Career Explorer Sales
Changing shape
Retail salespersons
Sell merchandise, such as furniture, motor vehicles, appliances, or apparel to consumers.
Among the careers AI is changing fastest: more resilient than 15% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is high (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it very high), and US jobs are projected to change by -0.3% by 2035, expected to shrink. The work leans on emotional intelligence.
AI can do many of the tasks, and hiring is expected to grow slower than average or to shrink. The job is likely to change, so build the human parts of it.
- Median pay (2025)
- $35,410
- Job growth to 2035
- -0.3%
- Openings a year
- 521,000
- People doing it (2025)
- 4.0 million
- Usual route in
- No formal credential, then short on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Advise others on products or services
- Provide general assistance to others, such as customers, patrons, or motorists
- Determine values or prices of goods or services
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Collect data about consumer needs or opinions
- Maintain sales or financial records
- Monitor resources or inventories
What the work looks like
- Greet customers and ascertain what each customer wants or needs.
- Recommend, select, and help locate or obtain merchandise based on customer needs and desires.
- Maintain records related to sales.
- Compute sales prices, total purchases, and receive and process cash or credit payment.
- Prepare merchandise for purchase or rental.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- More of these jobs, as retail salespersons increasingly perform duties previously done by cashiers, such as processing transactions.
- Fewer of these jobs, as traditional department stores continue to lose business, resulting in less demand for retail salespersons.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Personal care and service workers, all otherHuman edge, growing, Index 77, +5.9%
- Entertainment attendants and related workers, all otherHuman edge, growing, Index 70, +4.0%
- Gambling service workers, all otherHuman edge, growing, Index 69, +4.2%
- Parts salespersonsChanging shape, Index 49, +3.0%
Also known as: Sales Associate, Sales Clerk, Sales Consultant, Sales Person, Car Salesman, Customer Assistant, Retail Salesperson, Sales Representative.
Is this career on your child's list?
Build a free Career Playbook matched to your child, or get a 90-day Action Plan with dated next steps, written for your child by name.
Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.