Buyers and Purchasing Agents salary

SOC 13-1020 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$77,710

per year, nationally

Middle half

$60,800–$100,820

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

491,430

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+5.8%

52,200 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$48,380$128,870

10th: $48,380
25th: $60,800
Median: $77,710
75th: $100,820
90th: $128,870

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Bachelor's degree
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: Moderate-term on-the-job training

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where buyers and purchasing agents earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	District of Columbia	$124,090	109.9	1,880	0.85×
2	New Jersey	$93,250	108.8	12,180	0.90×
3	Maryland	$90,900	105.0	8,900	1.02×
4	Virginia	$89,210	101.1	22,120	1.70×
5	Rhode Island	$86,240	102.3	—	—
6	Massachusetts	$85,970	105.8	12,820	1.12×
7	Washington	$85,130	107.0	15,400	1.37×
8	Colorado	$83,590	103.1	10,080	1.11×
9	Alaska	$83,460	102.4	890	0.87×
10	Connecticut	$83,030	103.6	5,530	1.03×
11	Delaware	$82,920	99.8	1,400	0.91×
12	California	$82,720	110.7	48,010	0.83×
13	Minnesota	$80,370	98.6	10,960	1.18×
14	New York	$79,460	107.9	31,240	1.02×
15	Illinois	$78,470	100.0	19,660	1.02×
16	Maine	$77,630	97.0	1,180	0.58×
17	New Hampshire	$77,270	104.2	2,580	1.19×
18	New Mexico	$76,740	92.2	2,250	0.82×
19	Ohio	$76,410	92.8	21,640	1.23×
20	North Dakota	$76,400	89.0	880	0.65×
21	Texas	$76,050	97.1	44,030	0.99×
22	Michigan	$75,900	96.2	16,680	1.20×
23	North Carolina	$75,880	94.3	14,290	0.92×
24	Arkansas	$75,870	86.9	4,510	1.09×
25	West Virginia	$75,670	89.5	1,130	0.51×
26	South Carolina	$75,550	93.7	6,150	0.84×
27	Arizona	$75,340	100.7	10,870	1.06×
28	Oregon	$75,050	103.4	7,090	1.14×
29	Nebraska	$74,950	90.1	2,850	0.88×
30	Utah	$74,540	98.9	4,090	0.75×
31	Georgia	$74,530	96.3	15,710	1.02×
32	Hawaii	$74,240	110.0	1,720	0.87×
33	Alabama	$74,030	88.8	8,960	1.34×
34	South Dakota	$73,990	88.6	1,180	0.81×
35	Pennsylvania	$73,550	97.6	17,430	0.91×
36	Nevada	$72,990	100.0	2,310	0.47×
37	Florida	$72,850	103.4	30,270	0.96×
38	Wyoming	$72,200	92.7	570	0.64×
39	Oklahoma	$71,850	87.8	4,750	0.88×
40	Mississippi	$71,850	87.0	2,240	0.61×
41	Wisconsin	$70,880	94.1	9,240	0.99×
42	Iowa	$70,360	87.8	4,570	0.93×
43	Kansas	$69,500	90.1	6,470	1.42×
44	Indiana	$69,350	93.3	10,720	1.06×
45	Idaho	$69,240	95.5	1,610	0.60×
46	Louisiana	$66,340	88.2	3,440	0.56×
47	Missouri	$65,650	90.8	8,070	0.87×
48	Tennessee	$65,430	91.9	11,420	1.10×
49	Vermont	$65,330	98.0	1,010	1.05×
50	Kentucky	$65,240	90.2	5,440	0.86×
51	Montana	$62,850	94.6	1,230	0.76×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where buyers and purchasing agents wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for buyers and purchasing agents

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	Lexington Park, MD	$111,530	100.8	730	3.28×
2	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$104,880	108.9	14,240	1.44×
3	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$101,500	110.4	3,380	0.94×
4	Warner Robins, GA	$100,120	93.8	580	2.43×
5	Peoria, IL	$96,880	91.2	720	1.38×
6	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$95,970	111.1	9,960	1.51×
7	Huntsville, AL	$94,990	93.1	2,740	3.26×
8	Kennewick-Richland, WA	$94,790	100.1	520	1.26×
9	Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek, OH	$94,520	92.7	2,850	2.42×
10	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$94,280	106.9	1,240	0.97×
11	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$93,600	115.6	6,300	0.84×
12	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$93,060	103.2	750	0.99×
13	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$93,010	108.3	10,090	1.18×
14	Ogden, UT	$89,630	100.3	1,030	1.20×
15	Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL	$89,170	97.0	670	1.70×
16	Rochester, MN	$88,320	90.8	290	0.74×
17	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$87,920	105.8	6,160	1.21×
18	Sierra Vista-Douglas, AZ	$87,850	89.2	130	1.19×
19	Parkersburg-Vienna, WV	$87,410	87.1	60	0.55×
20	Anchorage, AK	$86,380	105.4	510	0.92×
21	Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL	$84,730	89.1	1,320	2.32×
22	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$84,590	104.5	4,360	1.02×
23	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$84,590	101.8	2,410	1.07×
24	Colorado Springs, CO	$84,370	100.7	1,200	1.20×
25	Boulder, CO	$83,480	105.2	770	1.27×
26	Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL	$83,360	100.0	1,160	1.50×
27	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$83,350	112.6	29,360	0.98×
28	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$83,100	105.6	440	1.50×
29	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$83,090	111.9	4,710	0.97×
30	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$83,030	102.7	2,020	1.07×
31	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$82,710	104.8	8,090	1.31×
32	Minot, ND	$82,580	87.0	60	0.57×
33	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$82,500	113.6	18,270	0.92×
34	Portland-South Portland, ME	$82,460	101.9	610	0.67×
35	Norwich-New London-Willimantic, CT	$82,450	100.4	550	1.39×
36	Richmond, VA	$82,370	97.9	4,000	1.92×
37	Charleston-North Charleston, SC	$82,240	101.0	1,300	1.04×
38	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$82,040	108.8	490	0.77×
39	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$81,470	102.6	9,170	1.00×
40	Napa, CA	$80,960	112.6	150	0.62×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where buyers and purchasing agents wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.

Business Operations Specialists, All Other$83,050
Project Management Specialists$102,320
Human Resources Specialists$75,940
Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists$78,760
Management Analysts$101,860
Training and Development Specialists$69,280
Compliance Officers$80,730
Claims Adjusters, Examiners, and Investigators$78,000