How Much Is the Average Financial Advisor Salary?

A financial advisor's pay has one of the widest ranges in the federal data. At the 10th percentile an advisor earns $50,190; at the 90th, $357,020, a gap of $306,830 and a top-to-bottom ratio of 7.1 to 1.^[1] The middle half of the field earns between $72,440 and $176,790. The average, $156,670, sits $51,600 above the median, which means a minority of very high earners pull the mean up. For judging a single offer, the median is the better reference.

The spread exists because the title covers two different jobs. BLS describes personal financial advisors as people who advise individuals on investments, insurance, mortgages, estate planning, taxes, and retirement, and who spend a lot of time marketing their services to find clients.^[5] A trainee and an advisor with years of clients share that description and the same occupation code, but their pay can differ enormously. The 90th percentile is also above the 90th percentile for financial managers, $323,270, even though the median for financial managers is $61,500 higher.^[1] Advisors have the higher ceiling and the lower typical outcome.

The federal wage survey counts straight-time gross pay: base salary, cost-of-living allowances, guaranteed pay, and incentive pay such as commissions and production bonuses. It leaves out overtime, severance, nonproduction bonuses, and the employer's cost of benefits.^[6] That fits this occupation better than most. BLS says advisors at financial services firms are often paid a salary plus bonuses, and that commissions, incentive pay, and production bonuses are included in the wage data, while nonproduction bonuses are not.^[5] If an offer includes a bonus target, check whether it depends on production or is discretionary, because only the first kind is counted here.

The bigger limit is who is missing. The survey also excludes the self-employed.^[6] BLS estimates 9.7 percent of personal financial advisors are self-employed, against 5.8 percent across all occupations.^[2] The two job counts show it: the wage survey covers 266,800 advisors, while the projections count 299,400 jobs in 2025, 32,600 more.^[2] A 9.7 percent share of 299,400 is about 29,000 people, so the self-employed account for most, though not necessarily all, of the difference; the two counts come from different surveys.

What this does to the pay figures matters if you plan to run your own practice. BLS says advisors at investment firms, at financial planning firms, or who are self-employed earn money in one of two ways: a flat fee, or commissions on the products they sell.^[5] An owner's income is practice revenue minus the cost of running the practice, and none of that appears in the survey. The percentiles on this page describe advisors who are employees, so the $357,020 figure at the top is employee pay, not what an independent practice can or cannot earn. BLS does not publish pay for the self-employed, and this page does not estimate it.

Five states hold most of the jobs. California (32,200), New York (21,550), Florida (21,490), Texas (18,200), and North Carolina (12,340) together account for 39.6 percent of the 266,800 advisor jobs in the wage survey.^[1] California has the most, 12.1 percent of the total, with New York second at 8.1 percent.

The highest medians are in a different place. New York leads among states with at least 1,000 advisors at $166,400, $61,330 above the national median, and New Jersey follows at $158,570 on 9,300 jobs. California, at $130,330, is the third highest among the larger markets, with Oregon ($122,830) and Illinois ($120,130) close behind.^[1] Florida and Texas are large markets that pay below the national figure: Florida has 21,490 jobs at $100,970, Texas 18,200 at $99,160, and North Carolina 12,340 at $96,880.

At the low end of the table are Kentucky ($67,150), Oklahoma ($68,670), and Utah ($77,390), where the median is $89,010 to $99,250 below New York's. Michigan, just above them, is a sizable market of 6,570 jobs at $77,930, so a low median is not limited to small states. BLS does not publish this occupation's pay by state and industry together, so the table cannot separate how much of New York's premium comes from employers and how much from prices; the next section removes the price effect.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes Regional Price Parities, which measure what the same basket of goods and services costs in each state against a national average of 100.^[7] Dividing a state's median by its parity restates the pay in national-average dollars. Among states with at least 1,000 advisors, these come out on top:

• New York: $166,400 nominal, about $154,200 after adjusting for prices that run 7.9 percent above the national average.
• New Jersey: $158,570 nominal, about $145,700 after adjusting for prices that run 8.8 percent above the national average.
• Wisconsin: $119,430 nominal, about $126,900 after adjusting for prices that run 5.9 percent below the national average.
• Illinois: $120,130 nominal, about $120,200 after adjusting for prices roughly at the national average.
• Oregon: $122,830 nominal, about $118,800 after adjusting for prices that run 3.4 percent above the national average.

The top two do not change. New York falls from $166,400 to about $154,200 and New Jersey from $158,570 to about $145,700, and both stay first and second. A lower-cost state moves up around them: Wisconsin joins the top five once prices are counted, though it is not in the nominal top five. California is the clearest loser. Its $130,330 median drops to about $117,700 because prices there run 10.7 percent above average, which leaves it out of the top five and below Oregon's adjusted $118,800.

The parities are statewide averages. Use the adjusted figures as a first comparison, then check the metro-level parities BEA also publishes before weighing a specific move.

One industry employs most advisors, and it is also the best-paying of the large ones. Securities, commodity contracts, and other financial investments and related activities employs 192,160 advisors, 72 percent of the occupation in the wage survey, at a median of $120,870.^[1] BLS's broader count, which includes the self-employed, puts that industry at 65 percent of personal financial advisors, with credit intermediation at 16 percent and both insurance carriers and professional, scientific, and technical services at 3 percent each.^[5]

Banks and other credit intermediaries come second, with 44,920 advisors at a median of $95,720, $25,150 below the securities industry.^[1] The remaining employers are small: insurance agencies and brokerages (6,460 jobs, $83,830), accounting, tax preparation, and payroll firms (4,110, $96,850), management of companies (4,680, $95,570), and insurance carriers (1,930, $86,940). Other professional and technical services firms show the highest median on the list, $122,830, but on only 1,240 jobs, which is too few to treat as a market.

