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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Securities, Commodities, And Financial Services Sales Agents Salary: California vs New Jersey

Securities, Commodities, And Financial Services Sales Agents earn a median of $79,140 in California and $96,470 in New Jersey. That is a nominal gap of $17,330 (-18.0%), with New Jersey paying more before any cost-of-living adjustment.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2024 estimates. Cost-of-living adjustment uses BEA Regional Price Parities, most recent release.

$79,140
California median
$71,478 after COL
$96,470
New Jersey median
$88,663 after COL
-18.0%
Nominal gap
New Jersey leads
-19.4%
Adjusted gap
New Jersey leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, New Jersey pays $17,330 more per year than California for securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents, a gap of +18.0%.

After adjusting for cost of living, New Jersey still comes out ahead, with roughly $17,186 of extra purchasing power (+19.4% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Securities, Commodities, And Financial Services Sales Agents

California

Median salary
$79,140
Mean salary
$106,170
Employment
54,170
Location quotient
0.98
Jobs per 1,000
3.0
COL-adjusted median
$71,478
Regional Price Parity
110.7%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Securities, Commodities, And Financial Services Sales Agents page for California →

Securities, Commodities, And Financial Services Sales Agents

New Jersey

Median salary
$96,470
Mean salary
$117,720
Employment
16,940
Location quotient
1.30
Jobs per 1,000
4.0
COL-adjusted median
$88,663
Regional Price Parity
108.8%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Securities, Commodities, And Financial Services Sales Agents page for New Jersey →

Related pages

Keep digging into securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents from a different angle.

Common questions about this comparison

What does the cost-of-living adjustment actually do? +

It divides each location's nominal median wage by its Regional Price Parity (RPP), which measures how local prices compare to the national average (100 = national). A wage of $100,000 in an area with RPP 120 has the same purchasing power as roughly $83,000 nationally.

Why would the nominal and adjusted winners disagree? +

High-cost metros often pay higher salaries, but not by enough to fully offset the higher cost of housing, goods, and services. When that happens, the location with the lower nominal wage actually offers more real purchasing power.

What is a location quotient? +

The location quotient measures how concentrated an occupation is in a given area versus the national average. A value of 2.0 means the occupation is twice as common there as nationally. It is a signal of what a state specializes in.