In the Grand Rapids metro the BLS counts 130 advertising sales agents; the median wage in the occupation is $62,140. Read on for the seat itself, the residual pay model, and the shape of the local business base.
This is a hunter role in Grand Rapids, MI: you generate your own prospects, hold the conversations, close the agreements and onboard the accounts to fulfillment. Work it from Grand Rapids or from anywhere else. The territory is what is protected, not the chair.
How the money works: 18% of every dollar of ad spend your accounts run, paid monthly for as long as they run and you maintain them. No base salary, no hourly, no draw, no ceiling.
The reps who do well here self-direct, prospect daily and think in terms of a book of business rather than a quota. The ones who struggle need a salary, assigned leads or a manager checking in daily. At $3,000 a month per account, each one is worth $540 a month to you; twenty of them, $10,800 a month, recurring.
By the Census count there are 27,591 establishments with payroll in Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI, a density of 23.7 per 1,000 people, 5 percent below the national figure. Home-services contractors (plumbing and HVAC, electrical, roofing, concrete, specialty trades, landscaping) number 1,380, a 5% share of all establishments, about the same as the US share; those trades are the steadiest buyers of search advertising. Counted by establishment, the top local trades are restaurants (1,765), physicians' offices (482) and landscaping companies (425). Where competition is thickest: concrete contractors, 1.5 times as common here as in the country at large. See the Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI market page for the complete table.
Read against the US, a location quotient of 0.4 means the occupation is thinner here than in the US workforce, which usually means many local businesses have never had a dedicated advertising rep. Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI employs 130 advertising sales agents, 0.2 per 1,000 jobs. The mean annual wage for the occupation here is $73,790 and the median $62,140; the national figures are $80,670 and $64,820, which puts the Grand Rapids metro 4 percent below the US median. Those are W2 figures for salaried and base-plus-commission sellers; the YelloPost seat is 100% commission and uncapped, so the BLS numbers are the floor the market already pays for this skill, not a ceiling.
| Role | Employment | Mean wage | Median wage | Local median vs US |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advertising sales agents 41-3011 | 130 | $73,790 | $62,140 | 4 percent below |
| Market research analysts and marketing specialists 13-1161 | 2,980 | $71,970 | $64,880 | 18 percent below |
| Web developers 15-1254 | 160 | $82,090 | $80,400 | 13 percent below |
| Wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives 41-4012 | 6,980 | $80,480 | $72,170 | about the same as |
Grand Rapids proper counts 198,535 residents with a median household income of $69,108, 17 percent below the metro as a whole. Homes carry a median value of $244,500 (14 percent below the metro figure) and 54% are owner-occupied. The city accounts for 17.1% of the metro population of 1.16 million. Among adults 25 and over, 54,241 (41.6%) finished a bachelor's degree or higher. Residents have a median age of 32.3. The civilian labor force is 111,747 people, 5,764 of them unemployed (5.2%). The city has 80,222 occupied homes, 43,351 of them owner-occupied and 36,871 rented. See also: Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI and Michigan.
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, metropolitan area Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI (SOC 41-3011, 13-1161, 15-1254, 41-4012). US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimates for Grand Rapids city and the Grand Rapids metro. County Business Patterns 2023. US comparison figures come from the same series. The commission terms are YelloPost's, not a government statistic.
Send your resume and a brief note about why you want to join YelloPost in Grand Rapids.
careers@yellopost.com · (916) 260-2570