The $39,000 spread between the highest and lowest of these medians is real, but most advisors work in the first two industries, so the practical choice is a securities firm or a bank, a $25,150 difference at the median.

BLS projects 1.4 percent growth for personal financial advisors from 2025 to 2035, which its Occupational Outlook Handbook reports as 1 percent and describes as slower than average for all occupations, against 3.5 percent across the economy.^[5][2] Employment rises from 299,400 to 303,500. Even so, about 17,100 openings a year are projected, roughly 5.7 percent of current jobs, and BLS expects most of them to come from workers who transfer to other occupations or leave the labor force, such as to retire.^[5] Treat this as a replacement market: a job here usually means taking over for someone who left, not joining a growing field.

BLS gives two reasons demand continues. Large numbers of baby boomers are retiring and likely to seek planning advice, and younger clients may seek financial planning as their incomes grow or they inherit assets from aging parents.^[5] It also names the main risk: AI tools for financial advice may moderate demand, though BLS expects many consumers to keep relying on human advisors for more complex and specialized investment advice.^[5] The advisors best placed are the ones whose work is the complicated part.

Two job counts appear on this page and measure different things. The wage survey counts 266,800 wage-and-salary jobs in May 2025; the projections count 299,400 jobs in 2025, from a broader set of surveys that includes the self-employed.^[2] Use the first with the pay figures and the second with the growth figures.

Financial managers are the step up: 841,710 jobs at a median of $166,570, $61,500 above advisors. BLS lists five years or more of related experience as typical for entry into that job, against none for advisors, so it is a later move rather than a parallel choice.^[1][2] BLS also says a master's degree in finance or business administration may improve an advisor's chances of becoming a financial manager.^[5] Our financial manager salary guide has the detail.

Financial analysts earn almost the same median, $102,740, but with a much narrower range: $63,720 at the 10th percentile and $180,860 at the 90th, against $50,190 and $357,020 for advisors.^[1] An analyst trades the high ceiling for steadier pay and a different job, research and modeling for an employer rather than advising clients; see the financial analyst salary guide. Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents are the closest sales-driven neighbor. They number 489,570 and earn a median of $78,660, $26,410 below advisors, with a similar floor ($48,040) and a lower ceiling ($212,880).^[1]

Insurance sales agents earn $62,280, and BLS lists a high school diploma as typical entry education, against a bachelor's degree for advisors.^[1][2] Insurance underwriters earn $81,370 and are projected to lose jobs, a 3.8 percent decline over the decade.^[1][2] The pattern across the group is that the advisor median sits in the middle, but only advisors and financial managers reach the upper part of the range.

Start by asking how the pay is built. A salary-plus-bonus offer at a bank or large firm is comparable to the percentiles above. A commission or fee-sharing arrangement is not, because it depends on the clients you bring, and the offer cannot tell you that number. Ask what share of a new advisor's pay is guaranteed and for how long, since BLS says new advisors usually spend more than a year in on-the-job training under senior advisors while they learn to build a client network.^[5]

Then check the figures. Compare base pay with the state median, not the national one: $105,070 nationally, but $166,400 in New York and $99,160 in Texas.^[1] Place the offer on the ladder: $72,440 at the 25th percentile and $176,790 at the 75th. BLS does not publish pay by years of experience, so ask how the pay is expected to move once you hold clients. O*NET lists reported titles including financial planner, wealth manager, wealth advisor, investment advisor, and portfolio manager, so compare the work and not the title.^[8]

Two sets of credentials sit behind the pay figures. FINRA exams are the license side. FINRA lists the Series 7 at $395 and the Series 65 and 66 at $187 and $177.^[4] The Securities Industry Essentials exam costs $100 and is open to anyone aged 18 or older, with no firm association required, while the Series 7 requires being associated with and sponsored by a FINRA member firm.^[9][10] Because the Series 7 needs a sponsoring firm, ask an employer which exams it will schedule and pay for before you accept an offer.

The CFP certification is optional. CFP Board's standard exam registration rate is $925, with an early rate of $825 and a late rate of $1,025.^[11] The exam is only one of four requirements; the others are education, 6,000 hours of experience (or 4,000 hours of apprenticeship experience), and an ethics declaration with a background check.^[3] BLS does not publish pay by certification, so no federal figure shows what a CFP adds. BLS says certifications may enhance an advisor's reputation and help bring in new clients, which is an argument about winning clients rather than a pay guarantee.^[5] Our CFP vs. CFA guide compares it with the analyst credential.

The federal data points to three levers, in this order. The first is what you are paid for. Production pay is counted in the survey, so the range from $50,190 to $357,020 reflects pay that follows the clients an advisor serves as well as a base salary. O*NET's core tasks include recruiting and maintaining a client base alongside the planning work, so building a book is part of the job, not a side task.^[8] The second lever is the employer. Securities firms pay a median $25,150 above banks, and the state table shows a $61,330 premium for working in New York.^[1]

The third is credentials, and the evidence is thinner. BLS says a master's degree and certification may improve chances for advancement, but it does not publish pay by degree or by certification.^[5] Weigh a master's in finance or an MBA on cost and the roles it opens, particularly the move to financial manager, rather than on a pay figure that does not exist. Our finance degree rankings cover both.