Cost Per Hire by Industry 2026: Ten-Industry Estimates vs SHRM

Average cost per hire by industry

SHRM's 2025 national cost per hire for nonexecutive roles is $5,475 on average and $1,200 at the median. Its industry tables are members-only, so we scale the national figure by each industry's 2025 pay from BLS. On that wage-scaled model, cost per hire runs from about $3,400 in hospitality to $7,900 in tech and utilities at SHRM's average ($750 to $1,730 at its median). The table shows every input.

Cost per hire across eight industries, wage-scaled.

Each row is SHRM's 2025 national nonexecutive figure multiplied by the industry's pay relative to all private industry. Pay is BLS Current Employment Statistics (CES) average hourly earnings of all employees, 2025 annual average, against $36.45 an hour for total private. Example: tech is $5,475 x $52.61 / $36.45 = about $7,900.

Tech (Information sector)
BLS CES series: Information
Avg hourly pay, 2025: $52.61
vs all private: 1.44x
At SHRM average: $7,900
At SHRM median: $1,730

Energy and utilities
BLS CES series: Utilities
Avg hourly pay, 2025: $52.56
vs all private: 1.44x
At SHRM average: $7,900
At SHRM median: $1,730

Financial services
BLS CES series: Financial activities
Avg hourly pay, 2025: $47.60
vs all private: 1.31x
At SHRM average: $7,100
At SHRM median: $1,570

Professional services
BLS CES series: Professional and business services
Avg hourly pay, 2025: $44.30
vs all private: 1.22x
At SHRM average: $6,700
At SHRM median: $1,460

Healthcare
BLS CES series: Health care
Avg hourly pay, 2025: $38.95
vs all private: 1.07x
At SHRM average: $5,900
At SHRM median: $1,280

Manufacturing
BLS CES series: Manufacturing
Avg hourly pay, 2025: $35.44
vs all private: 0.97x
At SHRM average: $5,300
At SHRM median: $1,170

Retail
BLS CES series: Retail trade
Avg hourly pay, 2025: $25.46
vs all private: 0.70x
At SHRM average: $3,800
At SHRM median: $840

Hospitality
BLS CES series: Leisure and hospitality
Avg hourly pay, 2025: $22.85
vs all private: 0.63x
At SHRM average: $3,400
At SHRM median: $750

Industry	BLS CES series	Avg hourly pay, 2025	vs all private	At SHRM average	At SHRM median
Tech (Information sector)	Information	$52.61	1.44x	$7,900	$1,730
Energy and utilities	Utilities	$52.56	1.44x	$7,900	$1,730
Financial services	Financial activities	$47.60	1.31x	$7,100	$1,570
Professional services	Professional and business services	$44.30	1.22x	$6,700	$1,460
Healthcare	Health care	$38.95	1.07x	$5,900	$1,280
Manufacturing	Manufacturing	$35.44	0.97x	$5,300	$1,170
Retail	Retail trade	$25.46	0.70x	$3,800	$840
Hospitality	Leisure and hospitality	$22.85	0.63x	$3,400	$750

Sources: SHRM 2025 Recruiting benchmarking ($5,475 average, press release 15 October 2025; $1,200 median, 2025 Recruiting Executives Benchmarking data brief). BLS CES average hourly earnings, all employees, not seasonally adjusted, 2025 annual averages (download.bls.gov, read 1 November 2026). Rounded to the nearest hundred dollars (average) and ten dollars (median). Tech uses the BLS Information sector, the closest published series; it also covers publishing and telecoms.

What the model captures, and what it does not.

The one assumption is that cost per hire moves in proportion to pay. That holds for the two biggest cost lines: agency fees are charged as a percentage of first-year salary, and interviewer and recruiter time is costed at those people's own pay. It does not hold for job-board spend or ATS fees, which cost roughly the same in any industry.

The model does not see loop length, screening and licensing checks, candidate scarcity or hiring volume. Those are why a senior engineer or a physician costs far more than the industry row, and why a high-volume hourly hire costs less. For a figure built from your own roles, use the cost per hire calculator.

Education and nonprofits are not modelled: BLS CES does not publish earnings for private educational services, and nonprofit is a legal form across many industries, not an industry with its own pay series.

Technology and software

Wage-scaled CPH: $7,900

At median: $1,730

Engineering hires sit at the top of the industry because interview loops are long and are staffed by well-paid engineers, and because senior and specialist candidates are scarce, so more of them come through agencies charging a share of a high salary. The industry row covers every function in the sector, not just engineering.

Tech cost per hire, sub-segment by sub-segment →

Healthcare

Wage-scaled CPH: $5,900

At median: $1,280

Health care pay sits slightly above the private-industry average, so the model lands just above the national figure. The cost shape differs from other industries: licensing and credential verification and background screening add steps for clinical roles, and physician searches often go to retained firms.

Healthcare cost per hire, with credentialing costs →

Financial services

Wage-scaled CPH: $7,100

At median: $1,570

Higher salaries raise both interviewer time and any percentage-based agency fee. Regulated roles add registration and background checks, and senior banking and asset-management roles are often filled through retained search.

Financial services cost per hire, with compliance costs →

Manufacturing

Wage-scaled CPH: $5,300

At median: $1,170

Manufacturing pay is close to the private-industry average, so the model lands close to the national figure. Production and technician loops are short; safety checks, skills certification and the scarcity of skilled trades are what push individual hires higher.

