Salary Surveys

Retail Salary Survey

The Retail Salary Survey reports compensation data for 498 benchmark jobs related to selling merchandise in small quantities to the general public either via physical location or via internet, catalog, door-to-door or direct response. The survey includes automobile dealers, apparel stores, building materials stores, electronics and appliance stores, food and general merchandise stores, restaurants and catering, and specialty retailers.

The Retail Salary Survey documents market-based pay data for 40 executive and 458 non-management salary benchmark jobs from up to three databases: digitized public sources, ERI Assessor Series data, and direct participants. The following information is reported for each job title (salary data are shown in means, medians, and percentile cuts):

• Annual Salary
• Incentive/Variable Pay
• Total Direct Annual Compensation
• Job Description
• Selected Characteristics of the Occupation (SCO)

Survey information is solicited through traditional mail, email, and online questionnaires. Each data submission is thoroughly screened by our team of experienced researchers prior to inclusion in a survey. No attempt is made to alter incumbent data as reported other than to normalize collected compensation amounts to a common date. Data collection begins October and ends March. The Retail salary guide and survey results are published annually in July, with an effective data date of March 31 of the given survey year.