Supply Chain Careers
Every career guide, with the degree path into it.
Supply Chain Careers
Is Supply Chain Management A Good Career?
What the federal numbers say about pay, growth and openings across supply chain jobs, and what it takes to get in.
By the Supply Chain Degree Programs editorial team Updated
Is Supply Chain Management A Good Career? The Short Answer
On the federal numbers, it is a solid one. Supply chain work spans nine occupations that BLS tracks. Seven of the nine are projected to grow faster than the 3.5% BLS expects for all occupations over 2025-35, and together they are projected to have about 197,300 openings a year. Median pay runs from $52,260 to $148,080 depending on the job.
“Good” depends on what you want from a career, so this page sets out what can be measured: pay, growth, openings, and the education and experience it takes to get in. The rest is whether the work suits you, and the last section covers how to judge that.
What Supply Chain Jobs Pay
BLS publishes pay for occupations rather than job titles, and supply chain jobs fall across these nine, highest median first:
| Occupation | Median | Top 10% Earn Over | Growth | Openings A Year | Typical Entry Education |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Purchasing Managers | $148,080 | $223,280 | +4% | 6,400 | Bachelor's degree |
| Industrial Production Managers | $126,060 | $205,520 | +2.6% | 17,000 | Bachelor's degree |
| Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers | $107,230 | $194,900 | +6.1% | 18,300 | High school diploma or equivalent |
| Operations Research Analysts | $88,940 | $159,910 | +11.9% | 7,500 | Bachelor's degree |
| Logisticians | $82,320 | $133,160 | +17.6% | 26,600 | Bachelor's degree |
| Compliance Officers | $80,730 | $133,720 | +3.8% | 32,700 | Bachelor's degree |
| Buyers and Purchasing Agents | $77,710 | $128,870 | +6% | 47,200 | Bachelor's degree |
| Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks | $59,650 | $86,000 | -1.3% | 32,600 | High school diploma or equivalent |
| Cargo and Freight Agents | $52,260 | $79,810 | +6.2% | 9,000 | High school diploma or equivalent |
Pay: BLS OEWS, May 2025. Growth and openings: BLS projections, 2025-35. Entry education: BLS Employment Projections table 1.10.
The spread follows seniority more than field. The management occupations, purchasing managers, industrial production managers and transportation, storage and distribution managers, sit at the top, and BLS says each typically asks for 5 years or more of related experience. In the middle, operations research analysts, logisticians, compliance officers and buyers and purchasing agents typically need a bachelor’s degree and no prior experience, which makes them the jobs a new graduate can go for directly. The production, planning, and expediting clerks and cargo and freight agents typically need a high school diploma and no experience, and pay the least. At the top end, one in ten purchasing managers and industrial production managers earn more than $223,280 and $205,520 respectively.
Each figure is broken down by state, metro area and industry on its salary page. BLS publishes no separate wage for supply chain managers; it counts them in transportation, storage and distribution managers.
Growth And Openings
Logisticians are projected to grow fastest of the nine, by 17.6% over 2025-35, against 3.5% for all occupations. Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerksis projected to shrink, by 1.3%.
Growth is only part of where jobs come from. Openings also come from replacing people who retire or move to another occupation, and across these nine occupations BLS projects that replacement accounts for 93% of all openings. That is why an occupation with little growth can still post a large openings figure, and why the openings column is the better guide to how many jobs you are competing for.
What BLS Says Is Driving Demand
BLS publishes a short note on why it expects each occupation’s share of jobs to rise or fall in the industries that employ it. For five of the nine supply chain occupations it names a reason:
- Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers. Supply chain management grows more complex resulting in the need for enhanced integration of logistics with business systems and processes. Mergers reduce the number of transportation, storage, and distribution managers.
- Operations Research Analysts. Operations research analysts will be needed to analyze growing amounts of data and help businesses optimize and improve processes.
