Best States for Talent Agents and Business Managers: California Leads, Florida and New York Take Different Paths to the Top

Across the top 10 states in this ranking, LaborCove data shows distinct tradeoffs between overall Geography Score, median pay, and employment concentration. California leads the list with the highest Geography Score and the largest reported employment count among these states, while Florida posts a median salary slightly above California’s but ranks lower overall. New York stands out with the second-highest Geography Score and the second-largest employment count, even though its median salary sits below both the national median and the salaries reported for California and Florida. Several other states cluster around the national median salary, but with much smaller employment counts than California and New York. Colorado, Texas, New Jersey, New Hampshire, and Connecticut all have reported salaries near or just below the national figure, paired with modest employment counts that reflect a different scale of market presence. The national projected growth rate of 8.7% for this occupation provides context for these geographic results, but it applies to the occupation as a whole and does not indicate separate growth patterns for individual states. Overall, the ranking illustrates that LaborCove’s Geography Score does not simply mirror pay levels or employment size. Florida’s high median salary and relatively small employment base translate into a Geography Score that trails California and New York, while Michigan secures a top-five position on the strength of its score despite missing reported state employment data in this snapshot. Career decision-makers can use these contrasts to align state preferences with the specific mix of salary information, employment scale, and ranking that matters most to them.

At the national level, agents and business managers of artists, performers, and athletes have a median annual salary of $82,890. National employment stands at 12,620, providing a baseline against which state employment counts in this ranking can be viewed. The occupation carries a national projected employment growth rate of 8.7%. This figure supplies general context for how the occupation is expected to evolve across the U.S. as a whole. It is not a state forecast and should not be interpreted as a growth rate for any individual state in the ranking. Within this national backdrop, the top 10 states identified by LaborCove each show distinct combinations of median pay, employment scale, and Geography Score. The ranking highlights where this occupation currently appears more concentrated or better scored in relative terms, without forecasting future state-level changes.

California ranks #1 among the supplied states, with a LaborCove Geography Score of 87.40. This is the highest Geography Score in the top 10 list. The state’s median salary for this occupation is $98,110, which is above the national median of $82,890. California also has an employment count of 4,860 for agents and business managers of artists, performers, and athletes. This is the largest reported employment figure in the ranking and matches the stated largest employment market value of 4,860. In other words, California combines the top Geography Score in this list with the highest reported employment count and a median salary above the national benchmark. These data points show that California’s top-ranked position involves both scale and compensation. However, the Geography Score itself is a composite metric produced by LaborCove and should not be interpreted as a direct measure of job openings or hiring probability.

New York holds the #2 rank with a LaborCove Geography Score of 57.12 and an employment count of 2,660. This is the second-largest reported employment figure among the listed states. New York’s median annual salary of $79,620 is below the national median of $82,890, indicating that its strong ranking is not driven by pay alone. Florida ranks #3 with a Geography Score of 56.07. Florida’s median salary is $98,200, which is higher than both the national median of $82,890 and California’s median salary of $98,110 by a small margin. Florida’s reported employment count is 870, which is smaller than the counts for California and New York but still represents a meaningful presence in this ranking. Viewed together, these data underscore that high Geography Scores can arise from different numeric profiles. New York pairs a large employment count with a median salary slightly below the national figure, while Florida pairs a high median salary with a more modest employment count and a Geography Score that is close to, but lower than, New York’s.

Colorado, Michigan, Texas, New Jersey, New Hampshire, and Connecticut occupy ranks #4 through #8 and #10, with median salaries that cluster near the national median where data is supplied. Colorado’s median salary of $95,530, Texas’s $82,920, New Jersey’s $81,190, New Hampshire’s $81,690, and Connecticut’s $81,470 all sit within a relatively narrow band when compared with the national median of $82,890. Within this group, Colorado stands out with a Geography Score of 52.78 at rank #4, alongside a reported employment count of 80. Texas ranks #6 with a Geography Score of 43.45 and an employment count of 320. New Jersey and Connecticut both report employment counts of 170 with Geography Scores of 41.72 and 37.03 respectively, while New Hampshire reports an employment count of 40 and a Geography Score of 39.41. Michigan is ranked #5 with a Geography Score of 51.26 and a median salary of $82,440, but its state employment count is not supplied in this snapshot. This missing value limits direct employment-size comparisons between Michigan and other states, though Michigan’s position between Colorado and Texas in the ranking is clear from the Geography Scores.

Rounding out the top 10 are Massachusetts at rank #9 and Connecticut at rank #10. Massachusetts has a LaborCove Geography Score of 39.26 and a reported employment count of 80; its median salary is not supplied, which constrains pay comparisons involving Massachusetts. Connecticut, by contrast, has complete data across the supplied metrics: a median salary of $81,470, an employment count of 170, and a Geography Score of 37.03. Connecticut’s salary is slightly below the national median of $82,890, while its Geography Score places it just behind Massachusetts in this ranking. Because Massachusetts lacks a reported median salary in this dataset, comparisons between these two states must focus on Geography Score and employment only. On those metrics, Massachusetts ranks one position ahead of Connecticut with a marginally higher Geography Score, despite both reporting relatively small employment counts compared with California and New York.

LaborCove’s Best States results for agents and business managers of artists, performers, and athletes demonstrate that Geography Scores, salaries, and employment counts do not always move in lockstep. California shows a combination of the highest Geography Score, the largest reported employment count, and a median salary above the national figure, while New York and Florida reach the top three through different blends of pay and employment. For mid-ranked states, scores and salaries often converge near the national median, but employment counts vary materially from one state to another. Users can consider whether they place more weight on the higher salaries seen in states like California and Florida, on the larger employment counts observed in California and New York, or on the composite Geography Scores that underlie the ranking order. Because the 8.7% projected employment growth rate applies nationally rather than to specific states, this ranking should be viewed as a snapshot of current conditions rather than a state-by-state forecast. Combining these quantitative indicators with individual priorities can help structure a more informed discussion about where to focus geographic attention within this occupation.

LaborCove’s Best States ranking for agents and business managers of artists, performers, and athletes is based on structured labor-market data and the LaborCove Geography Score. For this article, national and state-level salaries and employment counts come from Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) observations with a reference period of May 2025. The report year 2026 reflects when this data is processed and published, not when it was observed. National projected employment growth of 8.7% is a separate occupational projection that applies to the United States as a whole, not to any individual state. The LaborCove Geography Score combines available geographic indicators into a single comparative value for each state. While the exact weighting of salary, employment, and other potential components is not detailed in this evidence, higher scores indicate stronger overall LaborCove performance for the occupation in that geography relative to others. Rankings in this article reflect the ordering of these scores among the supplied states. Users should interpret these results as one input into their planning, alongside personal, professional, and non-labor-market considerations that are not captured here. LaborCove’s data describes salaries, employment counts, rankings, and scores; it does not measure job openings, hiring probability, cost of living, or the quality of any particular role.