Financial Manager Salary: What the Data Actually Shows

The title covers a controller closing the books at a manufacturer, a treasurer raising debt for a utility, a credit manager setting limits for a distributor, and a bank branch manager. At the 10th percentile a financial manager earns $94,310; at the 90th, $323,270, a gap of $228,960.^[1] BLS describes the work as creating financial reports, directing investment activities, and planning the organization's long-term financial goals, and lists controllers, treasurers and finance officers, credit managers, cash managers, risk managers, and insurance managers as the main types.^[5] Those jobs sit under one occupation code, so one median summarizes all of them, and the spread is the first thing to read.

The middle half of the field earns between $125,490 and $219,980. The average, $186,910, sits $20,340 above the median, which means a minority of very high earners pull the mean up; for judging one offer, the median is the better reference. For context, the median for all U.S. occupations is $50,980, so even the 10th percentile here is well above what a typical American worker earns.^[2]

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] Finance leadership roles often carry a discretionary annual bonus or equity, and that part of the package is outside these numbers. Read the figures as a guide to base pay and weigh any bonus target separately.

The survey also excludes the self-employed.^[6] That leaves out very few financial managers: BLS estimates 1.4 percent of them are self-employed, against 5.8 percent across all occupations.^[2] Chief executives are the opposite case, with 26.6 percent self-employed, so the survey misses far more of their pay than it does here.

Five states hold a large share of the jobs. California (93,310), New York (80,810), Texas (71,870), Illinois (52,720), and Florida (48,910) together account for 41.3 percent of the 841,710 financial manager jobs in the wage survey.^[1] California has the most positions, 11.1 percent of the total, but its median of $180,770 is only $14,200 above the national figure. New York has the second-most jobs, 80,810, and pays the highest median among states with at least 1,000 financial managers, $219,880, which is $53,310 above the national median.

The premium follows the financial centers. Massachusetts pays $206,760 and New Jersey $199,110, both well above the national median, while two of the biggest markets sit close to it: Texas pays $164,860 on 71,870 jobs and Illinois $165,880. Florida, the fifth-largest market, pays $153,280, $13,290 below the national median. Among states with enough jobs for a stable estimate, the low end is far lower: Mississippi's median is $111,390, $55,180 under the national figure.^[1] BLS does not publish pay by state and industry together, so the table cannot say how much of a state's premium comes from its employers and how much from its 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 financial managers, these come out on top:

• New York: $219,880 nominal, about $203,700 after adjusting for prices that run 7.9 percent above the national average.
• Massachusetts: $206,760 nominal, about $195,500 after adjusting for prices that run 5.8 percent above the national average.
• Virginia: $185,220 nominal, about $183,200 after adjusting for prices that run 1.1 percent above the national average.
• New Jersey: $199,110 nominal, about $183,000 after adjusting for prices that run 8.8 percent above the national average.
• Delaware: $181,580 nominal, about $181,900 after adjusting for prices that run 0.2 percent below the national average.

New York keeps the top spot even after its high prices are counted, going from $219,880 to about $203,700, and Massachusetts stays second at about $195,500. The two largest markets split. California's $180,770 median falls to about $163,300 because its prices run 10.7 percent above average, which puts it at number 17 of the 50 states measured. Texas moves the other way, from $164,860 to about $169,900, so part of its gap with the coasts is price rather than pay. Delaware is the lower-price state that makes the top five.

The parities are statewide averages, and the metros where most finance jobs sit usually cost more than the state as a whole. Use the adjusted figures as a first comparison, then check the metro-level parities BEA also publishes before weighing a specific move.

The largest employer is banking. Banks and related credit intermediaries employ 113,190 financial managers, 13.4 percent of the occupation, at a median of $132,430, which is $34,140 below the national figure.^[1] The first sample titles O*NET lists for the occupation are accounting supervisor, banking center manager, and branch manager, which fits a bank-heavy employer base.^[8] Corporate headquarters are next with 94,170 jobs at $172,340: the in-house controllers, treasurers, and FP&A heads of companies that sell something other than finance.

Securities and investment firms pay the most. Their median is $223,860, $57,290 above the national median, on 70,400 jobs.^[1] Insurance carriers ($174,530), insurance agencies and brokerages ($173,000), and accounting and tax firms ($169,420) all pay above the national median, while nondepository lenders sit at $165,210, $1,360 under it. Local government is at the other end, with 23,920 managers at $129,110, $37,460 below it.

