What procurement specialists are paid in 2026, and how much of the market says so
Two in three US procurement specialist postings never state pay. Of the 1,644 collected in 2026 to August 31, 605 stated a figure, and their coverage-adjusted median is $70,720, up 1.0 percent on last year. This page gives the quartiles, the three publishable levels and the method.
$70,720
National Median
Two in three procurement specialist jobs posted in the US this year do not say what they pay. Of the 1,644 postings collected between January 6 and August 31, 2026, 605 stated a figure. Their median, corrected for which states disclose, is $70,720 a year. The unadjusted median of the same postings is $73,192.
That is base pay as the employer wrote it, with no bonus and no equity in it. Half of the disclosing postings sit between $57,552 and $87,298, and posted pay is 1.0 percent above last year. This is the smallest sample of the four roles published in this batch, at 605 postings, and the page says where that matters.
The figures: what procurement specialist postings state
Two rows, because the second one is the one to quote. As posted is what the 605 disclosing postings say. Coverage-adjusted re-weights them so each state carries its share of all 1,644 collected postings rather than its share of the ones that disclosed. That correction moves the median down 3.4 percent, the largest of the four roles in this batch.
| Measure | As posted | Coverage-adjusted |
|---|---|---|
| 25th percentile | $60,000 | $57,552 |
| Median | $73,192 | $70,720 |
| 75th percentile | $90,000 | $87,298 |
Base pay, annualized, 605 US postings that stated pay, collected January 6 to August 31, 2026.
Only 36.8% of procurement specialist postings state pay
605 of the 1,644 collected postings carried a usable annual figure and 1,039 gave no pay information at all. Nothing was thrown out for quoting a shift rate or a foreign currency, which is unusual in this dataset and reflects a role that is salaried when it is priced at all. So every number on this page describes just over a third of the advertised market.
Which third can be measured rather than guessed at. In the thirteen states with pay-transparency laws in force, 53.9 percent of postings state pay, against 33.8 percent everywhere else, and the median role pays 10.1 percent more in those states. Re-weighting by state removes most of that pull, and here the correction is 3.4 percent, from $73,192 to $70,720.
If you are looking at a posting with no figure on it, what a DOE listing actually means covers the phrasings employers use instead of a number.
Posted pay is 1.0% higher than a year ago
The 2025 median was $72,500 across 1,612 disclosing postings, against $73,192 across 605 in 2026, which is a 1.0 percent rise and the reason the role carries a balanced label. One difference is worth stating rather than smoothing over: the 2025 window for this role runs January 1 to August 20, while the 2026 window runs to August 31. Every other role in this batch compares two windows that end in early September. So read the 1.0 percent as a comparison of two nearly identical windows, not of two identical ones.
At this sample size the direction is what holds, not the decimal. A 1.0 percent move on 605 postings is inside the range a different set of 605 postings would produce, so the honest reading is that procurement pay did not move much in a year, and the label says the same thing.
Posting counts are not part of this comparison. Volume on this pipeline swings by a factor of twenty between months, so the 1,612 and the 605 say nothing about how many procurement jobs exist. The medians are comparable. The counts are not.
Pay by level, on the postings that state one
The ladder below is built on the 172 postings that state a level, of which 168 sit in the three rungs that clear the 30-posting floor. The other 433 usable postings state none, and their median of $72,500 sits within 0.9 percent of the role median, so the headline figure on this page is mostly them. Read the ladder as a description of postings that name a rung, not as a description of the market.
Lead is not shown. It has 4 disclosing postings and PayScope does not publish a level median built on fewer than 30, so the ladder stops at senior rather than at the top of the career.
| Level | Postings | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile | Years in role |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry | 56 | $49,920 | $60,200 | $69,680 | 1 to 2 years |
| Mid | 38 | $61,000 | $70,000 | $85,000 | Not stated |
| Senior | 74 | $79,900 | $92,500 | $105,000 | 3 to 5 years |
This is the one clean ladder in the batch: each rung pays more than the one below it, and the steps are $9,800 and $22,500. Mid states no experience range because fewer than 30 of its postings gave one, and the gap is left as it is rather than filled from the rungs on either side.
The titles behind the role pull in both directions. Procurement agent postings state a median of $86,085 on 67 disclosing ads and purchasing agent $65,000 on 107, a spread of 32 percent between two titles that describe close to the same work. On a 605-posting sample that title mix moves the role median more than seniority does.
How these figures were produced
The source is PayScope's own collection of US job postings, deduplicated by posting id and filtered to the United States, covering January 6 to August 31, 2026. 1,644 postings matched the role and 605 stated a usable annual pay figure. Every figure on this page is base pay as the employer wrote it, with bonus, profit share and equity excluded.
Five posted titles map to this role:
- procurement specialist
- purchasing agent
- purchasing specialist
- procurement agent
- procurement buyer
August 31, 2026 is the cut-off applied to every figure on this page. It is a collection cut-off rather than a description of the market on that date, and the figures are regenerated monthly on this method.
One limit worth stating plainly. 605 postings is enough for a median and a quartile range and not enough to slice further, which is why this page has no state or city breakdown and no employer table. Use the figures to check an offer against the market, and treat the level rows as a description of 168 postings rather than of a career. Other roles are on the salary guide index.
Frequently asked questions
What is the median salary for a procurement specialist in the US?
$70,720 a year, coverage-adjusted, from 605 US job postings that stated pay and were collected between January 6 and August 31, 2026. The unadjusted median of the same postings is $73,192. Half of them sit between $57,552 and $87,298, and all figures are base pay as posted.
How many procurement specialist job postings state pay?
36.8 percent. Of 1,644 US postings collected in 2026 through August 31, 605 carried a usable pay figure and 1,039 carried none. Disclosure is higher in the thirteen states with pay-transparency laws in force, at 53.9 percent against 33.8 percent everywhere else.
What does a procurement specialist earn by experience level?
Entry postings state a median of $60,200 on 56 postings, mid $70,000 on 38, and senior $92,500 on 74, all collected to August 31, 2026. Lead is not published because only 4 postings stated it, which is below the 30-posting floor. Those 168 postings sit inside the 172 that name a level at all; the other 433 disclosing postings name none.
Are these procurement specialist figures base pay or total pay?
Base pay as the employer posted it, annualized. Bonus, profit share and equity are excluded. Where a posting quoted an hourly rate, the figure was annualized on a standard full-time year.
Has procurement specialist pay gone up in 2026?
Barely. The median posted base is $73,192 against $72,500 a year earlier, a rise of 1.0 percent. On a 605-posting sample that is small enough to read as flat, and the 2025 window for this role ends August 20 rather than early September, so the comparison is close to like for like rather than exactly so.