Recruiter salary in Durham-Chapel Hill, NC

Pay in Durham-Chapel Hill against North Carolina and the US

Recruiters at the 90th percentile earn $133,450, 2.6 times the 10th percentile; the US ratio is 2.7. The middle half of recruiters in Durham-Chapel Hill earns $64,200–$100,760. The mean ($88,260) is 9% over the median, so a group of high earners pulls the average up; price a typical hire from the median. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $36,560 wide, against $40,060 across North Carolina and $40,770 nationally: employers in Durham-Chapel Hill pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for a recruiter here

An offer at the 75th percentile instead of the median adds $19,660 a year in pay and about $25,368 in employer cost. Going down to the 25th percentile saves $16,900 in pay. These percentiles describe what people in the job earn locally, not experience levels, so place your offer by the tasks and seniority you need.

For scale, the US median of $75,940 falls between the 25th percentile and the median in Durham-Chapel Hill, and the North Carolina statewide median of $73,070 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in Durham-Chapel Hill

Pay is only part of it. Benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², which adds about $23,545 to the $81,100 median and brings it to $104,645 a year. Recruiting, equipment and office space come on top. Benefit levels vary by employer, so treat this as an estimate.

We place executive assistants, customer support and e-commerce staff today; for recruiters we answer within one business day whether we can help. Enter the monthly pay you have in mind to compare it with a local hire. The fee field shows our standard fee³; Deel's contractor plan is the default payroll tool⁴.

Other roles in Durham-Chapel Hill

Of the 17 roles we track in Durham-Chapel Hill, this one ranks #4 by median pay, between accountants ($85,090) and sales development representatives ($72,460). Project Coordinator is the highest at $104,870.

Measured against the US median, recruiters rank #2 of the 17 roles we track in Durham-Chapel Hill (+6.8%), between marketing specialists (+18.2%) and customer support specialists (+4.5%). The typical role here is at +0.2%, so, measured against the US, recruiters cost more in Durham-Chapel Hill than the area's general pay level would suggest. Recruiters hold 6.4% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Durham-Chapel Hill, 6.0% across North Carolina and 5.8% nationally. That is close to the national mix.

Other areas in North Carolina

Across the 18 areas of North Carolina with data for this job, the median runs from $61,660 in Rocky Mount to $81,100 in Durham-Chapel Hill, a gap of $19,440 a year. All 3 areas in North Carolina with more recruiters than Durham-Chapel Hill pay less, among them Charlotte-Concord, NC-SC ($78,330) and Raleigh-Cary, NC ($74,170).

Durham-Chapel Hill against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Durham-Chapel Hill is #61 of 521 US areas for this job. It is one of the larger markets for this job and one of the better-paying ones. Outside North Carolina, Kennewick-Richland and San Diego-Chula Vista pay just above Durham-Chapel Hill and Sacramento-Roseville and Amherst Town-Northampton just below. All four are within $330 a year of the median in Durham-Chapel Hill. Of the three markets with about as many recruiters, one pays more.

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How these pages are built: methodology and data sources. Last updated 2026-11-12.