Recruiter salary in Wilmington, NC

Pay in Wilmington against North Carolina and the US

The middle half of recruiters in Wilmington earns $49,740–$81,220. The top tenth earns $108,180 or more, 2.6 times the bottom tenth, close to the US pattern of 2.7 times. The mean ($69,910) is 8% 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 $31,480 wide, against $40,060 across North Carolina and $40,770 nationally: employers in Wilmington pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for a recruiter here

The step from the 25th percentile to the median is $14,700 a year; from the median to the 75th it is $16,780, or about $21,652 once benefits are added. 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 median and the 75th percentile in Wilmington, and the North Carolina statewide median of $73,070 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in Wilmington

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 $18,708 to the $64,440 median and brings it to $83,148 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 Wilmington

Of the 17 roles we track in Wilmington, this one ranks #5 by median pay, between sales development representatives ($64,520) and executive assistants ($62,930). Project Coordinator is the highest at $89,120.

Measured against the US median, recruiters rank #16 of the 17 roles we track in Wilmington (-15.1%), between customer support specialists (-14.9%) and executive assistants (-17.8%). The typical role here is at -10.9%, so, measured against the US, recruiters cost less in Wilmington than the area's general pay level would suggest. Recruiters hold 4.3% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Wilmington, 6.0% across North Carolina and 5.8% nationally. The job is a smaller part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

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. Of the 10 areas in North Carolina with more recruiters than Wilmington, 3 pay less: the Central North Carolina nonmetro area ($61,780), the Western North Carolina nonmetro area ($63,710) and the Eastern North Carolina nonmetro area ($64,080).

Wilmington against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Wilmington is #146 of 521 US areas for this job. Both its size and its pay sit in the middle half of US areas. Outside North Carolina, Traverse City and Paducah pay just above Wilmington and Dubuque and Flint just below. All four are within $180 a year of the median in Wilmington. Of the three markets with about as many recruiters, all three pay more.

Questions

Sources

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