Sales rep turnover has no single published average: SDR attrition runs at a 40% median, middle half 21% to 57% (The Bridge Group, Feb 2025). US sales professionals’ turnover was 7.3% in Mercer’s 2025 survey (Mercer, Aug 2025).
The US quits rate was 2.1% in September 2026, 3.4 million quits (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Nov 2026). US quits have fallen since 2023 (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mar 2026). This page collects 45+ sales rep turnover statistics, checked in November 2026, each sourced to its original publisher and free to cite.
Key Sales Rep Turnover Statistics
Twelve numbers, one per category, each from its original publisher, with the role spread first.
| Category | Statistic | Source |
|---|---|---|
| SDR and BDR turnover | SDR attrition runs at a 40% median, middle half 21% to 57% | The Bridge Group, Feb 2025 |
| Account executive turnover | Median AE turnover is 30%, of which 11 points are voluntary quits | The Bridge Group, Mar 2024 |
| Sales professionals, US employers | US sales professionals’ turnover was 7.3% in Mercer’s 2025 survey | Mercer, Aug 2025 |
| Sales and marketing against other functions | Marketing and sales have the highest turnover of 14 functions, at 24% | Pave, May 2026, vendor data |
| All US employers, total separations | US employers’ total separations averaged 3.3% a month in 2025 | US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mar 2026 |
| Sales workers’ tenure | Sales workers’ median tenure with their employer is 3.3 years, against 4.1 for all workers | US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Sep 2026 |
| First-year share of turnover | Up to 40% of all employee turnover happens in the first year of employment | Work Institute, 2025 (month not stated on the PDF), vendor data |
| AE ramp time | Average AE ramp time is 6.2 months, a study high | The Bridge Group, Jun 2026 |
| Replacement cost as a share of pay | Replacing an employee costs about 33% of base pay, Work Institute estimates | Work Institute, 2025 (month not stated on the PDF), vendor data |
| Cost of one departure | Our calculation: 33% of pay is $18,150 for an SDR (base) and $66,000 for an AE (OTE) | Our calculation from Work Institute, 2025 (month not stated on the PDF) figures |
| AEs at quota | 48% of AEs reached annual quota in the 2026 edition, down from 51% in 2024 | The Bridge Group, Jun 2026 |
| Top reason for leaving | 19.2% of exited employees cited career as the reason in 2025 | Work Institute, 2026 (month not stated on the PDF) |
Every figure comes from its original publisher, was checked in November 2026 and dates from 2023 or later. Vendor data, estimates, small samples and our calculations are labelled in the Source column.
No source gives a sales manager turnover rate or a measured cost per sales rep. The cost row is our calculation from a general-workforce share of pay.
What Counts as a High Turnover Rate for Sales Reps?
Sales rep turnover is leavers divided by average headcount over 12 months, times 100, and by our judgment it is high above about 57% total. Sales turnover here means reps leaving, not sales revenue.
Total turnover counts every exit. Voluntary turnover counts only exits the employee chose. BLS counts quits as voluntary separations initiated by the employee (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Nov 2026).
SHRM: voluntary turnover is voluntary separations divided by average headcount, times 100 (SHRM, 2025 (month not stated on the PDF)).
A worked example, our calculation: 8 leavers from 25 average reps is 32% total turnover; the 5 who quit make 20% voluntary turnover.
| Band | Who sets the line | Benchmark | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low | Our judgment | Voluntary turnover at or under about 12% to 13% a year, the level of the median US employer | Our judgment, anchored on the 12% SHRM median (SHRM, 2025 (month not stated on the PDF)) and Mercer’s 13.0% average (Mercer, Aug 2025), no HR body publishes a band |
| Typical for quota-carrying reps | Our judgment | Total turnover of about 30% for AEs to 40% for SDRs a year, promotions included | Our judgment, from the Bridge Group’s AE (The Bridge Group, Mar 2024) and SDR (The Bridge Group, Feb 2025) medians, no HR body publishes a band |
| High | Our judgment | Total turnover above about 57% a year, or voluntary turnover above about 24% a year | Our judgment, from the top of the Bridge Group’s SDR middle range (The Bridge Group, Feb 2025) and the US quits pace (our calculation from BLS monthly quits, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mar 2026), no HR body publishes a band |
Takeaway: Compare like with like before calling a rate high: total with total, voluntary with voluntary, and promotions counted the way your source counts them.
