October 12, 2026 · LegalBriefsUSA
SDR Salary 2026: $55,000 Base and $80,000 OTE at the Median, and Why Published Figures Run from $43,709 to $104,273
$80,000. The median SDR in the US is paid $80,000 on-target earnings in 2026, split $55,000 base and $25,000 variable, and that number has not moved since 2022. Published SDR salary figures run from $43,709 to $104,273, and almost all of the spread comes from whether the source is counting base pay or total pay.
The $80,000 comes from The Bridge Group’s 10th biennial study of 351 B2B companies, published 6 February 2025, which is still the largest employer-reported panel on SDR pay. This piece belongs to our build versus buy economics hub, and it is the salary input behind the fully loaded cost of one SDR. Every figure below is linked and dated, checked 12 October 2026.
What is the average SDR salary in 2026?
$55,000 base and $80,000 on-target earnings at the median, per The Bridge Group. RepVue’s self-reported data puts it slightly higher at $60,000 base and $85,000 OTE. Plan a US hire at $55,000 to $60,000 base and $80,000 to $85,000 OTE and you will be inside the market for a standard B2B SDR seat.
The base-to-variable split is 68:32. That is a heavier variable share than most entry-level roles carry, and it is deliberate: roughly a third of the rep’s pay is tied to meetings or opportunities, so the company carries less fixed cost when the pipeline is thin. It also means a rep who misses quota takes home closer to $55,000 than $80,000. The same study reports 40% annual attrition.
Why do published SDR salaries run from $43,709 to $104,273?
Because each source measures something different. Some report base salary only, some report total pay, some come from job postings, and some from employees typing in their own numbers. Sort them by what they measure and the gap closes to roughly $55,000 base and $80,000 to $85,000 total.
| Source | Published figure | What it is actually measuring |
|---|---|---|
| The Bridge Group, 351 B2B companies, Feb 2025 | $55,000 base, $25,000 variable, $80,000 OTE, 68:32 split | Employer-reported pay plan at the median company |
| RepVue, updated 2 Sep 2025 | $60,000 median base, $85,000 median OTE, $128,209 top performer | Rep-reported pay plan, weighted toward tech sellers |
| ZipRecruiter, as of 12 Oct 2026 | $55,018 average, $26.45 an hour, $28,500 to $89,000 range | Job postings and pay estimates, all employer types |
| Payscale, updated 1 Sep 2026, 324 profiles | $43,709 average base, $36,000 to $77,000 total pay range | Self-reported, all company types, base and realized pay |
| Glassdoor, checked 12 Oct 2026 | $104,273 average total pay, base shown as $56,000 to $73,000 | Self-reported total pay, with additional pay of $30,000 to $56,000 |
Read the third column before quoting any of these in a comp plan. The two base figures that come from employers and job postings, $55,000 and $55,018, agree almost to the dollar. Payscale’s $43,709 is a base figure across every kind of employer, not only B2B sales teams. Glassdoor runs higher because its headline is total pay, commission included, as reported by the reps who chose to submit it.
What is a normal SDR OTE and base-to-variable split?
$80,000 to $85,000 OTE, paid roughly two-thirds base and one-third variable. The Bridge Group median is 68:32. In our view, a split much richer in base than 75:25 weakens the incentive to book, and one leaner than 60:40 is a hard sell at entry level.
The variable portion is easiest to reason about per meeting. $25,000 a year of variable is $2,083 a month. Against The Bridge Group’s median stage-zero quota of 10 held meetings a month, that is about $208 of commission per held meeting at 100% of quota. If your plan pays on converted opportunities instead, the median stage-one quota is 6 a month, which works out to about $347 per opportunity. Both are our arithmetic on the published medians, not a measured payout.
| Line | Annual | Monthly | Per unit at quota |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $55,000 | $4,583 | Fixed |
| Variable at 100% of quota | $25,000 | $2,083 | $208 per held meeting at 10 a month |
| Variable, paid on opportunities instead | $25,000 | $2,083 | $347 per opportunity at 6 a month |
| OTE | $80,000 | $6,667 | $667 of total pay per held meeting at quota |
That last line is the one worth remembering. Before payroll tax, benefits, tools, management or ramp, the median SDR’s cash pay alone is $667 per held meeting, and that assumes the rep hits quota. The Bridge Group reports that 60% of SDRs reach quota, and RepVue reports 57.1%. For the rest, the meetings get scarcer and the base does not.
Has SDR pay gone up?
Barely. Median SDR OTE has been $80,000 since 2022, and nominal OTE growth over the past decade is 0.56% a year, per The Bridge Group. Compounded backward, that puts the median a decade earlier at about $75,700.
