Finance manager salary: what 408 US postings pay

Explore the Running a finance job search hub and the finance careers guide.

Search "finance manager salary" and the salary sites land anywhere from about $109,000 to $138,000.

They're all describing a title, and that title covers very different work.

So I read the postings. The tool I use for my own search pulled 4,549 unique US finance manager ads, and 408 pay ranges were left after I took out the ones with no range and collapsed the copies.

It sits in the finance job search guide.

How much does a finance manager make?

A US finance manager posting from a direct employer typically offered $109,875 to $150,332 a year, with a midpoint of $130,000. A senior finance manager ran $140,000 to $188,200, with a midpoint of $167,375. Each number is the median of what employers posted, base pay only.

92 of the 268 ranges started below $100,000, and 135 topped out above $150,000.

The middle half of the midpoints ran from $110,000 to $150,000, so two offers $40,000 apart can both be normal for this title.

If you're weighing one, the title alone won't tell you which end it belongs at.

Where the numbers come from

The numbers come from 4,549 unique US finance manager ads on Adzuna, a large index of US job ads, posted between July 31 and September 29, 2026. I only kept ranges the employer wrote into the ad, so you're looking at real budgets with no estimates mixed in.

• Titles and levels: finance manager, manager of finance, and finance and accounting manager. Senior, Sr., lead and principal count as senior. Directors, VPs, analysts and car dealership F&I roles are out.
• Other jobs out: 23 ads that said finance manager but weren't the seat, like attorneys, city managers and capital markets roles.
• Copies collapsed: one row per employer, level and range. One large employer posted 132 of the ranges. Collapsed, it's 12.
• Agencies split out: 19 of the 408. The headline numbers are direct employers only.
• Base only. Few ads state a bonus.

Two limits you should know.

1. It's mostly September. 376 of the 564 ranges before collapsing were posted that month.
2. States with pay posting laws show up more. New York and California, among others, require a range in the ad.

Which finance manager jobs pay more?

Finance manager jobs with FP&A, planning or strategic finance in the title pay the most. They posted a $148,085 midpoint, against $112,500 for titles with accounting or controller in them. The words after "finance manager" moved pay more than anything else in this data.

Each title went into the first group it matched, in this order: FP&A or strategy, accounting, commercial, operations. Everything else stayed "plain".

Same title, about $35,000 apart on the midpoint from the accounting end to the FP&A end.

That's a big part of why the salary sites disagree.

A finance manager who runs the ledger for a small company and one who owns the forecast for a business unit are paid like two different jobs, because they are.

I've said that for a small business, finance should be "less of a chore and more of a decision-making tool." The owner's effort shouldn't go into calculating cash flow. It should go into the question that comes after it, like whether we can afford this vendor, and for how long.

One seat produces the numbers. The other is paid to answer questions with them. When you read a posting, look for which one it wants.

The groups are small, though. 35 and 21 postings let you see a gap but are too few to price one offer, so read the plain row, 172 postings, as the market.

Senior FP&A or strategic finance titles posted a $175,900 midpoint, on 26 postings.

If that's where you're aiming, what an FP&A manager actually owns is in what an FP&A manager does.

What does a senior finance manager make?

A US senior finance manager posting from a direct employer typically ranged from $140,000 to $188,200, with a midpoint of $167,375. That's about 29 percent above the finance manager midpoint of $130,000, and only 15 of the 121 senior ranges started below $100,000.

Your years alone don't earn that step.

Early in FP&A, I was trained by a financial analyst who'd been there for years. About ten years later I was handing work off to another group, and I trained that same analyst.

Nobody's title told you who knew the work.

The senior step pays you for judging that, in the work and in people. Deciding who on your team is both able and willing to take on more is the hard part, and I don't always get it right. I wrote about that from the hiring side in what a financial analyst interview is really testing.

The first manager step, where people start asking you for decisions instead of answers, is on the FP&A salary page.

Do recruiters post higher finance manager pay?

Recruiters posted a little higher for finance managers, on a small sample. The 16 agency finance manager postings had a $138,750 midpoint, against $130,000 on 268 from direct employers. Across all levels the gap was smaller, $142,500 against $140,000, so treat it as a lean.

Agencies posted plain controller roles higher too, in controller salary by level.

When a recruiter brings you a range, ask two things. Did the range come from the company? Is it base only?

One more for you, before they send your resume anywhere. My rule is written permission for the named role only, and one listing per agency.

If you've already applied to that employer directly, an agency submission with a fee attached lands next to your free one. One agency is one database, so a second application there adds nothing.

Does finance manager pay change by state?

California pays finance managers the most, with a $162,500 midpoint across both levels on 77 postings. The other states with enough postings cluster closer than you'd think, from $129,300 in Washington to $150,000 in Virginia, and the gap grows as you move up to senior.

Another 73 postings didn't name a state, and their midpoint was $147,200.

In California, New York, Washington, Massachusetts and New Jersey together, finance manager postings had a $135,000 midpoint against $130,000 everywhere else. For senior finance managers it was $178,500 against $156,011.

Do finance managers make good money?

Yes, for a first management seat in finance. Direct-employer finance manager postings had a $130,000 midpoint, while the federal median financial manager wage was $166,570 for May 2025. That BLS group is broad, though. It includes controllers, treasurers and finance directors.

The BLS figure lands almost exactly on the senior finance manager midpoint here, $167,375, so don't hold your first manager offer up against it.

Two searches look like this one but aren't:

• Car dealership finance manager. That's F&I, arranging car loans and selling add-ons, usually on commission. I filtered it out of this data.
• Canada. This page is US only. Canadian manager ranges, in Canadian dollars, are on the FP&A salary page.

How to use a finance manager salary range

Read a finance manager salary range against the words in the title as well as the level. A plain finance manager posting sits around a $128,400 midpoint, an FP&A one near $148,085 and an accounting one near $112,500, so the same offer can look high for one seat and low for another.

How I use a posted range once I'm in the process, and why I'd almost never ask above it, is on how to use a posted range.

If you keep every range in one place as you apply, an offer has your own search to sit against. The free job application tracker has columns for both ends and works out the midpoint.

Same title on every ad. The pay follows the work.