Pay · 41-9041
Telemarketers earn $35,450 a year at the midpoint
Half earn more than that and half earn less. The lowest tenth are paid about $27,040, the highest tenth about $50,350 — figures from the 2025 federal wage survey.
National figures for telemarketers, 41-9041, from the 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.
- Read the spread, not the middle. The median is the midpoint across everyone in the occupation, most of them years into the work. A beginner starts nearer the 10th to 25th percentile, which is why the spread is published alongside it.
- What the figure counts. The figure counts base pay plus tips, commissions and production bonuses. It leaves out the self-employed, unpaid family workers, private household workers, and the value of benefits or profit sharing.
- The annual figure is arithmetic. For hourly occupations the annual figure is the hourly rate times 2080 hours. It is a calculation, not observed earnings: part time is the norm in retail and food service.
- Where you live moves it more than your resume does. National figures. A state or metro area can sit far from the national number, and that gap is usually larger than any difference a resume makes.
- Not in these numbers. Growth and annual openings are not in this dataset. They come from the separate Employment Projections tables, where an opening is a modelled ten year average and not a posted vacancy.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Retrieved through the BLS Public Data API on 2026-08-13. bls.gov/oes “BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.”
Telemarketer earnings, from starting pay to the best-paid 10%
Pick the job, where you work and how long you have done it. The range comes from the published wage percentiles for that job.
The survey has no complete figures for that job — pick the closest title from the list.
An estimate from survey percentiles, not an offer. Employer, industry, shift and credentials move pay within and beyond this range. Full wage page for this job →
Place 761 of 788 by median pay
Better paid than 3% of the occupations in the survey.
- 759 Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders $35,650
- 760 Maids and housekeeping cleaners $35,510
- 761 Telemarketers $35,450
- 762 Ambulance Drivers and Attendants, Except Emergency Medical Technicians $35,450
- 763 Retail salespersons $35,410
Examples
Resumes written for this kind of work.
Real sheets, filled in end to end — for this job and the ones beside it.
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Telemarketer wages, state by state
The 31 states where the most people do this work, of 41 with a published figure: their medians range by 1.77 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.
| State | Median a year | Where most start | 10th to 90th | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado | $47,670 | $33,940 | $33,940 — $77,000 | 880 |
| California | $46,000 | $34,320 | $34,320 — $60,400 | 3,880 |
| Oregon | $42,060 | $33,970 | $33,970 — $48,140 | 420 |
| New York | $41,400 | $34,290 | $34,290 — $59,840 | 1,960 |
| Minnesota | $39,850 | $29,680 | $29,680 — $65,940 | 650 |
| New Jersey | $39,370 | $33,230 | $33,230 — $46,790 | 410 |
| Arizona | $37,750 | $30,580 | $30,580 — $51,490 | 1,550 |
| South Carolina | $37,090 | $21,600 | $21,600 — $44,910 | 1,060 |
| Utah | $36,610 | $29,520 | $29,520 — $47,590 | 390 |
| Georgia | $36,020 | $28,580 | $28,580 — $41,690 | 2,620 |
| Maryland | $35,590 | $31,410 | $31,410 — $52,620 | 540 |
| Florida | $35,570 | $27,040 | $27,040 — $41,910 | 9,760 |
| Ohio | $35,290 | $24,940 | $24,940 — $43,450 | 3,090 |
| Alabama | $34,840 | $29,740 | $29,740 — $35,460 | 1,330 |
| Kentucky | $34,450 | $29,090 | $29,090 — $48,720 | 910 |
| North Carolina | $34,380 | $27,380 | $27,380 — $52,500 | 1,820 |
| Nevada | $34,290 | $25,820 | $25,820 — $48,010 | 2,200 |
| Texas | $34,290 | $23,420 | $23,420 — $51,520 | 3,660 |
| Iowa | $33,640 | $28,190 | $28,190 — $39,580 | 1,100 |
| West Virginia | $33,370 | $21,770 | $21,770 — $34,830 | 440 |
| Wisconsin | $33,260 | $28,750 | $28,750 — $47,570 | 1,160 |
| Michigan | $33,040 | $25,960 | $25,960 — $38,310 | 1,120 |
| Indiana | $31,550 | $21,650 | $21,650 — $39,870 | 690 |
| Illinois | $31,200 | $31,200 | $31,200 — $71,340 | 870 |
| Nebraska | $31,200 | $28,080 | $28,080 — $60,920 | 490 |
| New Hampshire | $30,530 | $21,980 | $21,980 — $65,930 | 530 |
| Missouri | $29,840 | $28,600 | $28,600 — $37,120 | 2,710 |
| Tennessee | $29,470 | $21,280 | $21,280 — $48,340 | 2,210 |
| Arkansas | $29,060 | $28,450 | $28,450 — $37,130 | 840 |
| Pennsylvania | $28,430 | $20,800 | $20,800 — $38,140 | 1,710 |
| Oklahoma | $26,880 | $24,730 | $24,730 — $36,720 | 470 |
Writing a resume for telemarketers
Name the job in the builder and the duties, skills and credentials it is screened on are written in for you.
- Contacted businesses or private individuals by telephone to solicit sales for goods or services, or to request donations for charitable causes.
- Obtained customer information such as name, address, and payment method, and entered orders into computers.
- Explained products or services and prices, and answer questions from customers.
This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The owner of tiersi.com has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.
Telemarketer pay rate, hourly to annual
Starts at this job’s median. Change the rate or the hours; a full-time year is 40 hours for 52 weeks.
Questions people ask most
What is a telemarketer’s yearly income?
A telemarketer makes a median of $35,450 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $29,640 and $40,230.
What is a telemarketer’s hourly pay rate?
The median pay rate is $17.04 an hour; the average is $37,370 a year.
What is the starting pay for a telemarketer?
Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $29,640 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $27,040.
Which state pays telemarketers the most?
Kansas, with a median of $48,010 a year.
How many people work as telemarketers?
About 58,430 in the United States — number 761 of 788 occupations by median pay.
Work that pays nearly the same
Median pay within $60 of what telemarketers earn — $35,450 a year — but not always the same spread.
- Same median Ambulance Drivers and Attendants, Except Emergency Medical Technicians $35,450median a year 10th percentile: $27,350 90th percentile: $45,960
- $40 less Retail salespersons $35,410median a year 10th percentile: $27,210 90th percentile: $47,890
- $60 more Maids and housekeeping cleaners $35,510median a year 10th percentile: $27,640 90th percentile: $48,570