The money moved up the org chart instead. Over the same window, median SDR manager OTE rose to $146,000 from $127,000 in 2018, while director OTE slipped to $189,000 from $193,000 and VP OTE to $240,000 from $243,000. The practical read for a buyer: the rep is not getting more expensive, but the person you need to manage the rep is. One manager now runs 6.4 SDRs at the median, so a single-rep team still needs a meaningful slice of a $146,000 manager.
What does an SDR actually cost on top of salary?
OTE is roughly half to 60% of it. On the $80,000 OTE, our itemized build lands at $131,000 to $164,000 a year fully loaded once payroll tax, benefits, tools, data, management time and recruiting are counted, which works out to $10,900 to $13,600 a month per seat.
Two more costs sit outside that annual number and are easy to forget in a salary conversation. First, ramp: 3.0 months at the median before full productivity, which we price out in how long an SDR takes to ramp. Second, turnover: median tenure is 1.9 years and median annual attrition is 40%, so a one-rep team is likely to rehire, and re-ramp, roughly every two years. The salary is the line on the offer letter. It is not the line on the budget.
How should you set SDR pay for your first hire?
Offer at the market median, not below it. $55,000 to $60,000 base with $80,000 to $85,000 OTE is where the published data clusters. Going $10,000 under to save money buys a longer search and a shorter tenure, and both cost more than $10,000.
Three plan design choices matter more than the headline number:
- Pay on held meetings, not booked ones. A booked meeting that no-shows is worth nothing to your AE. Paying on held aligns the rep with the outcome you are buying.
- Set quota from the median, then adjust for segment. The Bridge Group median is 10 held meetings a month, but the introductory model runs 16 and fully qualified runs 9. Pick the model first, then the quota, then the payout per meeting.
- Guarantee variable through ramp. A rep who earns base only for three months while learning is a rep interviewing elsewhere by month four. A full or partial draw through the 3.0 month ramp is cheaper than a second search.
Is it cheaper to pay an SDR or an agency?
An agency is cheaper than an SDR’s base salary if its fees run under $55,000 a year, and cheaper than the fully loaded seat if they run under about $131,000. A $1,500 a month email program is $18,000 a year, about 23% of the median SDR’s OTE. A $3,500 a month email plus LinkedIn program is $42,000 a year, less than the base salary alone.
That comparison is not the whole decision. An in-house rep learns your product, sits in your Slack and can be promoted into an AE seat. If you want that asset and you have a manager with capacity, the $80,000 is well spent. If what you need is meetings while you find out whether outbound works for your market, the salary comparison is lopsided. We lay the two paths side by side, timeline included, in in-house SDR versus outsourced SDR.
How LeadButton handles this
You do not pay a salary, a commission plan, payroll tax or a recruiting fee. Launch is $1,500 a month for fully managed email outreach, including the prospect list, sending domains, warmup and weekly reporting. Growth is $3,500 a month and adds LinkedIn, live agents working replies, CRM sync and booking straight into your calendar. Scale is custom. Billing is monthly with no minimum term, so the comparison with an $80,000 OTE hire can be run on real meetings rather than on a spreadsheet. The full rate card is on the LeadButton pricing page.
Sources
- The Bridge Group, SDR Models, Motions and Metrics, 10th biennial study, 351 B2B companies, published 6 February 2025, checked 12 October 2026. Median OTE $80,000 and unchanged since 2022, base $55,000, variable $25,000, 68:32 split, 0.56% nominal OTE CAGR over the past decade, SDR manager OTE $146,000 against $127,000 in 2018, director $189,000 against $193,000, VP $240,000 against $243,000, ramp 3.0 months, tenure 1.9 years, attrition 40%, 60% of SDRs at quota, stage-zero quota 10 a month with 16.0 introductory and 9.0 fully qualified, stage-one quota 6.
- RepVue, Sales Development Representative salaries, data updated 2 September 2025, checked 12 October 2026. Median base $60,000, median OTE $85,000, top performer $128,209, 57.1% attaining quota.
- ZipRecruiter, SDR Salary, as of 12 October 2026. $55,018 a year average, $26.45 an hour, range $28,500 to $89,000.
- Payscale, Sales Development Representative salary, updated 1 September 2026, checked 12 October 2026. $43,709 average base, base range $34,000 to $59,000, total pay $36,000 to $77,000, 324 profiles.
- Glassdoor, Sales Development Representative salaries, checked 12 October 2026. $104,273 average total pay, base $56,000 to $73,000, additional pay $30,000 to $56,000.
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