Average Warehouse Manager Salary: What Will You Earn?

Being a warehouse manager can be a fulfilling and challenging role with a generous salary to match. If you enjoy problem-solving, have an eye for details and can motivate a team, you might find it’s a job you’re well-suited for.

Most warehouse managers already have several years of hands-on experience in operational warehouses and are able to bring their expertise to a more challenging management role. They tend to be process-driven and prioritize worker safety.

If that sounds like you, keep reading. We’ll explore the average warehouse manager salary in the US and the factors that can affect it. Whether you’re considering pursuing warehouse management as a career or are already negotiating salaries with potential employers, this article will help you understand what you can expect to earn.

What’s the Average Warehouse Manager Salary in the US?

Warehouse manager salaries vary based on a lot of factors: location, level of responsibility, number of years of experience, etc. It can be hard to predict exactly how much you could earn. However, by looking at the average warehouse manager, warehouse supervisor and operations manager salaries across the US, as well as current job listings, you can get an idea of what a reasonable warehouse manager salary offer is.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the average annual wage in the US for Warehousing and Storage Managers is $97,720. Unfortunately, however, the most recent BLS data is from May 2020. The economy and the jobs market have seen dramatic disruptions since then.

For insights into the current job market, we can look at online, self-reported data. Most — but not all — of these sources give lower average salaries than BLS.

Payscale, for example, calculates that 80% of warehouse managers earn between $32,000 and $76,000 a year, with a median wage of $55,959. Indeed calculates a similar salary of $58,860, based on 6,800 reported salaries from the last year.

Although these figures are significantly lower than the BLS’s average, that doesn’t mean that either source is incorrect. Indeed and Payscale get their data from users who visit their website and voluntarily state their salary. This could mean they attract warehouse managers on lower salaries who are looking for their next step up on the career ladder.

Job listings can also give insights into how much you can expect to earn, although these are more likely to fluctuate based on market demand. On Indeed, for example, warehouse manager job listings currently state expected salaries from around $55,000 up to $140,000 a year. This is also more in line with the BLS’ median rate of $97,720.

Of course, despite all this data, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be offered $97,000 a year, or $140,000 a year, or even $55,000 a year. There are many variables that can affect a warehouse manager’s salary.

What Factors Affect Warehouse Managers’ Salaries?

The salary you can expect to achieve as a warehouse manager will depend on:

- Degree of Seniority

Your job title and responsibilities will affect the salary you can command. A regional manager in charge of multiple large warehouses will naturally earn more than the assistant manager of a small warehouse.

Bluecart found that while the average warehouse manager salary was (according to their dataset) $53,500, warehouse operations managers earned $73,600 on average — a 140% increase on the average salary. A general warehouse manager, meanwhile, could expect to earn $67,550, while working in a small warehouse generally meant earning $5,000–$10,000 less.

- Location

Salary.com found that warehouse managers in Los Angeles earned $100,084 a year — but that dropped to $82,732 in Topeka, Kansas.

It’s important to note that their dataset points to significantly higher earnings than most other websites relying on self-reported salaries, bringing it closer to the BLS’s average salary. On average, they found that the average warehouse manager earned $88,493 a year. That makes the Los Angeles salary 12% higher than the national average, while the Topeka salary is roughly 7% lower.

That said, when it comes to location-based salary differences, more isn’t always better. You’ll also want to consider the cost of living, how far you live from the warehouse and if you like the location.

- Years of Experience

According to Payscale’s data, a first-time warehouse manager with less than a year’s experience earns on average $46,486. Once you’ve got at least a year under your belt, however, you could expect to earn over $50,000. This adds up to a salary increase of more than 10%.

Late-career warehouse managers, meanwhile, earned an average of $64,879. It’s worth remembering that Payscale’s dataset skewed low, but in terms of percentages, that’s still a 140% increase on a new warehouse manager’s salary.

Of course, it’s not just about the number of years you’ve worked. It’s also about what you’ve achieved in that time and how well you present that on your resume and in your interview.

- The Company

Don’t underestimate how much warehouse manager salaries can vary according to the company. For example, Bluecart found that the average Amazon warehouse manager salary was $45,862. Meanwhile, at Aldi, warehouse manager salaries averaged $72,889.

- Your Negotiation Skills

This is the hardest factor to quantify, and yet it’s also often the most important. Depending on how you present your case, the rapport you build with your boss and — particularly for new starters — your resume, you may be able to significantly increase your salary offer. Even if you aren’t able to increase your salary as much as you would like, you may be able to improve your benefits package. Read our blog post on negotiating a higher salary for more tips on this.

Start Salary Negotiations on the Right Foot with a Professional Resume

Earning a competitive salary as a warehouse manager starts with a well-written resume. It’s what will get you invited to job interviews, and it’s often the last thing a recruiter or prospective employer will review before making a job and salary offer.

Your resume should be targeted to the company and industry in question, as well as your background and experiences. Plus, it needs an easy-to-read layout and structure, suitable for machine-readers as well as human recruiters.

At Rocket Resume, we’ve got dozens of warehouse manager resume templates that will help you capture an interviewer’s attention. Each one is ATS-optimized, and they come with recruiter-validated phrasing suggestions and skills specific to warehouse management. Plus, with our resume builder, adapting it to your background is quick and easy. It takes just 10 minutes to create.

Build your resume today, so you can find the warehouse manager role you’re looking for.