A new survey by MepReps looks at how much medical sales professionals make and factors like product and market impact their salary. There’s so much stuff we’re going to split the review up into two articles.

Later we’ll look at information from the survey on how much medical sales professionals travel, how job titles affect salary, and how where you live, along with age, gender, and education levels impact your bottom line.

Average Medical Sales Salary

Let’s get right to it, how much money do medical sales reps earn on average? According to the newest MedRep survey the average medical sales rep salary in 2016 is $145,147, with an average base of $88,038, an increase in both numbers since 2015. Of those who responded, the majority of work for manufacturers while a third of respondents sell medical or surgical devices, and one quarter sell pharma or specialty pharma.

Average Medical Sales Salary by Product and Market

There are differences in salary among the type of product sold. And its important to note that medical sales jobs include not only the more famous pharma and medical device positions; medical supplies and disposables, capital equipment and DME, even health IT products and services, are also included in the professional category of medical sales. In fact, product may be the key factor in determining the size of salary.

In 2016, biotech sales professionals claimed the top spot, earning $165,028, (with a median income of $155,000) in total compensation. Surgical sales professionals were a very close second earning $163,654 (median was $155,000). Often the median income may more helpful than the average as a few high or low salaries can skew averages.

This year’s report also examines how the specific market a professional sells to impacts earnings. Those who sold to hospitals, and specifically surgery/OR, earn the highest salaries while home health and rehab markets fell on the lower end of the spectrum. Good to know as you are considering your next job!

Income by Job Satisfaction

While money isn’t everything, income satisfaction does seem to correlate with job satisfaction, according to the survey. In general medical sales people seem to be very happy with their careers with more than three-quarters of respondents reported being very or somewhat satisfied with their overall job, which was similar to the 75% who reported being very or somewhat satisfied with their income. Those who said they are very satisfied with their incomes earn an average of $177,319, while those who said they are very unsatisfied earn an average of $100,903.

Individual Medical Sales Salary Increases

At the individual level, more than half of respondents reported receiving a pay increase in the previous year. Those who received the increase as a result of a job change reported an average increase of 13% while those receiving the increase due to a promotion reported an increase of 9%. The overall average increase (including those who received routine increases) was 6.4%.

For more information on the survey please visit MedReps. Look for our next article highlighting survey results on travel, job titles, location, age, gender, and education levels and their impact on the bottom line.