The median sales development rep earns $80,000 in on-target earnings, split about $55,000 base and $25,000 variable, according to the Bridge Group’s 2025 SDR report of 351 B2B companies. That is what the rep sees. What the company pays is higher once you add benefits, tools, management, three months of ramp and a 40% median attrition rate.
Most salary pages are written for job seekers and stop at the pay range. This one is for the founder or sales leader deciding whether to hire, and what the hire will cost in year one.
How much does an SDR make?
Two sources are worth using, because they measure different things.
| Source | What it measures | Figure |
|---|---|---|
| Bridge Group, 2025 SDR Metrics | Survey of 351 B2B companies | Median OTE $80,000 (about $55,000 base and $25,000 variable), unchanged since 2022 |
| Levels.fyi | Self-reported pay, skewed to larger tech companies | Median total comp $90,000; 25th percentile $70,000; 75th $110,000; 90th $135,000 (October 2026) |
Use the Bridge Group figure for budgeting at a SaaS company. Use the Levels.fyi range to understand what candidates from large tech companies will expect. Salary aggregators that show a single city figure are useful for local benchmarks but rarely say how many data points sit behind the number.
The Bridge Group also notes that median SDR OTE has not moved since 2022, so a 2023 pay band is still close to market.
Base vs OTE: what the rep actually takes home
OTE assumes the rep hits 100% of quota. In the Bridge Group’s 2025 data, only 60% of SDRs did, the lowest share in the study’s history. A rep on a 68:32 split who reaches 70% of quota earns the full $55,000 base and part of the $25,000 variable, depending on how the plan pays below target.
For the hiring manager, this cuts both ways. Variable pay protects you when output is low. It also means a plan with an unreachable quota turns your $80,000 offer into a $60,000 job, and the rep leaves.
What is the fully loaded cost of an SDR?
Start with what the Bridge Group and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics publish, then add the costs every team has.
- Benefits and payroll costs. In June 2026, private industry employers paid an average of $32.82 an hour in wages and $14.07 in benefits, according to the BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation release. Benefits were 30% of total compensation, or about 43 cents on top of every dollar of wages.
- Ramp. Average SDR ramp is 3.0 months (Bridge Group), so the first quarter of pay buys little pipeline.
- Turnover. Median annual SDR attrition was 40% in 2024, with the middle half of companies between 21% and 57% (Bridge Group). Promotions accounted for 16 points of that, voluntary exits 11 and involuntary exits 13. Every departure restarts the ramp.
- Management. Median SDR manager OTE is $146,000 (Bridge Group), spread across however many reps one manager runs.
- Tools. Data, sequencing and a dialer. Apollo’s Professional plan, for example, is $79 per seat per month billed annually.
An illustrative year-one cost for one SDR
Illustrative, not a benchmark. The company is fictional and the manager span is an assumption.
Larkspur Analytics hires one SDR at the median OTE. Its sales manager runs a team of six reps.
| Cost line | How it is calculated | Year one |
|---|---|---|
| OTE | Bridge Group median | $80,000 |
| Benefits and payroll costs | $80,000 x 0.43 (BLS private industry ratio) | $34,400 |
| Manager share | $146,000 manager OTE / 6 reps | $24,300 |
| Tools | $79 x 12 (Apollo Professional, one seat) | $950 |
| Total | about $139,650 |
The rep produces little pipeline in the first three months. If they leave at the end of the year, which 40% median attrition makes a real possibility, the next hire starts the same ramp. Recruiting fees, laptops and onboarding time are not in the table, so the true figure is higher.
How does an in-house SDR compare with outsourcing and AI?
There are three ways to buy the same output: meetings with the right accounts.
| In-house SDR | Outsourced SDR agency | AI-run outbound with human review | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost structure | Salary, variable, benefits, tools, management | Monthly retainer, per meeting or per seat, set by each agency | Software or a service fee, plus a reviewer’s time |
| Time to first meetings | About 3 months of ramp (Bridge Group) | Weeks, once messaging and lists are set | Weeks, once lists and review rules are set |
| Who owns the knowledge | You, until the rep leaves | The agency | You, if prompts and lists live in your systems |
| Discovery calls | The SDR or an AE | Usually your AE | Your AE |
| Main risk | Turnover and ramp | Generic messaging sent under your name | Unchecked drafts that damage your domain |
An in-house rep makes sense when you need someone on the phone all day and you can hire, coach and keep them. An agency makes sense when you want meetings this quarter and accept less control over the message. AI-run outbound makes sense when most of the work is research and email, and someone on your side or a partner’s reviews every draft. Our AI BDR guide explains how that review loop works and where it breaks.
Growigami’s ABM and outbound service is the third model: each week we research your target accounts and draft a message for each contact, our team reviews the drafts before anything is sent, and replies reach your sellers the same day. Each process starts at $1,999 a month.
What should go into an SDR comp plan?
A plan the rep understands and can hit beats a generous plan they cannot. Four choices matter most:
- The split. The Bridge Group median is 68:32 base to variable. A higher variable share suits pure outbound roles with clear activity-to-meeting math. A higher base suits inbound roles where lead volume is outside the rep’s control.
- What variable pays on. Meetings held, meetings accepted by an AE, or pipeline created. Paying on meetings booked invites no-shows. Paying on pipeline created ties the rep to deal quality, but the rep waits longer to see the payout.
- Payout below and above target. Decide what 70% and 120% of quota pay before the first month, and write it down.
- The path out. Promotions made up 16 points of the 40% attrition rate in the Bridge Group data. A visible path to an account executive role is part of the compensation, even though it never shows up in the OTE.
For how the SDR and BDR roles differ in daily work, see our BDR vs SDR guide.
Frequently asked
How much does an SDR make in 2026?
The Bridge Group's 2025 report, based on 351 B2B companies, puts median SDR on-target earnings at $80,000, split 68:32 into about $55,000 base and $25,000 variable. Self-reported data on Levels.fyi, which leans toward larger tech companies, shows a median of $90,000 total compensation in October 2026.
What is the difference between SDR base salary and OTE?
Base is the fixed salary. OTE, on-target earnings, is base plus the variable pay a rep earns at 100% of quota. Only 60% of SDRs reached quota in the Bridge Group's 2025 data, so many reps earn less than their OTE.
Do BDRs earn more than SDRs?
The Bridge Group reports sales development reps as one group and does not split inbound SDRs from outbound BDRs. Titles vary by company, so compare the actual base, variable and quota in each offer rather than the title.
What is the fully loaded cost of an SDR?
More than the OTE. Using BLS data, benefits add about 43 cents for every dollar of wages in private industry. Add tools, a share of a manager, roughly three months of ramp and a 40% median annual attrition rate, and an $80,000 OTE rep often costs well over $110,000 a year before producing a full quota.
How much does an SDR manager make?
The Bridge Group's 2025 report puts median SDR manager OTE at $146,000, a director at $189,000 and a VP at $240,000.
Is outsourcing SDR work cheaper than hiring?
It can be, because you skip benefits, ramp and turnover, but agencies price very differently: per month, per meeting or per seat. Compare the cost per qualified meeting over six months, not the monthly fee. AI-run outbound with a human reviewer is a third option.
