Trade Specialist Salary in the United States

How much does a Trade Specialist make in the United States?

As of September 01, 2026, the average salary for a Trade Specialist in the United States is $96,653 per year, which breaks down to an hourly rate of $46.

However, a Trade Specialist's salary can vary significantly. Here’s a look at the typical salary range:

  • Top Earners (90th percentile): $122,979
  • Majority Range (25th-75th percentile): $81,017 to $110,433
  • Entry-Level (10th percentile): $66,781

Key Factors That Influence Trade Specialist Salaries

A Trade Specialist's salary isn't a fixed number. It's shaped by several important factors. Below, we'll explore how your years of experience, geographic location, education and company size can directly affect your earning potential.

How Experience Level Affects Trade Specialist Salaries?

Experience is a primary driver of a Trade Specialist's salary. As you build your skills and take on more complex tasks, your compensation generally increases. Here's how the average salary grows at different career stages:

  • Entry-Level (less than 1 year): $90,366
  • Early Career (1-2 years): $90,845
  • Mid-Level (2-4 years): $96,652
  • Senior-Level (5-8 years): $102,327
  • Expert (over 8 years): $102,732
Levels Salary
Entry Level Trade Specialist$90,366
Intermediate Level Trade Specialist$90,845
Senior Level Trade Specialist$96,652
Specialist Level Trade Specialist$102,327
Expert Level Trade Specialist$102,732

Top Paying Cities for Trade Specialists

Salaries can also vary between different cities. Major metropolitan areas or cities with a high demand for technicians often offer more competitive pay. Here are a few examples of average annual salaries in different U.S. cities:

  • San Jose: $121,908
  • San Francisco: $120,573
  • Oakland: $118,032

What Skills Can Increase a Trade Specialist's Salary?

Demanded Skills for the Role:

  • International Trade (Mentioned in 7.53% Job Postings): Providing and conducting an exchange of goods and services between countries to drive opportunities for revenue growth and market competitiveness.
  • Carpentry (Mentioned in 2.74% Job Postings): Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters traditionally worked with natural wood and did the rougher work such as framing, but today many other materials are also used and sometimes the finer trades of cabinetmaking and furniture building are considered carpentry. In the United States, 98.5% of carpenters are male, and it was the fourth most male-dominated occupation in the country in 1999. In 2006 in the United States, there were about 1.5 million carpentry positions. Carpenters are usually the first tradesmen on a job and the last to leave. Carpenters normally framed post-and-beam buildings until the end of the 19th century; now this old fashioned carpentry is called timber framing. Carpenters learn this trade by being employed through an apprenticeship training—normally 4 years—and qualify by successfully completing that country's competence test in places such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia and South Africa. It is also common that the skill can be learned by gaining work experience other than a formal training program, which may be the case in many places.
  • Painting (Mentioned in 1.48% Job Postings): Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and airbrushes, can be used. The final work is also called a painting. Painting is an important form in the visual arts, bringing in elements such as drawing, gesture (as in gestural painting), composition, narration (as in narrative art), or abstraction (as in abstract art). Paintings can be naturalistic and representational (as in a still life or landscape painting), photographic, abstract, narrative, symbolistic (as in Symbolist art), emotive (as in Expressionism), or political in nature (as in Artivism). A portion of the history of painting in both Eastern and Western art is dominated by religious art. Examples of this kind of painting range from artwork depicting mythological figures on pottery, to Biblical scenes Sistine Chapel ceiling, to scenes from the life of Buddha or other images of Eastern religious origin.
Skills Demand Percentage
International Trade 7.53%
Carpentry 2.74%
Painting 1.48%

What skills can make your compensation higher?

Mastering certain specialized skills can lead to a significant increase in pay. Here are examples of skills and the potential impact they can have on a Trade Specialist's salary.

  • Influencing: Can increase your salary by up to 13%.
  • International Trade: Can increase your salary by up to 7%.
  • Analysis: Can increase your salary by up to 5%.
Skill Salary Salary % Increase
Influencing $109,217
13%
International Trade $103,418
7%
Analysis $101,485
5%

How Education impacts a Trade Specialist's Salary?

Your level of education can impact your salary potential. While many Trade Specialists enter the field with a Bachelor's Degree degree, higher education can lead to more specialized and higher-paying roles.

According to our 100% employer-reported salary data, the median salary for a Trade Specialist with a Bachelor's Degree is between $93,191 and $105,157).

Trade Specialist Salaries by Degree Level

Typical Education for Trade Specialist
Degree Level % of user with this level of education
No Diploma 10.5%
High School 10.5%
Associates 3.5%
Bachelors 47.4%
Masters 33.3%
Doctorate 5.3%

Trade Specialist Salary: Hourly Rate, Weekly Pay, and Monthly Pay

Understanding how a Trade Specialist's annual salary breaks down can help with budgeting. Below, you can see the average hourly rate, weekly pay, and monthly pay for this role. Use the buttons to switch between different pay periods.

Last Updated on September 01, 2026
$81,017
Average $96,653/year
$110,433
$6,751
Average $8,054/month
$9,203
$1,558
Average $1,859/week
$2,124
$39
Average $46/hour
$53
Annual Salary Monthly Pay Weekly Pay Hourly Wage
75th Percentile $110,433 $9,203 $2,124 $53
Average $96,653 $8,054 $1,859 $46
25th Percentile $81,017 $6,751 $1,558 $39

Most common benefits for Trade Specialist

  • Social Security
  • 401 (k)
  • Disability
  • Healthcare
  • Pension
  • Time Off (days)

Common company salaries for Trade Specialist

Here are companies hiring for Trade Specialist and their salaries, click below for more details.

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Where Does Our Salary Data Come From?

Salary.com provides salary estimates, histograms, trends, and comparisons using data from employer job postings and third-party sources.

We offer detailed salary information across multiple percentiles for your reference. (Click here to learn Why the Salary Midpoint Formula Is Crucial for Achieving Pay Equity.)

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