The Best-paying States for Retail Workers in 2021

In the United States, over 4.3 million people work in retail and earn an average salary of $29,360.¹ Unfortunately, that falls 45% below the national average salary of all occupations.

Selling in retail is already stressful, but during the pandemic, workers faced new on-job restrictions, training precautions, and risks. The retail industry suffered from a decrease in consumer spending that left many workers in a precarious position, and many lost their jobs. 

To help those in the industry make their next move, we found which states pay retail workers the best, and where they have to work the least to afford rent. (Nationally, retail workers must work 66.7 hours to afford rent.²)

Our rankings may give you a better idea of whether or not you want to keep working in retail where you're living, or if you may need to switch careers to keep up with rent. (We also looked at the best-paying states for nursing, US teachers, and restaurant staff, if you’re curious.) 

How does working retail pay where you live compare to the rest of the US?

South Dakota pays retail workers the best compared to the rest of the nation. Retail workers earn an average salary of $30,620, which is 29% lower than the average salary in the Mount Rushmore State. (Retail workers in the worst-paying states make about 50% or less than other occupations in those states.)

Here’s some good news for retail workers: 32 states pay retail workers better than the national average.

You’ll want to stay more inland to find the highest-paying states, like the Dakotas, Montana, Idaho, Tennessee, Arkansas, and others.

Seven of the ten worst-paying states for retail workers are on the East Coast. New Hampshire and Connecticut also ranked low, coming in at numbers 37 and 38. And coastal California ranked number 42 on our list.

Washington DC technically has the highest average salary for retail workers at $36,520, but is it worth trying to find a job there to make rent? Probably not, as you’ll see below.

Retail workers have to work the longest in Hawaii to afford their monthly rent—96 hours. That’s two weeks working full time, plus eight hours of overtime at time and a half. Maryland is a close second with retail workers needing to work 91 hours to afford median rent.

We don’t know about you, but spending over half a month working full-time just to afford rent (before anything else is considered) seems pretty steep to us. But that’s exactly what’s required for retail workers in these seven states:

1. Hawaii
2. California
3. Maryland
4. District of Columbia
5. New Jersey
6. Florida
7. Colorado

DC might have the highest salaries for retail workers, but good luck affording rent and finding a job. The average retail worker would have to sling merchandise for 86.2 hours to pay for rent in the nation’s capital. Washington DC also has the lowest number of retail workers employed. 

On top of all that, you’ll be paid nearly 59.3% lower than the average salary in DC—that’s the worst difference in the country.

Retail work doesn’t pay high compared to other salaries or the amount of stress working with the public can bring. And the pandemic made the situation even more precarious for a lot of folks.

But if you’re sold on selling, there are plenty of places that pay better than average. You can find the best pay in the country’s center states, but you’ll want to avoid the East Coast and Washington DC.

Here’s the full state-by-state breakdown for retail pay in the USA:

Using the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we ranked which states pay retail workers the best compared to the average salary in each state. (This includes retail salespersons that sell merchandise to consumers, but excludes cashiers.)

To find out how many hours an average retail worker has to work to afford average rent in each state, we used median contract rent data from the US Census Bureau. This includes all the renter-occupied housing units paying cash rent.

Learn more: Best Business Loans and Financing Options for Retail Businesses 2022