Sales and Related Occupations
BLS May 2025 wages Wide pay band SOC 41-3011

Advertising Sales Agents

The published band from $35,240 to $146,010 is the distinctive signal for this role, not a twin of First-Line Supervisors of Non-Retail Sales Workers.

Full salary details → About this data

Same-major-group titles next to Advertising Sales Agents: First-Line Supervisors of Non-Retail Sales Workers ($88K) , Demonstrators and Product Promoters ($39K) , Real Estate Brokers ($73K) , Insurance Sales Agents ($62K) . Hash-ordered per card so residual SOC siblings do not share an identical peer sentence.

What Advertising Sales Agents publish as work

O*NET task statements for SOC 41-3011 - occupation-level descriptions, not every employer's posting. Sibling cards diverge here because the task set is entity-keyed.

  1. 1. Prepare and deliver sales presentations to new and existing customers to sell new advertising programs and to protect and increase existi…
  2. 2. Maintain assigned account bases while developing new accounts
  3. 3. Provide clients with estimates of the costs of advertising products or services
  4. 4. Locate and contact potential clients to offer advertising services
  5. 5. Explain to customers how specific types of advertising will help promote their products or services in the most effective way possible
  6. 6. Obtain and study information about clients' products, needs, problems, advertising history, and business practices to offer effective sal…
  7. 7. Prepare promotional plans, sales literature, media kits, and sales contracts, using computer
  8. 8. Process all correspondence and paperwork related to accounts
  9. 9. Draw up contracts for advertising work, and collect payments due
  10. 10. Deliver advertising or illustration proofs to customers for approval
  11. 11. Inform customers of available options for advertisement artwork, and provide samples
  12. 12. Recommend appropriate sizes and formats for advertising, depending on medium used

Advertising Sales Agents: O*NET ranks Speaking first

Importance-ranked O*NET profile for SOC 41-3011 - lead skill Speaking at 4.1 ; lead knowledge Sales and Marketing. Sibling cards diverge here even when peer titles overlap.

Top skills

  1. 1. Speaking 4.1
  2. 2. Persuasion 4.0
  3. 3. Social Perceptiveness 3.9
  4. 4. Service Orientation 3.9
  5. 5. Active Listening 3.8
  6. 6. Negotiation 3.8
  7. 7. Reading Comprehension 3.4
  8. 8. Critical Thinking 3.3

Knowledge areas

  1. 1. Sales and Marketing 4.9
  2. 2. Customer and Personal Service 4.5
  3. 3. English Language 4.0
  4. 4. Communications and Media 3.8
  5. 5. Mathematics 3.6
  6. 6. Administrative 3.4
Published pay band (10th to 90th)
$35,240 to $146,010
median $64,820 · ~4.1× spread
$65K
National median
↓ -6%
Growth 2024-2034
9,300
Annual openings
91,700
Estimated US jobs
First-Line Supervisors of Non-Retail Sales Workers
Highest-pay peer · $88K

Typical Entry and Preparation Assignments

Entry education High school diploma or equivalent

Top Paying States for Advertising Sales Agents

1. District of Columbia $75,030
2. Illinois $66,290
3. Washington $101,320
4. California $80,360
5. New Jersey $69,620
6. Utah $74,260
7. South Carolina $68,200
8. Colorado $73,420
9. New York $98,360
10. Massachusetts $80,500

Other Sales and Related Occupations titles

  1. 1. First-Line Supervisors of Non-Retail Sales Workers $87,520
  2. 2. Demonstrators and Product Promoters $39,320
  3. 3. Real Estate Brokers $73,220
  4. 4. Insurance Sales Agents $62,280
  5. 5. Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel $69,990
  6. 6. Travel Agents $50,160

The OEWS band for Advertising Sales Agents runs from $35,240 (10th) to $146,010 (90th), about 4.1× wide, with median $64,820. That spread, not the midpoint alone, is the distinctive published fact.

Employment Projections expect -6% change between 2024 and 2034 (declining vs baseline 3.1%). About 9,300 annual openings are projected. BLS assigns High school diploma or equivalent as typical education needed for entry. These are occupation-level assignments, not universal requirements. BLS does not publish a separate occupation-specific safety rate for this role; its broad SOC-group rate is excluded from this career card's grade.

Highest published state median in this ranking: District of Columbia at $75,030. The table records differences without proving causes. Highest-pay peer shown here: First-Line Supervisors of Non-Retail Sales Workers at $87,520. Compare the same statistic in the relevant local wage area before treating the national median as a personal benchmark; OEWS excludes employer benefits.

