Leader salary

Q: What state pays Leaders the most?

Maine pays Leaders the most in the United States, with an average salary of $107,828 per year, or $51.84 per hour.

Q: How do I know if I'm being paid fairly as a Leader?

You know if you are being paid fairly as a Leader if your pay is close to the average pay for the state you live in. For example, if you live in Massachusetts you should be paid close to $104,599 per year.

Q: What is a good starting salary for a Leader?

A good starting salary for a leader is $64,000 in the United States. That puts you in the 10th percentile of annual income for a leader in the U.S., which is about what you would expect if you were new to the field. The average salary for leaders is $95,765, but that normally requires some level of experience to achieve. Furthermore, a good starting salary for a leader can vary by state.

Q: How much do group leaders get paid?

Group leaders get paid $92,667 per year, on average ($44.55 per hour). However, the range in pay is quite large - starting from as little as $58,000 a year to as much as $146,000 a year. Factors such as location and industry impact how much a group leader gets paid.

Q: What is the average salary of a boss?

The average salary of a boss is $78,883 a year. However, this amount may vary from $17,000 to $149,674 a year. Factors such as location, company type, and years of experience impact how much you can make as a boss.

Average leader salary

$86,964

$41.81 hourly rate

Entry-level leader salary

$49,000 yearly salary

Updated January 8, 2025

How much does a leader make?

The average leader salary in the United States is $86,964. Leader salaries typically range between $49,000 and $153,000 yearly. The average hourly rate for leaders is $41.81 per hour.

Leader salary is impacted by location, education, and experience. Leaders earn the highest average salary in Maine.

On This Page

Leader salary by:

Level up your salary

Let Zippi find your next Leader job

Level up your salary

Let Zippi find your next Leader job

Where can a Leader earn more?

Compare salary by location

126k

106k

86k

66k

46k

Columbus, OH$108,922

Columbus, GA$75,943

Compare salary by company

211k

191k

171k

151k

131k

111k

Eli Lilly and Company$185,069

Meta$140,595

Leader Salaries By Experience Level

Experience Level	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate
Entry-level leader	$85,700	$41.22
Mid-level leader	$108,000	$52.14
Senior-level leader	$110,000	$52.83

Leader salary estimates from across the web

Based on the latest salary information compiled by Zippia, Salary.com, Ziprecruiter and Comparably, the average salary for a leader typically falls between $53,698 and $86,964.

zippia

$86,964yearly

comparably[1]

$58,750yearly

Salary.com[2]

$70,704yearly

ZipRecruiter[3]

$53,698yearly

Average leader salary by state

The average leader salary in Maine, Massachusetts, and New York are the highest in the U.S. The lowest average leader salary states are Colorado, Iowa, and Arkansas.

State View
County View

Average Salary:

Highest paying states for leaders

Rank	State	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate
1	Maine	$107,828	$51.84
2	Connecticut	$102,385	$49.22
3	Texas	$85,680	$41.19
4	Delaware	$98,258	$47.24
5	New York	$103,282	$49.65
6	Michigan	$89,516	$43.04
7	Ohio	$82,488	$39.66
8	Louisiana	$84,817	$40.78
9	Massachusetts	$104,599	$50.29
10	New Jersey	$101,643	$48.87
11	Rhode Island	$98,747	$47.47
12	New Hampshire	$94,283	$45.33
13	Wisconsin	$80,183	$38.55
14	District of Columbia	$104,361	$50.17
15	California	$94,566	$45.46
16	Pennsylvania	$88,157	$42.38
17	Virginia	$82,458	$39.64
18	Maryland	$89,752	$43.15
19	Illinois	$83,416	$40.10
20	West Virginia	$79,934	$38.43
21	Alabama	$74,906	$36.01
22	Arizona	$81,652	$39.26
23	North Carolina	$74,207	$35.68
24	Minnesota	$82,111	$39.48
25	Indiana	$73,550	$35.36
26	South Carolina	$73,588	$35.38
27	Vermont	$80,545	$38.72
28	Georgia	$76,227	$36.65
29	Alaska	$93,599	$45.00
30	Washington	$83,241	$40.02
31	Kentucky	$70,285	$33.79
32	Hawaii	$77,479	$37.25
33	Wyoming	$69,711	$33.51
34	Mississippi	$67,769	$32.58
35	South Dakota	$76,793	$36.92
36	North Dakota	$76,552	$36.80
37	Tennessee	$66,743	$32.09
38	Nevada	$70,220	$33.76
39	Florida	$73,323	$35.25
40	Missouri	$68,353	$32.86
41	Kansas	$65,466	$31.47
42	Oklahoma	$64,087	$30.81
43	Oregon	$72,919	$35.06
44	New Mexico	$68,797	$33.08
45	Iowa	$62,998	$30.29
46	Arkansas	$62,774	$30.18
47	Idaho	$64,590	$31.05
48	Colorado	$63,949	$30.74
49	Montana	$60,758	$29.21
50	Nebraska	$61,656	$29.64
51	Utah	$53,190	$25.57

Top leader jobs near you

Highest paying cities for leaders

The highest-paying cities for leaders are Portland, ME, Washington, DC, and Boston, MA.

