Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel Salary

It’s a stretch — at the median salary of $62K, rent takes 32.2% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,331/month. The 30% guideline puts the comfortable ceiling at roughly $1,200/month in rent — so roommates or a 1-bedroom would ease the math significantly.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new sales representatives of services, except advertising, insurance, financial services, and travels typically earn — is $33K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $1,995/month. At HUD’s $1,331/month FMR, rent would take 67% of that take-home — above the 30% guideline, so a 1-bedroom or shared housing is likely necessary starting out.

Local pay runs 12% below the national median — $62K here vs. $70K nationally. Cost of living is 7% below the national average, which narrows that gap in real purchasing power.

New Orleans-Metairie pays $62K median vs. the U.S. average of $70K — that’s -12%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 92.6), the purchasing-power equivalent is $67K — below the national median.

The median is $61,670 a year, that works out to about $30 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $33,250, and experienced sales representatives of services, except advertising, insurance, financial services, and travels can clear $107,310. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $4,129/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,331/month, which eats 32.2% of your paycheck. That's above the 30% rule of thumb, housing will be a stretch at the median salary, though you can manage with roommates or a smaller place.

New Orleans-Metairie has a Regional Price Parity of 92.6 (100 is the national average). That's below average, your money stretches further here than the raw salary number suggests. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median sales representatives of services, except advertising, insurance, financial services, and travel salary is worth about $66,598 in national-average purchasing power.

The table above ranks every state by median pay for this role. Keep in mind that the highest-paying states tend to have the highest costs of living, so the top salary doesn't always mean the most money in your pocket.