Human Resources Specialists salary

SOC 13-1071 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$75,940

per year, nationally

Middle half

$58,610–$99,380

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

912,430

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+6.2%

81,800 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.

$47,180$128,720

10th: $47,180
25th: $58,610
Median: $75,940
75th: $99,380
90th: $128,720

Getting in

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

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

Where human resources specialists 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	$110,970	109.9	6,910	1.68×
2	Massachusetts	$85,630	105.8	27,300	1.28×
3	Washington	$84,550	107.0	22,770	1.09×
4	New York	$84,380	107.9	54,610	0.96×
5	Maryland	$83,910	105.0	15,530	0.96×
6	California	$83,500	110.7	104,000	0.97×
7	Connecticut	$82,890	103.6	9,010	0.91×
8	Virginia	$82,090	101.1	28,540	1.18×
9	Colorado	$80,840	103.1	19,450	1.15×
10	New Jersey	$80,690	108.8	21,690	0.86×
11	Minnesota	$78,760	98.6	17,240	1.00×
12	Oregon	$78,060	103.4	10,620	0.92×
13	Vermont	$77,800	98.0	1,270	0.71×
14	Delaware	$77,700	99.8	2,720	0.96×
15	Rhode Island	$77,560	102.3	3,320	1.13×
16	Alaska	$76,990	102.4	1,420	0.74×
17	Illinois	$76,820	100.0	35,430	0.99×
18	North Dakota	$75,630	89.0	1,710	0.68×
19	Hawaii	$73,750	110.0	2,570	0.70×
20	North Carolina	$73,070	94.3	31,140	1.07×
21	Utah	$71,750	98.9	9,900	0.97×
22	Maine	$71,630	97.0	3,020	0.80×
23	Nevada	$71,610	100.0	6,520	0.72×
24	Arizona	$71,390	100.7	20,230	1.06×
25	Kansas	$70,870	90.1	7,560	0.90×
26	New Hampshire	$70,840	104.2	4,270	1.07×
27	Georgia	$70,570	96.3	32,110	1.12×
28	Wisconsin	$70,540	94.1	17,360	1.01×
29	Pennsylvania	$70,450	97.6	36,960	1.04×
30	Ohio	$70,180	92.8	33,500	1.03×
31	Michigan	$69,520	96.2	25,520	0.99×
32	Kentucky	$69,010	90.2	10,900	0.93×
33	Texas	$68,920	97.1	84,930	1.03×
34	New Mexico	$68,050	92.2	4,090	0.80×
35	South Dakota	$67,590	88.6	1,340	0.50×
36	Tennessee	$67,370	91.9	21,460	1.12×
37	Missouri	$66,990	90.8	17,650	1.02×
38	Wyoming	$66,970	92.7	1,000	0.60×
39	West Virginia	$66,860	89.5	3,130	0.76×
40	Iowa	$66,710	87.8	7,930	0.87×
41	Florida	$66,410	103.4	62,730	1.08×
42	Indiana	$65,600	93.3	17,110	0.91×
43	South Carolina	$65,370	93.7	13,720	1.01×
44	Idaho	$64,990	95.5	3,930	0.78×
45	Alabama	$64,940	88.8	11,080	0.89×
46	Montana	$63,790	94.6	2,340	0.78×
47	Nebraska	$61,930	90.1	7,220	1.20×
48	Oklahoma	$61,630	87.8	9,370	0.94×
49	Louisiana	$61,300	88.2	7,240	0.64×
50	Mississippi	$60,300	87.0	4,850	0.71×
51	Arkansas	$55,010	86.9	6,230	0.81×

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 human resources specialists wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for human resources specialists

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	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$112,140	110.4	7,970	1.20×
2	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$103,140	115.6	16,420	1.18×
3	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$100,830	108.9	24,450	1.33×
4	Lexington Park, MD	$98,170	100.8	330	0.80×
5	Parkersburg-Vienna, WV	$94,520	87.1	440	2.08×
6	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$92,770	111.1	14,120	1.15×
7	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$90,290	105.6	710	1.28×
8	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$90,270	108.3	21,770	1.37×
9	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$89,780	112.6	52,370	0.94×
10	Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA	$86,700	103.7	1,410	1.85×
11	Boulder, CO	$86,200	105.2	1,480	1.31×
12	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$85,550	106.9	2,350	0.99×
13	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$84,690	109.9	450	0.78×
14	Napa, CA	$84,400	112.6	310	0.67×
15	Rochester, MN	$83,810	90.8	500	0.70×
16	Vallejo, CA	$83,160	108.5	650	0.76×
17	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$82,920	102.7	3,460	0.98×
18	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$82,550	105.8	12,520	1.33×
19	New Haven, CT	$82,510	104.6	1,230	0.75×
20	Charlottesville, VA	$82,430	99.1	610	0.90×
21	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$82,380	104.5	7,930	1.00×
22	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$81,540	107.8	920	0.76×
23	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$81,300	111.9	9,110	1.01×
24	Kennewick-Richland, WA	$81,290	100.1	620	0.82×
25	Durham-Chapel Hill, NC	$81,100	97.6	2,370	1.18×
26	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$80,950	106.7	5,360	0.85×
27	Amherst Town-Northampton, MA	$80,770	100.2	310	0.81×
28	Walla Walla, WA	$80,730	98.5	120	0.81×
29	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$80,560	110.5	1,710	0.90×
30	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$80,340	103.2	1,400	0.99×
31	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$80,340	108.8	870	0.74×
32	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$80,330	104.8	12,660	1.11×
33	Salem, OR	$80,270	103.6	1,070	0.97×
34	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$80,220	113.6	36,850	1.00×
35	Salinas, CA	$80,100	109.0	630	0.58×
36	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$80,100	105.4	7,610	1.07×
37	Waterbury-Shelton, CT	$79,850	99.8	710	0.76×
38	Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL	$79,670	89.1	1,420	1.34×
39	Richmond, VA	$79,340	97.9	4,540	1.17×
40	Winchester, VA-WV	$79,040	96.5	460	1.15×

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 human resources specialists 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
Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists$78,760
Management Analysts$101,860
Buyers and Purchasing Agents$77,710
Training and Development Specialists$69,280
Compliance Officers$80,730
Claims Adjusters, Examiners, and Investigators$78,000