The stated cost of an in-house SDR in the US in 2026 is around $65,000 base plus $20,000 OTE. That is not what an SDR costs. Once you add tooling, management overhead, ramp time and expected turnover, the loaded cost lands closer to $170,000 per SDR per year — and that's before you calculate the opportunity cost of the seven months it typically takes to reach full productivity.
The line items nobody puts on the deck
- Tooling stack (sales engagement + data + LinkedIn Nav + call intelligence): $8,400 / year
- Sales operations time to keep them productive: 0.15 FTE — call it $22,000 / year
- Ramp cost — 5 to 7 months at reduced output: ~$40,000
- Turnover — median SDR tenure is 14 months, so a hire-and-replace cycle every 14 months costs another $25,000 amortised
- Manager time — 4 hours per SDR per week: ~$18,000 / year
What you get for the money
A well-run SDR in month 8 books between 8 and 14 qualified meetings per month. So the fully-loaded cost per qualified meeting sits between $1,000 and $1,700 — and only after you've absorbed a seven-month ramp.
The build-vs-buy math
An outsourced senior team like the Outbound Engine lands the first meeting inside 30 days, delivers similar meeting volumes from month one, and can be cancelled with 30 days' notice. The right answer depends on whether outbound is a core competency you're building — or a lever you're pulling for a specific outcome.