The Numbers That Matter in 2026
Six questions follow, in the order a reader asks them: the rate, the comparison with other jobs, tenure, cost, reasons and the first year.
How Much Sales Attrition Happens Each Year
Turnover in sales has no single published average: estimates run from 7.3% for US sales professionals to 36% for reps who miss quota. They cover a job group, a function and a quota subgroup in different years, and attrition in sales counts promotions in some sources only.
| Firm | What it measures | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mercer | US sales professionals, a job group; the measure is not stated | US sales professionals’ turnover was 7.3% in Mercer’s 2025 survey | Mercer, Aug 2025 |
| Pave | Marketing and sales together, voluntary and involuntary exits, tech-skewed pay data | Marketing and sales have the highest turnover of 14 functions, at 24% | Pave, May 2026, vendor data |
| Ebsta | Only reps who missed quota, not all reps | Turnover among reps missing quota reached 36% in 2023 data | Ebsta, Feb 2024, vendor data |
Takeaway: Never average these estimates. Pick the one whose group and definition match your team, then compare it only with a rate measured the same way.
Is Sales a High Turnover Job?
Marketing and sales is the highest-turnover function in Pave’s data, at 24%. By our calculation it is not above the whole-economy pace.
| Measure | Statistic | Source |
|---|---|---|
| All US employers, total separations | US employers’ total separations averaged 3.3% a month in 2025 | US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mar 2026 |
| Professional and business services, total separations | Professional and business services ran 4.6% total separations a month in 2025 | US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mar 2026 |
| All US employers, annual equivalent of the monthly total separations and quits rates | Our calculation: total separations of 3.3% a month are about 40% a year; quits of 2.0% a month are about 24% | Our calculation from US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mar 2026 figures |
Takeaway: Put total separations beside total sales turnover, and voluntary quits beside voluntary quits. A sales rate set against the wrong all-industry measure points to the wrong conclusion.
Average Sales Rep Tenure: How Long Reps Stay
Sales and related workers have a median 3.3 years with their employer, against 4.1 years for all US workers. The 1.5 to 2 year figures that circulate measure time in a role, not time with an employer.
| Measure | Statistic | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Sales and related workers, time with employer | Sales workers’ median tenure with their employer is 3.3 years, against 4.1 for all workers | US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Sep 2026 |
| All US workers, time with employer | Median US worker tenure rose to 4.1 years in January 2026 from 3.9 in 2024 | US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Sep 2026 |
| SDRs, time in the role | Average SDR tenure was 1.9 years in 2024 data | The Bridge Group, Feb 2025 |
| SDRs and AEs at SaaS startups, time in the role | SDRs and AEs at SaaS startups average 1.5 to 2 years in role | GTMnow, Sep 2024, vendor data |
Takeaway: Time with an employer and time in a role are different measures. Quote the measure with the number.
The Cost of Sales Rep Turnover for One Departure
Replacing an employee costs about 33% of base pay by Work Institute’s estimate, which covers all employees. No source measures the cost per sales rep.
How much does it cost to hire a sales rep? Hiring is the smaller part of the bill. The table pairs the median cost-per-hire with our calculation of the quota capacity a 6.2-month ramp leaves unused.
| Cost part | Statistic | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Replacement as a share of base pay | Replacing an employee costs about 33% of base pay, Work Institute estimates | Work Institute, 2025 (month not stated on the PDF), vendor data |
| Hiring cost | Median cost-per-hire for nonexecutive roles was $1,200 in 2025 | SHRM, 2025 (month not stated on the PDF) |
| Time to fill | Median time to fill a nonexecutive role is 39 calendar days | SHRM, Jun 2026 |
| Ramp gap for one AE | Our calculation: a 6.2-month AE ramp leaves about $248,000 of quota capacity unused, assuming a linear ramp | Our calculation from The Bridge Group, Jun 2026 figures |
Takeaway: Budget for the ramp gap, not the hiring fee. By our calculation, unused quota capacity is the larger part of one departure’s cost.