The $94,750 spread between the highest and lowest of these industries is not far below the $108,490 gap between the highest-paid and lowest-paid states above. BLS's broader grouping shows the same mix of employers: finance and insurance employs 32 percent of financial managers, professional, scientific, and technical services 14 percent, and management of companies 10 percent.^[5] For pay, the industry matters about as much as the city, and a move from a bank branch to an investment firm changes the benchmark more than a move between most states does.

BLS projects financial manager employment to rise from 879,700 in 2025 to 964,600 in 2035, a gain of 9.7 percent against 3.5 percent for all occupations, with about 65,600 openings a year once replacements for people who retire or change careers are counted.^[2] BLS expects the services financial managers provide, planning, directing, and coordinating investments, to stay in demand as the economy grows.^[5]

It singles out two specialties. Cash management and risk management are expected to be in especially high demand, and BLS says banks are expected to emphasize stability and managing risk over profits, which it expects to drive growth for risk managers.^[5] For a reader choosing a track, that makes risk and treasury work the better-supported bets in the federal outlook.

Two job counts appear on this page and measure different things. The wage survey counts 841,710 wage-and-salary jobs in May 2025; the projections count 879,700 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.

Chief executives are the top of the finance ladder in the federal data: a median of $213,990, $47,420 above financial managers, in an occupation of 204,350 jobs that BLS projects to grow only 3.2 percent.^[1][2] BLS says experienced financial managers may advance to chief financial officer, but the files behind this page do not break out CFO pay separately, so read that rung as a step toward the executive row rather than as a number.^[5] General and operations managers are the large, lower-paid generalist neighbor: 3,503,020 jobs at $105,770.^[1]

The feeder jobs pay far less. Financial and investment analysts earn a median of $102,740, budget analysts $91,640, and accountants and auditors $83,680.^[1] BLS names accountants and financial analysts, along with loan officers, auditors, and securities sales agents, as the usual earlier jobs for financial managers.^[5] The $63,830 gap between an analyst's median and a manager's is the reward for the years in between. Accountants and auditors hold by far the most jobs of the finance feeder roles, 1,449,500, with about 115,300 openings a year, and need no prior work experience, which is why the accounting route is the widest door into this career. Our financial manager career guide lays out the path, and the financial analyst salary guide covers the analyst rung.

Check an offer against three figures at once. Start with the state median, not the national one: $166,570 nationally, but $219,880 in New York and $153,280 in Florida. Then find the employer's industry in the list above, since the industry spread is wider than most state gaps. Finally, place the offer on the percentile ladder: $125,490 is the 25th percentile and $219,980 the 75th.^[1]

Two adjustments make the comparison fair. Compare base pay with base pay, because the survey leaves out nonproduction bonuses and benefits.^[6] And for a job in another state, use the cost-of-living figures above to compare in the same dollars. A title is a weak guide on its own: O*NET's reported titles for this occupation run from accounting supervisor and credit manager to financial reporting manager and branch manager, so the scope behind a title is what to compare.^[8] The headcount you supervise and the balance sheet you answer for explain more of the pay than the word "manager" does.

BLS does not require a certification for financial managers, and it does not publish pay by credential, so no federal figure shows what a CPA license or CFA charter adds.^[5] What the sources do show is what each takes. A CPA is licensed by a state board of accountancy; candidates show competence through education, the CPA exam, and experience, and must meet the requirements of the state where they want to practice.^[3] Those requirements vary by state, and some states require an ethics course or exam before licensure.^[9] The CFA Program is three exams, charter use requires at least 4,000 hours of relevant work experience over no fewer than 36 months, and CFA Institute puts the exam fees for the full program at USD 3,520 to 4,570.^[4]

The practical reading: the CPA license matters most for controller and accounting-side paths, the CFA charter for treasury, investment, and capital markets paths, and neither replaces the five years of experience BLS lists as typical for entry.^[2] The CFA vs CPA guide compares the two.

The largest lever in the federal data is the employer, covered in the industry section above. The second is scope: O*NET's core tasks for the occupation include overseeing the flow of cash or financial instruments and evaluating cost data to plan budgets, and its supplemental tasks include communicating with investors to raise capital and preparing financial or regulatory reports for boards.^[8] Owning cash, capital, or the books is what separates the upper part of the range from the middle, and BLS notes that experienced financial managers may advance to chief financial officer.^[5]

On degrees, BLS says financial managers typically need at least a bachelor's degree in business, economics, or a related field.^[5] It does not publish this occupation's pay by degree, so no federal figure shows what an MBA or a master's in finance adds; judge either on cost and on the roles it opens, and see our MBA vs master's in finance guide for the tradeoff. Credentials are covered in the section above. The one dependable move is time in the field: the five-year experience norm is what the top of this range rewards.^[2]