Free Access No Registration Updated: 2026-06-01

Retail Sales Associate Career Market Report 2026

21,456 active jobs. 492 companies. Median salary $32K. Data from Greenhouse, Lever, Workday, Ashby, SmartRecruiters, Workable, and 14 additional ATS sources. Last computed: 2026-06-01.

21,456
Active Job Openings
492
Companies Hiring
$32K
Median Salary (US)
73%
With Salary Data

About This Report

The Retail Sales Associate market data on this page is updated daily from 800,000+ active job postings across 20 ATS platforms.

Greenhouse Lever Workday Ashby SmartRecruiters Workable + 14 more ATS sources

Salary: Extracted via NLP. Only USD $5K-$3M included. Skills: Named entity recognition, noise-filtered (generic soft skills excluded). Experience: Inferred from title + description. Coverage: 73% of positions include salary data.

Key Findings

Median salary: $32K in the US

Middle 50% of salaries range from $30K to $40K.

Go is the most-demanded skill at 9%

Go demand rose +8.9pp — fastest-growing skill

Cvshealth leads hiring with 1,372 open positions

Biggest salary jump: Junior → Mid-Level (+$24K, +76%)

Salary increase: +$24K · Sample: Junior → Mid-Level

AI automation risk: medium-high (score 70/100)

Score: 70/100 · AI/LLM demand: 4% of postings

Week-over-week changes reflect dataset expansion, not market surge

Recent growth in tracked postings is from adding new data sources, not a one-week hiring boom. Interpret trend data with this in mind.

Salary by Experience Level

LevelJobsP25MedianP90
Junior135$8K$31K$37K
Entry-Level66$29K$31K$37K
Lead21$35K$37K$41K
Mid-Level20$55K$55K$75K
Senior7$39K$48K$194K

What jumps out

Junior → Mid-Level: +$24K (76%) — the biggest single-step increase. The salary curve is back-loaded: the largest raises come at transitions where scope changes from executing tasks to owning outcomes, or from owning outcomes to shaping architecture across teams.

Salary by Country

CountryJobsMedianCurrency
United States1,022$33KUSD
Canada26$37KUSD
United Kingdom18$32KUSD
Australia7$35KUSD
Italy5$36KUSD
Germany3$33KUSD

Work Mode

ModeShare
On-Site1.6%
Remote0.2%
Hybrid0.0%

~80% of postings do not specify work mode. Figures show only positions where it is explicitly stated.

Top Skills in Demand

Go
9%
Loss Prevention
7%
C#
5%
AI/LLM
4%
Bilingual
2%

Skills on the Rise

Go ↑+8.9ppC# ↑+5.2ppAI/LLM ↑+3.5pp

Declining in Demand

Customer Service ↓-64.2ppSustainability ↓-27.0ppInventory Management ↓-14.3ppMerchandising ↓-12.6ppExcel ↓-10.9pp

Top Companies Hiring

CompanyOpeningsShare
Cvshealth1,3726.4%
Gap1,2275.7%
Fivebelow1,1885.5%
Boxlunch9094.2%
Knitwellgroup8594.0%
Vfc6322.9%
Racetrac5922.8%
Pvh4952.3%

Top Countries by Job Volume

CountryJobs
United States10,546
Canada1,002
United Kingdom272
Germany99
Italy99
Australia71
Malaysia56
France42

Education Requirements

LevelSharePositions
Associate Degree37.4%1,872
Master's Degree4.8%242
Bachelor's Degree1.4%72
High School / GED0.3%13

Certifications

All certifications below 1% threshold. Certifications carry minimal weight in this profession's hiring decisions.

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