.
Pay by state
The median annual wage in each state and DC, and the same wage fully loaded. New York pays the most, $92,190; Mississippi the least, $48,440.
| State | Median wage | Fully loaded | Middle half | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $58,840 | $73,290 | $44,960 to $79,120 | 12,840 |
| Alaska | $69,610 | $86,700 | $49,310 to $86,230 | 900 |
| Arizona | $72,920 | $90,820 | $50,260 to $98,790 | 26,340 |
| Arkansas | $50,570 | $62,980 | $40,420 to $75,990 | 5,750 |
| California | $80,850 | $100,700 | $53,800 to $121,590 | 156,110 |
| Colorado | $79,810 | $99,400 | $59,810 to $115,560 | 37,810 |
| Connecticut | $76,940 | $95,830 | $55,700 to $103,460 | 11,420 |
| Delaware | $67,540 | $84,120 | $49,650 to $92,830 | 2,910 |
| District of Columbia | $76,770 | $95,620 | $51,530 to $104,760 | 3,120 |
| Florida | $60,660 | $75,550 | $44,050 to $84,980 | 107,650 |
| Georgia | $75,280 | $93,760 | $48,670 to $104,070 | 46,960 |
| Hawaii | $58,500 | $72,860 | $43,880 to $80,000 | 3,450 |
| Idaho | $58,930 | $73,400 | $40,990 to $94,190 | 5,030 |
| Illinois | $66,900 | $83,320 | $49,120 to $99,900 | 69,910 |
| Indiana | $63,960 | $79,660 | $47,440 to $91,240 | 21,950 |
| Iowa | $62,420 | $77,740 | $43,720 to $84,990 | 6,530 |
| Kansas | $62,580 | $77,940 | $43,860 to $97,250 | 12,480 |
| Kentucky | $52,750 | $65,700 | $41,160 to $79,350 | 11,860 |
| Louisiana | $55,200 | $68,750 | $38,640 to $83,070 | 8,200 |
| Maine | $63,900 | $79,590 | $46,030 to $81,380 | 2,120 |
| Maryland | $63,310 | $78,850 | $45,830 to $90,500 | 21,580 |
| Massachusetts | $83,760 | $104,320 | $62,610 to $124,380 | 32,300 |
| Michigan | $73,380 | $91,390 | $49,290 to $103,070 | 27,160 |
| Minnesota | $75,370 | $93,870 | $51,440 to $102,790 | 19,220 |
| Mississippi | $48,440 | $60,330 | $37,610 to $66,530 | 3,730 |
| Missouri | $60,440 | $75,280 | $40,560 to $82,130 | 14,100 |
| Montana | $58,720 | $73,140 | $45,720 to $78,580 | 1,730 |
| Nebraska | $57,770 | $71,950 | $46,410 to $79,230 | 6,110 |
| Nevada | $62,450 | $77,780 | $45,360 to $88,350 | 10,950 |
| New Hampshire | $71,510 | $89,070 | $52,780 to $95,680 | 4,670 |
| New Jersey | $79,200 | $98,640 | $55,640 to $110,430 | 44,980 |
| New Mexico | $61,880 | $77,070 | $43,040 to $82,420 | 3,790 |
| New York | $92,190 | $114,820 | $61,340 to $133,580 | 80,510 |
| North Carolina | $62,620 | $77,990 | $45,940 to $97,210 | 46,040 |
| North Dakota | $66,060 | $82,280 | $43,610 to $112,570 | 1,620 |
| Ohio | $59,390 | $73,970 | $42,320 to $82,420 | 38,440 |
| Oklahoma | $54,990 | $68,490 | $37,440 to $78,980 | 9,710 |
| Oregon | $67,040 | $83,500 | $47,010 to $95,060 | 10,440 |
| Pennsylvania | $64,480 | $80,310 | $47,570 to $97,370 | 39,920 |
| Rhode Island | $81,450 | $101,450 | $55,130 to $103,370 | · |
| South Carolina | $58,510 | $72,870 | $40,600 to $83,810 | 21,070 |
| South Dakota | $61,770 | $76,930 | $39,600 to $78,380 | 630 |
| Tennessee | $60,230 | $75,020 | $42,260 to $80,580 | 21,600 |
| Texas | $61,680 | $76,820 | $45,090 to $88,120 | 135,030 |
| Utah | $62,580 | $77,940 | $46,920 to $85,600 | 16,210 |
| Vermont | $77,530 | $96,560 | $61,440 to $97,890 | 1,130 |
| Virginia | $72,640 | $90,470 | $47,900 to $106,600 | 41,390 |
| Washington | $79,920 | $99,540 | $60,640 to $108,600 | 18,950 |
| West Virginia | $50,240 | $62,570 | $37,630 to $73,390 | 2,130 |
| Wisconsin | $64,020 | $79,740 | $49,820 to $87,660 | 22,720 |
| Wyoming | $58,970 | $73,450 | $41,690 to $93,140 | 750 |
The same benefits ratio applies in every state, because BLS does not publish benefit costs by business size for each state. The middle half is the 25th to 75th percentile wage.
Where the numbers come from
Every figure is copied from a public file. The only arithmetic is the loaded cost: the wage times 1.2455.
- Wages
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, occupation 41-3091 (Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel). Annual figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours, as BLS computes them, so they already include pay for paid leave.
- Fully loaded
- BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026 (2026 Q2), private businesses with 1 to 49 workers: $37.64 an hour in total compensation over $27.88 in wages plus $2.34 in paid leave gives 1.2455. Paid leave sits in the denominator because the annual wage already pays it.
- Tasks
- O*NET 31.0 core tasks for 41-3091.00, the ten most important by their importance rating. A few occupations list fewer core tasks.
- AI use
- Anthropic Economic Index, release of June 2026, conversations from May 2026. "Did the task" is Anthropic's automation share, where the user directs Claude to do the work; "helped" is augmentation, where the user works with Claude to learn, check or iterate.
- Not measured
- What a particular business pays, and whether an AI system can do a task well. The AI figures count conversations about a task, not jobs replaced.
This page includes information from the 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. AI use data from the Anthropic Economic Index by Anthropic, under CC BY. Wage and benefit data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
What would an AI system cost for this work?
Put $87,170 beside the running cost of a system doing the tasks above, with the build counted in year one.
BLS wages May 2025 · O*NET 31.0 · Anthropic Economic Index