$Who Earns What

How much does a salesperson make in Japan?

Other Sales Workers, NEC

Answer: The average salesperson in Japan makes $44,047 (¥6.61M) a year (monthly pay × 12 plus bonus, 2025, Japan's Basic Survey on Wage Structure).

Average yearly pay of people doing this job in Japan
$44,047 (¥6.61M)

Monthly pay $2,841 × 12 + bonus $9,959. Average age 42.4; about 907,000 people work in this job. Well above the Japan-wide average ($33,720).

Salesperson pay in Japan (2025, averages by company size and sex)

Salesperson pay in Japan (2025, averages by company size and sex) — Data: MHLW Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025
Company sizeEveryoneMenWomenAge
Any size$44,047$45,932$36,84142.4
Big company$52,184$55,758$42,11242.4
Mid-size$40,880$42,772$32,73041.3
Small company$36,827$37,899$31,07343.8

Why does pay differ?

In Japan, sales pay can differ with experience, employer size and type, location, and hours worked. Sales results and specialist knowledge may matter too, and some fields value extra licenses even though sales as a whole has no single required license.

What if you were…

In Japan, age and company size matter most

Pick a company size, sex or age to see that group's average here.

How it changes with age

Tap an age to update the number above (Any company size, men and women combined)

How it changes with company size

Any size$44,047
Big company$52,184
Mid-size$40,880
Small company$36,827
Men$45,932
Women$36,841

What does a salesperson do?

What's a typical day like?

Daily work varies by field: a salesperson may review customer notes, meet clients, hear their needs, and suggest a product or solution. Back at work, they write a proposal or report, share updates with teammates, and plan the next visit.

How to get this job

In Japan, sales jobs often have no required degree or license, though university graduates are common in trading-company sales. New graduates often start after school in their late teens or early twenties, then learn through company training and on-the-job coaching.

Did you know?

Japanese trading-company sales can involve products as different as mineral water and communications satellites.

What about the US?

Nearly the same job
Salesperson (average)
$44,047
US
Sales representative (typical)
$69,990

Japan's figure is the average and the US figure is the median. Prices and exchange rates matter too, so it's a rough comparison.

Similar jobs

Office, sales and retail jobs

Earn more in the same field

Office, sales and retail jobs that pay a bit more

Sources and data

Source: MHLW Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025 (regular workers, by occupation) (e-Stat). Yearly pay = monthly contractual cash earnings × 12 + annual bonus. Averages for regular workers at firms with 10+ employees. Public employees (teachers, police, firefighters) and company executives are not in this survey. e-stat.go.jp

Pages used for the text

Data: MHLW Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025 · 1 USD = 150 JPY