2027 Salary Guide · Sales & Customer Success
BLS puts the median for services sales representatives, the occupation that includes most account executives, at $69,990 in May 2025, or about $74,500 in 2027 terms. Because BLS wage data includes commissions, those figures reflect what AEs were actually paid, not just base salary. The top tenth earned more than $148,840, almost four times the bottom tenth. Commission-based pay plans are one reason the range is so wide.
Reading the number
Most AE offers are quoted as a base salary plus a target commission, often called on-target earnings (OTE). BLS does not report base and commission separately, but its definition of wages tells you which parts of the plan are in the percentiles.
| Pay component | In the BLS figure? | What it means for an AE |
|---|---|---|
| Base salary | Yes | Included in full. |
| Commissions | Yes | BLS counts commissions as wages, so the percentiles reflect commission actually earned, not the target. |
| Production bonuses (tied to sales results) | Yes | Accelerators and quota-attainment bonuses fall here when they are paid for output. |
| Nonproduction bonuses | No | A flat year-end or holiday bonus not tied to results is left out. |
| Overtime premium | No | Rarely relevant for salaried AEs. |
| Equity and benefits | No | Stock grants, 401(k) match and health benefits are not wages in the BLS data. |
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics technical notes. Because the data shows earned pay, a year with low attainment pulls the figures down and a strong year pushes them up.
Pay distribution
The bar shows all services sales representatives nationally. Account executive titles, which carry a closing quota, tend to sit in the shaded upper half; the lower end of the occupation includes many entry and prospecting roles.
Typical for the Account Executive title: $69,990 to $148,840 (50th to 90th percentile of Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel)
| Percentile | BLS, May 2025 | 2027 planning estimate |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $37,980 | $40,500 |
| 25th percentile | $47,670 | $50,500 |
| Median | $69,990 | $74,500 |
| 75th percentile | $100,480 | $107,000 |
| 90th percentile | $148,840 | $158,000 |
Career path
Most companies split AE teams by customer size. BLS does not publish pay by segment, so these stages are mapped onto the services sales percentiles as a planning guide.
About $48,000 to $70,000 (25th percentile to median)
Short sales cycles and many small deals a month. Often the first closing role after a year or two in prospecting.
About $70,000 to $100,000 (median to 75th percentile)
Fewer, larger deals with several stakeholders on the buyer side. Forecast accuracy starts to matter as much as volume.
About $100,000 to $149,000+ (75th to 90th percentile)
Long cycles, procurement and legal review, and a handful of large accounts. Total pay swings most here because one deal can make or miss the year.
Local pay
The San Francisco Bay Area ($96,960) and New York ($93,750) have the highest medians of the 29 metros, and New York is the biggest market with about 91,680 jobs. Tampa has the lowest median on the list at $59,600, about $37,360 below the Bay Area.
