What a wholesale sales representative costs in the US
The wage BLS measured across 1,238,190 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
- $72,080
- Hourly wage
- $34.65
- Loaded per hour
- $43.16
- Middle half earns
- $50,470 to $99,640
- Jobs in the US
- 1,238,190
Wage × 1.2455 for benefits and payroll taxes, from BLS.
A wholesale sales representative in the US is paid a median $72,080 a year, $34.65 an hour, across 1,238,190 jobs. With benefits, a small employer pays about $89,780. Of its 10 core tasks, 5 showed up in Claude.ai conversations in May 2026, and in 3 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, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products, 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.
- 01Answer customers' questions about products, prices, availability, product uses, and credit terms.Claude.ai: 45% did the task, 55% helped · API: 83% did the task
- 02Recommend products to customers, based on customers' needs and interests.Claude.ai: 47% did the task, 53% helped · API: 93% did the task
- 03Estimate or quote prices, credit or contract terms, warranties, and delivery dates.Claude.ai: 51% did the task, 49% helped · API: 96% did the task
- 04Consult with clients after sales or contract signings to resolve problems and to provide ongoing support.Claude.ai: 62% did the task, 38% helped · API: 94% did the task
- 05Prepare sales contracts and order forms.
- 06Provide customers with product samples and catalogs.
- 07Monitor market conditions, product innovations, and competitors' products, prices, and sales.Claude.ai: 98% did the task, 2% helped · API: 98% did the task
- 08Perform administrative duties, such as preparing sales budgets and reports, keeping sales records, and filing expense account reports.
- 09Contact regular and prospective customers to demonstrate products, explain product features, and solicit orders.
- 10Identify prospective customers by using business directories, following leads from existing clients, participating in organizations and clubs, and attending trade shows and conferences.
5 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: 1.39% 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. Rhode Island pays the most, $82,420; Arkansas the least, $55,120.
| State | Median wage | Fully loaded | Middle half | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $64,140 | $79,890 | $48,090 to $89,840 | 20,470 |
| Alaska | $56,830 | $70,780 | $49,570 to $77,300 | 910 |
| Arizona | $72,390 | $90,160 | $50,650 to $97,150 | 19,400 |
| Arkansas | $55,120 | $68,650 | $38,590 to $83,270 | 12,740 |
| California | $76,490 | $95,270 | $56,460 to $104,870 | 134,800 |
| Colorado | $79,250 | $98,710 | $59,630 to $110,930 | 27,530 |
| Connecticut | $75,570 | $94,120 | $54,900 to $102,940 | 9,870 |
| Delaware | $62,280 | $77,570 | $48,650 to $93,260 | 2,920 |
| District of Columbia | $80,010 | $99,650 | $60,390 to $105,670 | 560 |
| Florida | $62,490 | $77,830 | $46,810 to $91,170 | 92,920 |
| Georgia | $63,860 | $79,540 | $48,240 to $92,210 | 43,630 |
| Hawaii | $59,010 | $73,500 | $47,830 to $80,670 | 3,280 |
| Idaho | $64,840 | $80,760 | $48,170 to $87,530 | 7,210 |
| Illinois | $73,510 | $91,560 | $56,070 to $99,580 | 51,310 |
| Indiana | $71,330 | $88,840 | $49,870 to $98,290 | 32,350 |
| Iowa | $66,760 | $83,150 | $50,580 to $90,350 | 16,990 |
| Kansas | $68,960 | $85,890 | $49,800 to $97,490 | 12,630 |
| Kentucky | $64,280 | $80,060 | $47,400 to $94,590 | 15,550 |
| Louisiana | $63,290 | $78,830 | $45,170 to $93,840 | 19,120 |
| Maine | $63,960 | $79,660 | $50,540 to $80,700 | 3,320 |
| Maryland | $73,080 | $91,020 | $55,110 to $98,250 | 9,070 |
| Massachusetts | $79,810 | $99,400 | $63,550 to $108,200 | 22,700 |
| Michigan | $72,980 | $90,900 | $51,060 to $100,380 | 40,960 |
| Minnesota | $76,750 | $95,590 | $59,490 to $100,630 | 31,230 |
| Mississippi | $59,320 | $73,880 | $41,750 to $80,560 | 7,000 |
| Missouri | $61,940 | $77,150 | $47,460 to $84,980 | 21,960 |
| Montana | $61,670 | $76,810 | $47,110 to $78,430 | 3,510 |
| Nebraska | $64,030 | $79,750 | $50,500 to $84,510 | 8,550 |
| Nevada | $68,150 | $84,880 | $48,550 to $94,940 | 8,970 |
| New Hampshire | $72,790 | $90,660 | $50,690 to $102,160 | 4,940 |
| New Jersey | $79,410 | $98,910 | $59,950 to $123,920 | 34,360 |
| New Mexico | $61,320 | $76,370 | $45,450 to $82,860 | 3,660 |
| New York | $79,590 | $99,130 | $59,860 to $106,010 | 61,500 |
| North Carolina | $70,990 | $88,420 | $48,750 to $100,240 | 49,110 |
| North Dakota | $74,250 | $92,480 | $57,550 to $98,620 | 4,180 |
| Ohio | $73,960 | $92,120 | $51,720 to $101,090 | 58,740 |
| Oklahoma | $62,160 | $77,420 | $42,710 to $93,440 | 14,220 |
| Oregon | $74,180 | $92,390 | $55,300 to $95,650 | 15,020 |
| Pennsylvania | $66,130 | $82,360 | $49,540 to $97,930 | 51,270 |
| Rhode Island | $82,420 | $102,650 | $58,950 to $132,730 | 4,870 |
| South Carolina | $64,250 | $80,020 | $48,220 to $100,470 | 22,010 |
| South Dakota | $77,210 | $96,170 | $61,060 to $95,960 | 5,220 |
| Tennessee | $61,630 | $76,760 | $46,990 to $95,490 | 23,850 |
| Texas | $65,970 | $82,170 | $47,820 to $98,970 | 95,670 |
| Utah | $61,980 | $77,200 | $47,940 to $86,160 | 13,900 |
| Vermont | $76,840 | $95,700 | $59,010 to $101,100 | 1,890 |
| Virginia | $63,400 | $78,960 | $48,960 to $94,310 | 22,570 |
| Washington | $79,830 | $99,430 | $62,850 to $108,310 | 27,340 |
| West Virginia | $63,560 | $79,160 | $45,810 to $82,510 | 3,220 |
| Wisconsin | $65,930 | $82,120 | $51,580 to $95,150 | 37,700 |
| Wyoming | $72,530 | $90,340 | $51,340 to $101,380 | 1,480 |
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 41-4012 (Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products). 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 41-4012.00, 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 $89,780 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