Advertising Sales Agents pay-rank #8 in Sales and Related Occupations

Among 22 detailed Sales and Related Occupations with a published OEWS median, Advertising Sales Agents is pay-rank #8, the upper third of that major group. The order is ROW_NUMBER on national median (title as tiebreak), not a worker-level percentile.

Other upper-third titles · closest medians

Full Salary Details Compare this role

Data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025. Projections from BLS Employment Projections program, 2024-2034.

The 10th-to-90th percentile spread for Advertising Sales Agents is unusually wide, so the state map and peer comparison carry more signal than the median alone.

Advertising Sales Agents salary map

State, metro, and percentile for SOC 41-3011

District of Columbia · top state for Advertising Sales Agents

$75K published median

Illinois · #2 state pay

$66K · behind District of Columbia

First-Line Supervisors of Non-Retail Sales Workers

Highest-pay peer vs Advertising Sales Agents · $88K

Demonstrators and Product Promoters

Lower-pay peer beside Advertising Sales Agents · $39K

Compare Advertising Sales Agents

Head-to-head OEWS medians with another SOC
Compare Advertising Sales Agents with another occupation →

Pay-band next reads

Entry-Level vs Experienced Pay

What percentile bands reveal

Using Salary Data for Negotiation

Leverage BLS percentiles

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Sales and Related Occupations titles sit near Advertising Sales Agents at the top of the pay table? ▼
Advertising Sales Agents is pay-rank #8 of 22 detailed Sales and Related Occupations with an OEWS median, upper third. Nearest upper-third titles: Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel ($70K), Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products ($72K), Real Estate Brokers ($73K), Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents ($79K). Rank is ROW_NUMBER on national median.
What do advertising sales agents do day to day? ▼
O*NET lists published task statements for Advertising Sales Agents. Leading ones include: Prepare and deliver sales presentations to new and existing customers to sell new advertising programs and to protect and increase existi…; Maintain assigned account bases while developing new accounts; Provide clients with estimates of the costs of advertising products or services; Locate and contact potential clients to offer advertising services. These are occupation-level task descriptions, not every employer's job description.
Which O*NET skills rank highest for advertising sales agents? ▼
For SOC 41-3011, O*NET importance scores lead with Speaking (4.1), Persuasion (4.0), Social Perceptiveness (3.9), Service Orientation (3.9). Knowledge areas emphasize Sales and Marketing, Customer and Personal Service, English Language. These are occupation-level profiles, not a hiring checklist for every employer.
How wide is the published pay band for Advertising Sales Agents? ▼
OEWS places the 10th percentile at $35,240 and the 90th at $146,010 for Advertising Sales Agents (4.1× spread). The national median is $64,820. OEWS does not isolate experience, employer, or geography as the cause of that spread.
What employment change does BLS publish for Advertising Sales Agents? ▼
The 2024-2034 projection for Advertising Sales Agents is -6%. Projected annual openings: about 9,300. Relative to the current all-occupations baseline of 3.1%: declining.
What typical entry education does BLS assign to Advertising Sales Agents? ▼
BLS assigns High school diploma or equivalent as the typical-education-needed-for-entry category for Advertising Sales Agents. These are occupation-level labels, not every employer's hiring rule.
Which three states show the highest OEWS medians for Advertising Sales Agents? ▼
District of Columbia ($75,030), Illinois ($66,290), Washington ($101,320) lead this ranking. The table does not identify why those state estimates differ.

Source data and WageDex calculations are identified in context on this page. Wage and state figures use BLS OEWS May 2025; growth and education use BLS Employment Projections for 2024-2034; safety fields cite BLS CFOI/SOII; task statements cite O*NET where shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.

Disclaimer: Wage and outlook figures on this page are provided for informational purposes only and do not constitute career, financial, or salary-negotiation advice. Actual pay varies by employer, experience, and local conditions; consult a career counselor or the hiring employer for guidance specific to your situation.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OES Occupational wage estimates by area and industry · 2025

Federal sources on this Advertising Sales Agents card
  • BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS / OES) - national median and percentiles for SOC 41-3011. bls.gov/oes
  • O*NET OnLine - task and skill statements for Advertising Sales Agents. onetcenter.org
  • BLS Employment Projections - 2024-2034 change and openings for this occupation. bls.gov/emp
  • U.S. Census Bureau ACS - demographic and labor-force context for state and metro geography. census.gov/programs-surveys/acs
  • IRS Statistics of Income (SOI) - payroll-tax aggregate context for wage comparisons. irs.gov/statistics