In the United States, the median annual wage was $77,710 for buyers and purchasing agents and $148,080 for purchasing managers in May 2025.[1] In Canada, the national median was C$36.06 per hour for procurement and purchasing agents and officers and C$56.11 per hour for purchasing managers, using the 2023–2024 reference period published by Job Bank.[2, 3]
These figures describe broad government occupation groups, not every employer title. A procurement analyst, category manager, director, or CPO may map imperfectly—or not at all—to the groups below.
Official procurement pay benchmarks
| Market and occupation | Low | Median | High | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US buyers and purchasing agents | US$48,380 | US$77,710 | US$128,870 | Annual wage, May 2025 |
| US purchasing managers | US$92,490 | US$148,080 | US$223,280 | Annual wage, May 2025 |
| Canada procurement and purchasing agents and officers | C$24.68 | C$36.06 | C$57.69 | Hourly wage, 2023–2024 |
| Canada purchasing managers | C$39.34 | C$56.11 | C$86.54 | Hourly wage, 2023–2024 |
The low and high figures are not starting and maximum salaries for a specific job. For the US rows, they are the lowest and highest 10 percent of wages reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Canadian rows are Job Bank’s published low, median, and high hourly wages. Neither dataset includes enough detail to isolate every procurement title, category, employer size, bonus, equity award, or individual level.
Why a job title is not a salary band
Procurement compensation changes with decision authority, category complexity, business criticality, geographic scope, spend, supplier concentration, people leadership, and the design of variable pay. Two category managers can carry materially different jobs when one owns a local services category and the other owns a global direct material with constrained capacity.
| Variable | Question to ask |
|---|---|
| Decision authority | Can the role select suppliers and commit spend, or does it prepare analysis for another decision-maker? |
| Category and risk | Is the supply market technical, regulated, volatile, or operationally critical? |
| Geographic scope | Does the role execute locally or set strategy across regions and business units? |
| Leadership | Does the role manage people, policy, transformation, or an enterprise operating model? |
| Total compensation | What portion of pay is salary, bonus, profit sharing, pension, or equity? |
How to use these figures
- Match the work to the closest occupational definition before comparing the number.
- Use local state, metropolitan, provincial, or regional data when available.
- Keep US annual wages separate from Canadian hourly wages and currencies.
- Compare base pay and total compensation separately.
- Treat a benchmark as context for a role—not a promise of an individual offer.
Role-specific salary guides will be published only when the available evidence can separate title, level, location, scope, and compensation type responsibly.
Sources and limitations
Official occupational classifications are broader than many procurement job titles. Always read the source definition and reference period with the figure.
- Purchasing Managers, Buyers, and Purchasing AgentsUS Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook · Official occupational dataset · Retrieved September 3, 2026
- Procurement and purchasing agents and officers wagesGovernment of Canada Job Bank, NOC 12102 · Official occupational dataset · Retrieved September 3, 2026
- Purchasing managers wagesGovernment of Canada Job Bank, NOC 10012 · Official occupational dataset · Retrieved September 3, 2026
Page history
- Updated to the May 2025 US wage release and current Canadian Job Bank reference periods.
- First published.