Previously Sale was important as an office center for the Esso corporation but these operations were relocated around 1990, leaving only a Gas Processing facility in nearby Longford. In 1998 an explosion took place at this gas plant which killed two men and left much of Victoria, including the capital Melbourne, without adequate gas supplies for a period of two weeks.
Sale is also home to a large military air base. This air base (the East Sale Airbase) is home to the renowned RAAF aerobatic team, the Roulettes.
The town is mostly devoted to servicing the smaller farming communities in the surrounding area both through its large shopping area and three schools (Sale College (public), Sale Catholic College (private, Catholic) and St Anne's and Gippsland Grammar (private Anglican)). Sale is also home to the Sale Regional Art Gallery and Gippsland Base Hospital.