Telemarketers salary

SOC 41-9041 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$35,450

per year, nationally

Middle half

$29,640–$40,230

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

58,430

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

-22.1%

6,500 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.

$27,040$50,350

10th: $27,040
25th: $29,640
Median: $35,450
75th: $40,230
90th: $50,350

Getting in

Typical education to enter: No formal educational credential
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: Short-term on-the-job training

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

Where telemarketers 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	Kansas	$48,010	90.1	—	—
2	Colorado	$47,670	103.1	880	0.82×
3	California	$46,000	110.7	3,880	0.57×
4	Connecticut	$45,200	103.6	110	0.18×
5	Massachusetts	$44,650	105.8	—	—
6	Oregon	$42,060	103.4	420	0.57×
7	New York	$41,400	107.9	1,960	0.54×
8	Minnesota	$39,850	98.6	650	0.59×
9	Washington	$39,670	107.0	300	0.22×
10	Idaho	$39,400	95.5	280	0.86×
11	New Jersey	$39,370	108.8	410	0.26×
12	Arizona	$37,750	100.7	1,550	1.27×
13	Virginia	$37,440	101.1	—	—
14	South Carolina	$37,090	93.7	1,060	1.22×
15	Utah	$36,610	98.9	390	0.59×
16	Georgia	$36,020	96.3	2,620	1.43×
17	Maryland	$35,590	105.0	540	0.52×
18	Florida	$35,570	103.4	9,760	2.62×
19	Ohio	$35,290	92.8	3,090	1.48×
20	Alabama	$34,840	88.8	1,330	1.68×
21	Kentucky	$34,450	90.2	910	1.21×
22	North Carolina	$34,380	94.3	1,820	0.98×
23	Texas	$34,290	97.1	3,660	0.69×
24	Nevada	$34,290	100.0	2,200	3.77×
25	Iowa	$33,640	87.8	1,100	1.88×
26	West Virginia	$33,370	89.5	440	1.67×
27	Wisconsin	$33,260	94.1	1,160	1.05×
28	Michigan	$33,040	96.2	1,120	0.68×
29	Maine	$32,610	97.0	—	—
30	Indiana	$31,550	93.3	690	0.57×
31	Nebraska	$31,200	90.1	490	1.29×
32	Illinois	$31,200	100.0	870	0.38×
33	New Hampshire	$30,530	104.2	530	2.07×
34	Missouri	$29,840	90.8	2,710	2.45×
35	Tennessee	$29,470	91.9	2,210	1.79×
36	Arkansas	$29,060	86.9	840	1.71×
37	Louisiana	$28,910	88.2	380	0.53×
38	Pennsylvania	$28,430	97.6	1,710	0.75×
39	Oklahoma	$26,880	87.8	470	0.72×
40	North Dakota	$23,440	89.0	120	0.75×
41	Mississippi	$21,540	87.0	370	0.84×

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 telemarketers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for telemarketers

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	Waterbury-Shelton, CT	$58,900	99.8	—	—
2	Springfield, IL	$50,390	92.7	30	0.86×
3	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$49,700	98.1	270	0.55×
4	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC	$49,240	97.3	420	0.83×
5	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$47,930	105.8	620	1.03×
6	Rochester, NY	$47,840	97.0	350	1.88×
7	Colorado Springs, CO	$47,670	100.7	100	0.88×
8	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$45,710	106.7	160	0.39×
9	Boulder, CO	$45,340	105.2	70	0.92×
10	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$44,900	110.5	80	0.64×
11	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$44,770	106.4	260	0.40×
12	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$44,650	108.3	—	—
13	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$44,160	105.4	300	0.65×
14	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$43,740	110.4	130	0.30×
15	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$43,620	101.8	60	0.22×
16	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$42,660	98.6	320	0.26×
17	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$42,450	113.6	1,550	0.66×
18	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$41,400	112.6	1,220	0.34×
19	Boise City, ID	$41,350	98.4	180	1.22×
20	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$40,040	100.1	1,210	1.12×
21	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$39,970	111.9	340	0.59×
22	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$39,850	104.8	580	0.79×
23	Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC	$39,750	93.3	460	2.83×
24	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$39,670	111.1	220	0.28×
25	Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC	$39,470	97.9	—	—
26	Cedar Rapids, IA	$38,760	89.0	130	2.51×
27	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$38,540	103.3	970	1.09×
28	Fresno, CA	$38,470	102.2	50	0.30×
29	Salt Lake City-Murray, UT	$38,250	100.9	—	—
30	Columbus, OH	$37,460	95.5	760	1.82×
31	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$37,320	103.1	1,030	0.68×
32	Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN	$37,300	95.4	470	1.13×
33	Reno, NV	$36,930	101.0	230	2.23×
34	Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL	$36,850	89.1	90	1.36×
35	Raleigh-Cary, NC	$36,770	98.2	310	1.10×
36	Cleveland, OH	$36,710	93.9	360	0.92×
37	Sebring, FL	$36,670	92.5	100	9.87×
38	Provo-Orem-Lehi, UT	$36,610	98.2	130	1.10×
39	Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY	$36,450	99.6	40	0.27×
40	Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek, OH	$36,260	92.7	270	1.90×

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 telemarketers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

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

Real Estate Sales Agents$52,830
Sales and Related Workers, All Other$48,280
Demonstrators and Product Promoters$39,320
Sales Engineers$124,900
Real Estate Brokers$73,220
Models$48,470
Door-to-Door Sales Workers, News and Street Vendors, and Related Workers$41,380