Sales Engineer Salary: National and State-by-State
Sales engineers earn a median of $124,900 nationally, the highest of any sales occupation the BLS tracks separately. Here's how that breaks down by state.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median annual wage for sales engineers at $124,900 nationally, the highest of any sales occupation it tracks as its own category. The bottom 10% earn under $73,870, the top 10% clear $195,270, a wide enough range that where you land depends heavily on the technical product, the account size, and the state you're in.
Pay by state
Delaware, Idaho, and Arizona lead on annual mean wage, and the spread runs from the high $70,000s to over $170,000, per the BLS's May 2025 state-level estimates. Several states don't get their own line because the BLS didn't survey enough sales engineers there to publish a reliable figure, this is a specialized enough occupation that it isn't evenly distributed across the country the way a broader sales role would be.
| State | Annual Mean Wage | Annual Median Wage |
|---|---|---|
| Delaware | $174,130 | $167,200 |
| Idaho | $154,390 | $128,030 |
| Arizona | $148,770 | $131,870 |
| California | $146,590 | $139,160 |
| Colorado | $145,880 | $139,990 |
| New York | $143,260 | $137,480 |
| Washington | $142,340 | $147,620 |
| Maryland | $142,020 | $153,410 |
| New Jersey | $141,310 | $139,010 |
| Oregon | $140,730 | $128,170 |
| Florida | $136,800 | $125,530 |
| Texas | $136,030 | $130,610 |
| North Carolina | $136,010 | $121,530 |
| Massachusetts | $135,380 | $136,200 |
| West Virginia | $134,050 | $135,260 |
| Louisiana | $130,580 | $121,680 |
| Wisconsin | $129,680 | $117,970 |
| Rhode Island | $129,200 | $149,750 |
| New Mexico | $125,470 | $119,420 |
| Connecticut | $124,890 | $123,660 |
| Michigan | $124,050 | $114,180 |
| Alabama | $122,400 | $104,410 |
| South Carolina | $120,430 | $114,250 |
| Vermont | $118,300 | $116,790 |
| South Dakota | $117,580 | $119,110 |
| New Hampshire | $117,310 | $107,850 |
| Tennessee | $115,220 | $111,580 |
| Utah | $113,030 | $117,650 |
| Arkansas | $113,010 | $130,760 |
| Nevada | $112,140 | $99,020 |
| Oklahoma | $111,980 | $114,520 |
| Illinois | $108,920 | $99,710 |
| Georgia | $108,310 | $98,840 |
| Minnesota | $106,980 | $100,570 |
| Kansas | $106,280 | $98,000 |
| Iowa | $102,620 | $83,450 |
| Ohio | $102,610 | $97,420 |
| Pennsylvania | $101,350 | $98,500 |
| Kentucky | $98,510 | $90,190 |
| Nebraska | $97,720 | $90,140 |
| Maine | $94,620 | $95,180 |
| Missouri | $93,760 | $90,960 |
| Alaska | $90,030 | $71,080 |
| Indiana | $78,140 | $74,960 |
District of Columbia, Hawaii, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Virginia, and Wyoming: sample size too small for the BLS to publish a reliable state-level estimate for this occupation.
What this role requires
A bachelor's degree in engineering or a related technical field is typically expected to enter this occupation, this isn't a role you talk your way into without the technical background to back up the pitch. Employment is projected to grow 3% from 2025 to 2035, about average, with roughly 3,800 openings a year.
Why the technical background isn't the whole job
The degree gets you in the room. What separates a sales engineer who hits the top of that range from one stuck near the median is usually the same thing that separates any strong seller: handling the moment a technical buyer pushes back on a claim, staying calm through a price objection from a procurement team that knows exactly what your competitor charges, and closing a call with a next step instead of "let me get back to you." Daily practice on those specific moments is what turns technical credibility into a closed deal.
Selling in Canada
This page covers US state-level BLS data. If you're selling in Canada, government wage data for this occupation is broken out by city on this site too: Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa.