For personal financial advisors, a small group of U.S. states combine top-quartile average salaries despite bottom-quartile state-wide assets under management, a mix that can complicate both hiring and growth strategy for RIAs. These are markets where financial advisor salaries are high, even though the state-level asset pool is relatively shallow.
Drawing on the Wealth Management Industry Annual Salaries dashboard, the latest data suggests that “cost to hire” and “capacity to gather” do not always move together, particularly outside the largest coastal wealth hubs.
THE HIGH-SALARY/LOW-AUM QUADRANT — WHO QUALIFIES, AND HOW EXTREME IT GETS
Personal financial advisors are those classified by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as helping individuals manage their money and plan for their financial future, whose numerous roles include financial planners, estate planning specialists, and private wealth advisors. Across the U.S. in 2025, their salaries in these roles averaged $94,800.
The highest paid 25% of personal financial advisors earned $112,411. Meanwhile, states with lowest 25% of assets under management oversaw no more than $42.31 billion state-wide.
Just four states saw personal financial advisors earn the nation's leading salaries among its scantest AUM environments.
North Dakota is the most striking outlier: There, personal financial advisors earn an average of, $134,411.8, while the state has just $1.9 billion in total AUM. Hawaii also qualifies at $117,647.1 average salary and $4.69 billion AUM, pairing comparatively high pay with a very small state-level asset base.
Two smaller Northeast markets round out the quadrant. New Hampshire qualifies at $115,235.3 with $25 billion, while Rhode Island qualifies at $113,000 with $18.47 billion.
For context, the median state sits far higher on assets than this low-AUM quartile, with a median total AUM of $189.39 billion and a median salary of $104,823.5.
HOW TO USE THIS DATA
ABOUT THE WEALTH MANAGEMENT INDUSTRY ANNUAL SALARIES DASHBOARD
“It’s time for an economic reset,” wrote the California governor, in a post on X.
Masterworks was launched in 2017 but its RIA, Masterworks Advisers, is just three years old.
One 2017 form, no broker license, and a $42 million gap they say surfaced on a webinar.
Fewer than half of Americans in their peak earning years feel on track for retirement, while many say limited financial knowledge and access to professional guidance are holding them back.
Meanwhile, Wells Fargo hauled advisors overseeing $825 million in the West Coast, while Wedbush has welcomed a seasoned professional from Stifel in California.
Dan Biagini of American Equity says the steady decline of pensions, longer lifespans and a reset in interest rates are rewriting how advisors build retirement income
Direct indexing is on pace to outgrow ETFs and mutual funds. Northern Trust's Ken Lassner explains why the advisors who get it wish they had started sooner.