Manufacturing cost per hire, with the skilled-trades premium →

Retail and hospitality

Wage-scaled CPH: $3,800 / $3,400

At median: $840 / $750

The lowest pay of the eight industries puts retail and hospitality at the bottom of the model. Loops are short and mostly run by store or site managers. The cost that matters is volume: high turnover means many hires a year, so annual recruiting spend can be large even when each hire is cheap.

Retail and hospitality cost per hire →

Energy and utilities

Wage-scaled CPH: $7,900

At median: $1,730

Utilities pay is among the highest of any industry, level with the Information sector. Clearance, licensing and specialist skills screening lengthen searches, and long vacancies make time to fill the cost to watch.

Energy and utilities cost per hire, with the time-to-fill tax →

Professional services

Wage-scaled CPH: $6,700

At median: $1,460

Law, accounting, consulting and agency work sit above the national figure on pay. Because the firm bills for its people's time, every day a fee-earning seat is open costs revenue, which is why firms invest in fast loops.

Professional services cost per hire, with the billable-vacancy math →

Education

Wage-scaled CPH: not modelled

Not modelled (no BLS CES earnings series for private educational services). Academic hiring windows, licensure and background clearance shape time to fill more than cost.

Education cost per hire, with the academic-calendar tax →

Nonprofit

Wage-scaled CPH: not modelled

Not modelled (nonprofit is a legal form, not a BLS industry). Lower salary budgets limit agency use, and mission-aligned networks supply candidates; leadership and fundraising roles are the exception.

Nonprofit cost per hire, and why the mission discount reverses at the top →

Small vs large organizations, from SHRM's 2025 data brief.

SHRM's public 2025 data brief breaks some recruiting metrics out by organization size (cost per hire by size is in the members-only report). Recruiter workload rises steeply with size, and extra-large organizations take longest to fill roles and fill more of them internally. 55 percent of organizations have dedicated in-house recruiters.

Small (2 to 99)
Requisitions per recruiter (median, per year): 6
Nonexecutive roles filled externally (median): 100%

Medium (100 to 499)
Requisitions per recruiter (median, per year): 22
Nonexecutive roles filled externally (median): 90%

Large (500 to 4,999)
Requisitions per recruiter (median, per year): 50
Nonexecutive roles filled externally (median): 80%

Extra-large (5,000+)
Requisitions per recruiter (median, per year): 60
Nonexecutive roles filled externally (median): 72%

All organizations
Requisitions per recruiter (median, per year): 20
Nonexecutive roles filled externally (median): Not split out

Organization size	Requisitions per recruiter (median, per year)	Nonexecutive roles filled externally (median)
Small (2 to 99)	6	100%
Medium (100 to 499)	22	90%
Large (500 to 4,999)	50	80%
Extra-large (5,000+)	60	72%
All organizations	20	Not split out

Source: SHRM, 2025 Recruiting Executives Benchmarking data brief (public PDF). Extra-large organizations reported 61 days to fill nonexecutive roles; SHRM's 2026 brief puts the national nonexecutive median at 39 days.

Run your own numbers.

Plug your own salaries and interview loop into the calculator for a company-specific estimate.

Run the calculator

Frequently asked questions

What is the average cost per hire by industry?

SHRM's openly published cost per hire is national: $5,475 average and $1,200 median for nonexecutive hires in its 2025 Recruiting benchmarking survey (2,371 members, January to March 2025). SHRM sells its industry breakouts to members, so this site does not quote an industry "average". Our wage-scaled model scales the national figure by each industry's pay (BLS CES 2025 average hourly earnings): at SHRM's average that gives about $3,400 in hospitality up to $7,900 in tech (Information sector) and utilities; at SHRM's median, $750 to $1,730. These are model outputs with visible inputs, not survey results.

Why does SHRM give two such different numbers, $5,475 and $1,200?

They are different statistics from the same 2025 survey. The $5,475 figure is the average (press release, 15 October 2025); the $1,200 figure is the median (2025 Recruiting Executives Benchmarking data brief). An average far above the median means a minority of organizations spend far more per hire than the typical one, which pulls the average up. Use the median to judge what is normal and the average to budget for a mix that includes agency hires.

Why would tech cost per hire be higher than retail?

Pay is the biggest single difference the model captures. BLS puts 2025 average hourly earnings at $52.61 in the Information sector against $25.46 in retail trade. Agency fees are charged as a percentage of salary and interviewer time is costed at the interviewers' own pay, so both rise with pay. The model does not capture loop length, screening requirements or candidate scarcity, which push engineering hires higher still; use the calculator to price your own loop.

Why are education and nonprofits not in the model?

BLS CES does not publish average hourly earnings for private educational services, and most education employment is in the public sector. Nonprofit is a legal form that spans many industries rather than a BLS industry, so there is no pay series to scale by. For both, benchmark against SHRM's national figures and price your own roles in the calculator.

Does company size matter more than industry?

SHRM's 2025 data brief shows size changes how recruiting is organized. Recruiters at small organizations (2 to 99 employees) handle a median of 6 requisitions a year, against 50 at large (500 to 4,999) and 60 at extra-large (5,000+) organizations. Extra-large organizations reported 61 days to fill nonexecutive roles, against a national median of 39 days in SHRM's 2026 brief, and fill more roles internally (72 percent of nonexecutive roles filled externally, against 100 percent at small organizations).

Should I benchmark my company against an industry figure?

Only loosely. A national or industry figure mixes very different role levels, hiring channels and company sizes. The more useful comparison is your own cost per hire year on year, split by channel (agency, referral, direct) and by role level. Use the industry estimate as a sense-check, and the calculator for a figure built from your own salaries and loop.

Cost per hire by industry, 2026 benchmarks.