Retail Salespersons
SOC 41-2031 · 2024-2034
Sell merchandise, such as furniture, motor vehicles, appliances, or apparel to consumers.
How the U.S. Department of Labor describes this work. Published in English only.
Shrinking -1.3%
California projects this job will shrink over the next ten years. Fewer openings may mean a harder search.
What California expects of this job
- Typical pay in California
- $38,790per year
- Projected openings
- 549,460
- Projected change
- -1.3%
- Usually needs
- No formal educational credential
Bright Outlook — a U.S. Department of Labor designation
Numerous Job Openings
The Department's own designation, made from its national projections. It is not this project's assessment and it is not California's: every other figure on this page comes from California's projection, which can point the other way and for some occupations does.
Skills this work uses most
O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, rates how important each of these is to this work, and they are listed in that order, most important first. The ratings themselves are not shown, because the data carries the number without the scale it was measured on. The names are as published, in English.
- Persuasion
- Speaking
- Service Orientation
- Active Listening
- Social Perceptiveness
- Negotiation
Pay by region
| Region | Typical pay in California | Projected openings |
|---|---|---|
| Napa MSA (Napa County) | $45,686 | 3,290 |
| San Rafael MD (Marin County) | $44,688 | 4,120 |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara MSA (San Benito and Santa Clara Counties) | $44,009 | 27,030 |
| San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City MD (San Francisco and San Mateo Counties) | $43,533 | 21,750 |
| Oakland-Fremont-Berkeley MD (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties) | $43,349 | 29,770 |
| Santa Rosa-Petaluma MSA (Sonoma County) | $39,633 | 7,640 |
| San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles MSA (San Luis Obispo County) | $38,354 | 4,980 |
| Vallejo MSA (Solano County) | $38,293 | 6,120 |
| Eastern Sierra-Mother Lode Region (Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Inyo, Mariposa, Mono, and Tuolumne Counties) | $38,283 | 2,100 |
| North Valley-Northern Mountains Region (Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity Counties) | $38,262 | 2,850 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom MSA (El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo Counties) | $37,986 | 34,720 |
| Salinas MSA (Monterey County) | $37,802 | 5,410 |
| Santa Cruz-Watsonville MSA (Santa Cruz County) | $37,741 | 3,470 |
| North Coast Region (Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, and Mendocino Counties) | $37,547 | 3,430 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale MD (Los Angeles County) | $37,429 | 134,580 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad MSA (San Diego County) | $37,424 | 48,450 |
| Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine MD (Orange County) | $37,369 | 52,060 |
| Santa Maria-Santa Barbara MSA (Santa Barbara County) | $37,301 | 6,350 |
| Hanford-Corcoran MSA (Kings County) | $37,097 | 1,270 |
| Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura MSA (Ventura County) | $36,637 | 12,100 |
| Yuba City MSA (Sutter and Yuba Counties) | $36,637 | 1,680 |
| Stockton-Lodi MSA (San Joaquin County) | $36,616 | 8,500 |
| Chico MSA (Butte County) | $36,289 | 3,000 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario MSA (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties) | $36,289 | 59,520 |
| Redding MSA (Shasta County) | $36,238 | 2,650 |
| Bakersfield-Delano MSA (Kern County) | $35,982 | 8,920 |
| Fresno MSA (Fresno and Madera Counties) | $35,859 | 13,400 |
| Merced MSA (Merced County) | $35,819 | 2,310 |
| Modesto MSA (Stanislaus County) | $35,819 | 7,430 |
| El Centro MSA (Imperial County) | $35,798 | 2,700 |
| Visalia MSA (Tulare County) | $35,686 | 5,710 |
What the pay actually ranges across
- The lowest-paid tenth earn under
- $35,561
- A quarter earn under
- $36,681
- Half earn under
- $38,790
- Three quarters earn under
- $45,874
- The highest-paid tenth earn over
- $54,805
A median is one point. These are the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2026 figures for California, and they say how far apart the people doing this job actually are. Read them as the spread across everyone already in the work — not as a starting wage and not as a promise about where anyone lands.
Similar work
O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, names these as occupations involving work similar to this one — its own reading of the job, not a grouping by code. They keep O*NET's order, and only those California publishes a projection for are shown.
| Occupation | Typical pay in California | Projected openings | Projected change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Counter and Rental Clerks | $45,420 | 77,120 | +3.2% |
| Door-to-Door Sales Workers, News and Street Vendors, and Related Workers | $39,880 | 3,500 | -3.3% |
| Stockers and Order Fillers | $43,808 | 565,760 | +15.5% |
| First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers | $55,370 | 126,230 | -3.4% |
| Parts Salespersons | $44,845 | 29,780 | +1.1% |
| Cashiers | $37,438 | 606,780 | -5.3% |
Programs that train for this job — 3
Retail Floristry Certificate of Achievement
City College of San Francisco · San Francisco · $1,709
Fashion Styling and Personal Styling Certificate of Achievement
City College of San Francisco · San Francisco · $860
Barbering Course (1000 Hours)
Shasta School of Cosmetology · Redding · $15,650