Why Sales Reps Quit
Career leads general exit data at 19.2% of exits, and among surveyed revenue executives leadership and culture leads at 45%. We found no sales-only exit study.
| Reason or driver | Statistic | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Career | 19.2% of exited employees cited career as the reason in 2025 | Work Institute, 2026 (month not stated on the PDF) |
| Work-life balance | 12.4% of exits cite work-life balance, the second most cited reason | Work Institute, 2026 (month not stated on the PDF) |
| Management | 9.2% of exits cite management, the fourth most cited reason | Work Institute, 2026 (month not stated on the PDF) |
| Leadership and culture | 45% of surveyed revenue executives cite leadership and culture as a reason to move | Talentfoot, Jul 2026, vendor data |
| Onboarding quality | Rep turnover averages 50% with poor onboarding against 12% with excellent onboarding | RAIN Group, 2023 (month not stated on the PDF), small sample (n = 223) |
Takeaway: Onboarding quality and turnover move together in this small, self-rated survey. Treat it as a direction to test in your own exit data, not as proof of cause.
When New Reps Leave and How Ramp Time Plays In
As much as 40% of all employee turnover happens in the first year, a general-workforce figure. Ramp runs 3.0 months for SDRs against 6.2 months for AEs.
| Measure | Statistic | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Workers in their first year | 20.6% of US workers had a year or less with their current employer in January 2026 | US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Sep 2026 |
| SDR ramp | Average SDR ramp time is 3.0 months | The Bridge Group, Feb 2025 |
| AE ramp | Average AE ramp time is 6.2 months, a study high | The Bridge Group, Jun 2026 |
| Ramp for all sellers | Median new seller ramp is 3.0 months, mean 3.5 months | Sales Benchmark Index, Feb 2025, small sample (n = 134 US sales organizations) |
Takeaway: Ramp length rises with role complexity. Compare the ramp for your role, not an all-seller average, before judging how costly a first-year exit is.
Sales Rep Turnover Rate by Role
The sales rep turnover percentage splits into four role blocks, with figures for SDRs, account executives and field teams and none for sales managers. No source gives turnover by company size, and the industry cut is the BLS sector series in the sales comparison table.
- SDRs and BDRs: 40% median annual attrition, promotions included
- Account Executives: 30% median annual turnover
- Field Sales Reps: 41% of teams at 50% or more annual rep turnover
- Sales Managers: no sourced turnover rate
#1 SDRs and BDRs
Of 40% SDR attrition in 2024, 16 points were promotions and 11 points voluntary quits (The Bridge Group, Feb 2025).
- Median SDR on-target earnings are $80K, split $55K base and $25K variable (The Bridge Group, Feb 2025).
Takeaway: Promotions are counted inside the SDR figure, so check the promotion path and ramp before changing pay.
#2 Account Executives
Median AE quota is $960K, a 4.6x quota-to-OTE ratio per the Bridge Group (The Bridge Group, Jun 2026). In the 2026 edition, 48% of AEs reached that quota.
- Median AE on-target earnings are $200K, up from $190K in 2024 (The Bridge Group, Jun 2026).
- Our calculation from the Bridge Group’s 2024 AE report figures: voluntary quits were about 37% of AE turnover (The Bridge Group, Mar 2024).
Takeaway: Quota load is the lever to check before pay: when most AEs miss quota, the quota is the first suspect, not the rep.
#3 Field Sales Reps
Only 35% of field teams say 70%+ of reps consistently hit target (SPOTIO, Mar 2026, vendor data). 41% of field sales teams report rep turnover of 50% or more a year (SPOTIO, Mar 2026, vendor data). Of the 452 sales professionals surveyed, 301 tracked quota performance.
- 28% of surveyed field reps cite burnout or poor work-life balance as a reason good reps leave (SalesRabbit, Feb 2026, vendor data). These are views on why good reps leave, not exit data.
Takeaway: For field teams, start with territory size and quota fit before pay. Both figures are self-reported vendor survey answers, so read them as directional.
#4 Sales Managers
No source gives a sales manager turnover rate. Managers of all kinds have a median tenure of 6.1 years, sales workers 3.3 (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Sep 2026).
- The median US sales manager earned $148,270 in May 2025 (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Aug 2026). It covers sales managers in every industry, not B2B sales leaders only.
Takeaway: Our judgment: a manager’s weekly coaching cadence leaves with the manager, so write the cadence down now, before an exit.