| Metro area | Median | 10th – 90th | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco Bay Area | $96,960 +39% | $50,830 – $191,380 | 29,980 |
| New York City | $93,750 +34% | $46,370 – $176,300 | 91,680 |
| Boston | $83,420 +19% | $49,990 – $164,020 | 25,310 |
| Seattle | $82,540 +18% | $48,280 – $158,990 | 12,450 |
| Denver | $80,650 +15% | $45,250 – $164,530 | 24,480 |
| Los Angeles | $79,450 +14% | $43,340 – $152,940 | 50,470 |
| Atlanta | $78,950 +13% | $37,610 – $159,200 | 33,900 |
| Washington, DC | $78,110 +12% | $40,930 – $173,470 | 29,300 |
| Providence | $77,760 +11% | $43,260 – $132,350 | — |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul | $77,120 +10% | $42,910 – $154,620 | 14,070 |
| Metro area | Median | 10th – 90th | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detroit | $76,990 +10% | $39,990 – $150,360 | 13,130 |
| Phoenix | $74,910 +7% | $43,950 – $131,440 | 19,810 |
| Portland | $74,900 +7% | $40,250 – $143,330 | 7,530 |
| San Diego | $74,610 +7% | $41,250 – $151,560 | 11,730 |
| Hartford | $74,220 +6% | $43,040 – $163,460 | 3,800 |
| Buffalo | $73,070 +4% | $38,750 – $132,870 | 3,330 |
| Philadelphia | $71,020 +1% | $38,930 – $134,260 | 19,260 |
| Chicago | $70,710 +1% | $39,570 – $154,540 | 55,730 |
| Raleigh | $68,560 -2% | $39,720 – $154,720 | 8,970 |
| Albany | $68,050 -3% | $39,720 – $145,610 | 3,060 |
| Pittsburgh | $63,370 -9% | $36,670 – $132,020 | 7,330 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth | $63,280 -10% | $34,370 – $128,750 | 43,560 |
| Houston | $63,090 -10% | $33,190 – $130,960 | 28,720 |
| Nashville | $62,930 -10% | $34,770 – $121,420 | 9,370 |
| Austin | $62,900 -10% | $36,010 – $134,830 | 16,700 |
| Miami | $62,090 -11% | $35,990 – $129,950 | 30,300 |
| Charlotte | $61,850 -12% | $37,590 – $143,990 | 13,980 |
| Baltimore | $61,840 -12% | $34,830 – $128,850 | 11,340 |
| Tampa | $59,600 -15% | $37,250 – $127,710 | 16,050 |
BLS metro estimates, May 2025. Percent compares the metro median with the national median. "Jobs" is BLS estimated employment in the metro; blank where BLS does not publish it.
Compare
Sales engineers and sales managers sit well above the services sales median. The gap to sales manager, about $78,280 at the median, is the main reason AEs with strong attainment records look at leadership roles.
| Role | BLS median | 2027 estimate | Outlook |
|---|---|---|---|
| Account Executive | $69,990 | $74,500 | Average |
| Business Development Representative | $69,990 | $74,500 | Average |
| Sales Manager | $148,270 | $157,500 | Faster than average |
| Sales Engineer | $124,900 | $133,000 | Average |
| Customer Success Manager | $69,990 | $74,500 | Average |
Outlook
BLS projects average growth for services sales representatives through 2035. The occupation is large, about 1,272,700 jobs, so even average growth plus turnover works out to roughly 115,700 openings a year.
BLS Employment Projections via O*NET OnLine. Projections cover Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel as a whole.
For hiring managers
Experienced AEs compare offers on both. A posting with only an OTE figure reads as a low base.
Candidates weigh the target against the odds of reaching it. Be ready to share last year's attainment spread for the team.
A Bay Area enterprise seat and a Tampa SMB seat are both "Account Executive" but sit near opposite ends of the city table.
State how long the new hire has before full quota and whether there is a draw or guarantee in the first months.
FAQ
The BLS median for services sales representatives, the occupation that covers most account executives, was $69,990 in May 2025. The middle half earned between $47,670 and $100,480. With two years of wage growth at 3.1% a year, the 2027 planning median is about $74,500. AE titles with a closing quota tend to land in the upper half of that range.
Yes, commission that was actually paid is part of the BLS figure. BLS counts commissions and production bonuses as wages, so its percentiles reflect commission actually paid during the survey period. It leaves out nonproduction bonuses, equity and benefits. That makes the BLS figure closer to realized total cash pay than to base salary alone.
BLS does not publish OTE or pay by segment. Enterprise AEs usually sit at the top of the services sales range, where the 75th percentile was $100,480 and the 90th percentile $148,840 in May 2025. In San Francisco the 90th percentile was $191,380.
The 25th percentile for services sales representatives was $47,670 in May 2025 and the 10th percentile $37,980. First closing roles, usually SMB accounts after a stint in prospecting, tend to start between the 25th percentile and the median, about $70,000.
Among the 29 metros in this guide, the San Francisco Bay Area ($96,960) and New York ($93,750) had the highest medians in May 2025, followed by Boston ($83,420) and Seattle ($82,540). New York also had the most jobs, about 91,680.
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