Rank	City	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate
1	Portland, ME	$108,922	$52.37
2	Washington, DC	$105,082	$50.52
3	Boston, MA	$104,649	$50.31
4	New York, NY	$103,452	$49.74
5	Hartford, CT	$102,581	$49.32
6	Jersey City, NJ	$102,181	$49.13
7	San Francisco, CA	$99,542	$47.86
8	Wilmington, DE	$99,093	$47.64
9	Baltimore, MD	$90,472	$43.50
10	Detroit, MI	$89,874	$43.21
11	San Antonio, TX	$89,464	$43.01
12	Philadelphia, PA	$88,998	$42.79
13	Arlington, VA	$85,890	$41.29
14	Chicago, IL	$84,539	$40.64
15	Seattle, WA	$84,466	$40.61
16	Minneapolis, MN	$82,088	$39.47
17	Phoenix, AZ	$81,837	$39.34
18	Columbus, OH	$80,878	$38.88
19	Milwaukee, WI	$80,276	$38.59
20	Columbus, GA	$75,943	$36.51

Leaders are the most in-demand in these five cities:

Leader salary details

A leader's salary ranges from $49,000 a year at the 10th percentile to $153,000 at the 90th percentile.

Average Leader Salary Graph, Trends, and Summary

What is a leader's salary?

Percentile	Annual Salary	Monthly Salary	Hourly Rate
90th Percentile	$153,000	$12,750	$74
75th Percentile	$117,000	$9,750	$56
Average	$86,964	$7,247	$42
25th Percentile	$64,000	$5,333	$31
10th Percentile	$49,000	$4,083	$24

Highest paying leader jobs

The highest paying types of leaders are co-leader, senior leader, and cell leader.

Job Title	Annual Salary	Monthly Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Openings
Operations Team Leader	$55,160	$4,597	$26.52	179,669
Team Leader/Trainer	$43,044	$3,587	$20.69	141,734
Recreation Leader	$30,040	$2,503	$14.44	35,684
Activities Leader	$30,329	$2,527	$14.58	35,544
Production Leader	$44,563	$3,714	$21.42	107,578
Process Leader	$88,400	$7,367	$42.50	71,467

Top companies hiring leaders now:

Which companies pay leaders the most?

Leader salaries at Eli Lilly and Company and Biogen are the highest-paying according to our most recent salary estimates. In addition, the average leader salary at companies like Novartis and AbbVie are highly competitive.

Rank	Company	Average Salary	Hourly Rate
1	Eli Lilly and Company	$185,069	$88.98
2	Biogen	$184,602	$88.75
3	Novartis	$184,135	$88.53
4	AbbVie	$180,658	$86.85
5	Bristol-Myers Squibb	$177,084	$85.14
6	AstraZeneca	$175,872	$84.55
7	Genentech	$170,711	$82.07
8	Levi Strauss & Co.	$158,876	$76.38
9	University of Maryland Medical System	$155,334	$74.68
10	Roku	$153,976	$74.03
11	BP America Inc	$153,168	$73.64
12	Apple	$152,585	$73.36
13	ZS	$152,270	$73.21
14	UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital	$147,908	$71.11
15	Gillette	$146,342	$70.36
16	Bayer	$146,203	$70.29
17	Boston Consulting Group	$144,090	$69.27
18	Abbott	$141,494	$68.03
19	NVIDIA	$140,752	$67.67
20	Meta	$140,595	$67.59

Wage gap by gender, race and education

$103,000$99,400$95,800$92,200$88,600$85,000

MaleFemale

Leader salary trends

The average leader salary has risen by $12,702 over the last ten years. In 2014, the average leader earned $74,262 annually, but today, they earn $86,964 a year. That works out to a 9% change in pay for leaders over the last decade.

Compare leader salaries for cities or states with the national average over time.

Average leader salary over time

Compare leader salaries for individual cities or states with the national average.

National Average
Columbus, OH

Leader salary by year

Year	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate	% Change
2025	$87,000	$41.81	+2.5%
2024	$84,800	$40.79	+1.5%
2023	$83,600	$40.19	+2.6%
2022	$81,500	$39.16	+1.9%
2021	$79,900	$38.44	+2.5%

Recently added leader salaries

Company	Job	Location	Date Added	Salary
University of St. Francis, Il	Health Assessment Student Leader	Joliet, IL	12/18/2024	$29,218
State of Washington	Licensing Division Assessment Lead (Sss4)	Shelton, WA	12/18/2024	$69,396
Raising Canes Chicken	Restaurant Leader	Roseville, MN	12/17/2024	$65,000
Taser Self-Defense	Hrbp Leader	Scottsdale, AZ	12/15/2024	$170,000
Taser Self-Defense	Hrbp Leader	Boston, MA	12/15/2024	$170,000
Hunter Douglas	Workforce Engagement Leader	Broomfield, CO	12/15/2024	$90,000
NBBJ	BIM Leader	Boston, MA	12/15/2024	$97,000
Philips Healthcare	Transformation Leader	Bothell, WA	12/15/2024	$151,300
Travelport	Global Category Leader	Atlanta, GA	12/15/2024	$90,000
Thrivent Financial	Engagement Leader	Austin, TX	12/15/2024	$65,765