What to Do If Your Turnover Looks Like This
Eight signals you can check in your own data, each tied to a stat on this page. They show where to start if you want to reduce sales rep turnover.
| Signal | What to do first | The stat behind it |
|---|---|---|
| Your annual turnover sits above the high band | Split last year’s leavers into quit, let go and promoted, then work the rate again on quits only | Of 40% SDR attrition in 2024, 16 points were promotions and 11 points voluntary quits (The Bridge Group, Feb 2025) |
| Most of your leavers go in their first year | Audit onboarding and the first 90 days before you touch pay, starting with the tenure at exit of your last 10 leavers | Up to 40% of all employee turnover happens in the first year of employment (Work Institute, 2025 (month not stated on the PDF), vendor data) |
| Your SDR turnover is more than 10 points above your AE turnover | Count how many SDR exits were promotions, then compare SDR quota attainment with the Bridge Group figure before you change SDR pay | 60% of SDRs were at quota, the lowest in the Bridge Group’s study (The Bridge Group, Feb 2025) |
| Fewer than half of your AEs hit quota | Review quota and territory design for the AEs who miss before you replace anyone | 48% of AEs reached annual quota in the 2026 edition, down from 51% in 2024 (The Bridge Group, Jun 2026) |
| Your reps say they rarely get coached | Book a weekly one-to-one coaching slot per rep and log it for a quarter | 38% of reps rarely or never receive coaching; 90% of leaders say they coach at least monthly (MySalesCoach and Aircall, Dec 2024, vendor data) |
| You cannot name a cost per departure | Multiply base pay (OTE if base pay is unknown) by the sourced share of pay and write down which pay figure you used | Our calculation: 33% of pay is $18,150 for an SDR (base) and $66,000 for an AE (OTE), applying the share from Work Institute, 2025 (month not stated on the PDF), vendor data |
| Top performers leave while the average rate looks fine | Track regretted exits, and who was approached by recruiters, apart from the overall rate | 41% of top-performing reps were approached about a new job several times in 2025 (SalesFuel, Nov 2025, vendor data) |
| Leavers name managers or commission errors | Audit commission disputes and manager one-to-ones before you assume pay is too low | Leaders estimate 9% of reps eventually quit over commission errors or disputes (QuotaPath, Oct 2023, vendor data) |
Worked example 1, SDR exits: Our calculation: promotions were 40% of SDR exits, voluntary quits 27.5%.
Worked example 2, one team’s year: Our calculation: 3 AE exits from a team of 10 cost about $198,000 at 33% of OTE.
The first example divides each part of the Bridge Group’s 40% SDR split (11 voluntary, 13 involuntary, 16 promotions) by 40. The second multiplies leavers by 33% of on-target earnings, since AE base pay is not sourced, which overstates a base-pay cost.
Sales Attrition Stats You’ll See Quoted That Don’t Hold Up
Eight figures circulate on ranking pages and in AI answers, each with the trail we found.
| The statistic | Where it circulates | What the trail shows |
|---|---|---|
| “The average sales turnover rate is 35%, compared to 13% for all other industries (nearly triple)” | xactlycorp.com, zyverno.app, mapmycustomers.com, crunchbase.com blog, AI Overview (5 or more pages) | Xactly (2022) credits HubSpot, whose page now redirects to its blog home. The archived copy links 35% to a December 2017 LinkedIn post quoting a Bridge Group SaaS figure of 34%, and 13% to unprinted 2016 chart values. Both date from 2016 to 2017, with no stated definition. |
| “Average annual cross-industry sales rep turnover for B2B sales is 13.9%; best practice is about eight percent; below 5% or above 20% needs a look” | alexandergroup.com, ecanvasser.com | The Alexander Group page prints 13.9%, voluntary and involuntary combined, but names no survey, sample or year, links no outside source and is dated 2014. Its 2025 Sales Pulse Survey and 2016 case study do not hold the figure. Unsourced, 2014 at best. |
| “Estimates of annual turnover among U.S. salespeople run as high as 27%, twice the rate in the overall labor force” and “up to three times as high” | hbr.org, recruitingnewsnetwork.com, integritysolutions.com, xactlycorp.com | HBR (July 2017) states the 27% with no study or data provider, and Cangrade (2023) cites HBR. The three-times claim names no source and matches the 35% against 13% ratio in the first row, so it inherits the same 2016 to 2017 origin. |
| “Average sales rep tenure is 18 months” and “95% of salespeople quit within 18 months” | xactlycorp.com, zyverno.app, ebsta.com, LinkedIn post, Reddit searches | Xactly cites HubSpot, which cites a 2018 Bridge Group report giving 1.5 years as average SDR tenure. That is an SDR figure from 2018, not all reps. The current Bridge Group figure is 1.9 years for SDRs. No source for the 95% figure turned up. |
| “Replacing a sales rep costs $115,000” | zyverno.app, thejasonforrest.com, AI Overview, Maestro Learning, Ebsta | Maestro Learning (2017) and Performio (2023) give $29,159 to hire, $36,290 to train and $49,508 in lost sales, a $114,957 total credited to a DePaul University study reported in 2012. Later sources say it was never re-run. HBR (2017) does not contain it, and no primary copy turned up. |
| “Replacing a salesperson costs about 1.5 times annual salary”, with AI Overview giving “1.5 to 2x” and Dealhub “up to 200%” | integritysolutions.com, AI Overview, dealhub.io | Integrity names no source. The nearest published origin is Gallup’s range for all employees, one-half to two times annual salary, built on the 2017 BLS turnover rate. No source gives a 1.5x point estimate for sales reps. |
| “Filling a B2B sales position takes on average 60 days”, with Zyverno giving “45 to 60 days” | xactlycorp.com, zyverno.app | The Sciolytix and SellingPower State of Sales Hiring release names a survey but holds no 60-day figure, sample or date, and Zyverno names no source. Undated and unsupported. The current SHRM figure is 39 calendar days for nonexecutive positions in 2026. |
| “SDR 40 to 50%, inside sales 30 to 35%, field AE 25 to 30%, enterprise AE 20 to 25%, sales manager 20 to 25% annual turnover” | zyverno.app chart caption, Google AI Overview | Zyverno labels it Xactly 2025 with no link. Xactly’s turnover blog has no role table and its data is from 2021 to 2022, and its 2026 reports hold none by role. Only the SDR range overlaps a measured figure, the Bridge Group’s 40% median for 2024. |
What the 2026 Numbers Say About Rep Turnover
Three findings hold across the sources. The average hides a wide range, and the role cut matters more than any single rate. Cost per departure is driven by ramp and lost quota, by our calculation. Exits are weighted toward the first year, and most recorded exit reasons are classed as preventable.
How many of your last 10 leavers left within their first year?
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is the Average Sales Rep Turnover Rate?
US quits fell from 44.2 million in 2023 to 38.0 million in 2025 (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mar 2026). No source publishes one average for sales reps. Role medians are 30% for AEs and 40% for SDRs. Promotions count as exits in the SDR figure, so check how your source counts them.
Is 20% Employee Turnover High?
US employers averaged 13.0% voluntary turnover in Mercer’s 2025 survey (Mercer, Aug 2025), down from 17.3% in the 2023 survey. Our judgment: 20% voluntary turnover is high, while 20% total turnover sits below the SDR and AE medians. Split leavers into quits, layoffs and promotions before you label a rate high.
Is 5% a Good Turnover Rate?
The US quits rate averaged 2.0% a month in 2025, down from 2.4% in 2023 (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mar 2026). Our judgment: 5% a year is below every annual turnover figure on this page, the lowest being Mercer’s 7.3% for US sales professionals. A rate that low deserves a check for undercounting. Promotions, transfers and contractors are the exits most often left out of the count.
What Jobs Have the Worst Turnover Rate?
Leisure and hospitality lost 5.6% of staff a month in 2025, government 1.5% (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mar 2026). These are industries, not jobs, because the BLS survey has no cut by occupation, so no source ranks jobs by turnover. A sector’s rate says little about one role inside it, so use the role rows when you benchmark a sales team.
Does Hiring Faster Reduce the Cost of Turnover?
Our calculation: an AE seat open 39 days leaves about $102,575 of quota uncovered, per The Bridge Group, Jun 2026. It uses the 39-day median time to fill for nonexecutive roles and the median AE quota. That is quota capacity, not lost revenue, and no source ties hiring speed to total turnover cost. Our judgment: a rushed hire who leaves in year one adds another ramp.
Is It True 95% of Salespeople Quit Within 18 Months?
SDRs who reached AE did so after a median of 12 months in the role (Unify, Aug 2026, vendor data). Only SDRs who were promoted are counted, so it is not a quit rate. No study stands behind the 95% claim, and the 18-month tenure figure traces to an older SDR tenure report, not to all salespeople.
Why Do Sales Reps Quit?
Nearly three quarters (74.69%) of exit reasons are classed as preventable (Work Institute, 2026 (month not stated on the PDF)). The figure covers all employees, not sales reps, and Work Institute sets the classification, so read it as direction. Career, health and family, and work-life balance are among the categories it counts as preventable.