- Logisticians. The growth of e-commerce makes logistics more dynamic and complex. Expanded pipeline networks, more complex transportation schedules, and volatility in oil markets boost demand for logisticians in pipeline transportation. An increasingly globalized economy will continue to make logistics more dynamic and complex.
- Buyers and Purchasing Agents. Supply chains become more complex and additional service contracts are needed. New technology allows workers to be more efficient. In addition, the continued use of cooperative purchasing agreements in the public sector will allow localities to use fewer resources and staff to complete routine procurement functions.
- Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks. Productivity enhancements due to technology more than offset the increased demand for logistical services.
The pattern is consistent. Where the job is analysis and coordination, BLS expects demand to rise as supply chains grow more complex and global. Where the job is transactional, buying and processing paperwork, it expects technology to do more of the work and the share of jobs to fall. That is the practical answer to whether automation threatens the field: on BLS’s reading it presses on buyers and purchasing agents and production, planning, and expediting clerks, not on the analysis and coordination roles.
What It Takes To Get In
BLS gives a bachelor’s degree as the typical entry education for six of the nine occupations: purchasing managers, industrial production managers, operations research analysts, logisticians, compliance officers and buyers and purchasing agents. Of the rest, production, planning, and expediting clerks and cargo and freight agents ask only for a high school diploma, and for transportation, storage and distribution managers BLS lists a high school diploma plus 5 years or more of experience, so years on the job stand in for the degree. The management occupations with a degree requirement add years of experience on top of it.
So the route the entry requirements describe is a bachelor’s degree, a first job in one of the no-experience occupations, and a move into management once you have the years BLS says those roles ask for. A professional certification can show depth in one area along the way. The bachelor’s, master’s and MBA rankings list programs with tuition read from each school’s own page, and the certifications guide compares the four main credentials.
Whether A Supply Chain Management Career Suits You
The numbers can say a field pays and is hiring; they can’t say whether supply chain management is a good career for you in particular. The best check is the job itself. Each career guide sets out what the work involves day to day, using the tasks O*NET records for the occupation:
- Purchasing Managers: purchasing manager
- Industrial Production Managers: industrial production manager
- Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers: supply chain manager, warehouse manager and transportation manager
- Operations Research Analysts: operations research analyst
- Logisticians: logistician and supply chain analyst
- Compliance Officers: customs broker
- Buyers and Purchasing Agents: procurement specialist
- Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks: production planner
- Cargo and Freight Agents: freight broker and freight forwarder
If the analysis and planning in those descriptions appeal to you, the numbers above say the field has room for you. If the physical side of moving goods appeals more, the logistics vs. supply chain guide explains where that work sits.
FAQ
Is Supply Chain High Paying?
Across the nine BLS occupations behind supply chain work, median pay runs from $52,260 for cargo and freight agents to $148,080 for purchasing managers. The management occupations pay the most, and they typically ask for years of experience first.
Will Supply Chain Jobs Be Replaced By AI?
BLS doesn’t project AI on its own. Its projection notes do say new technology will reduce the share of jobs in buyers and purchasing agents and production, planning, and expediting clerks, while it expects demand for transportation, storage and distribution managers, operations research analysts, logisticians and buyers and purchasing agents to rise, for reasons that include more complex and more global supply chains.
Can You Make $200,000 In Supply Chain Management?
At the top of the field, yes. The 90th percentile of pay is $223,280 for purchasing managers and $205,520 for industrial production managers, meaning one in ten earns more. Those are management occupations, and BLS says they typically ask for 5 years or more of related experience.
Is A Supply Chain Management Degree Worth It?
BLS gives a bachelor’s degree as the typical entry education for six of the nine occupations. The two clerk and agent occupations typically need a high school diploma and are the lowest paid of the group. For transportation, storage and distribution managers, BLS lists a high school diploma plus 5 years or more of experience, so years on the job stand in for the degree. The rankings on this site list what each program costs, so you can set the price of a degree against those figures.
Keep Reading
Supply Chain Salaries
Pay for each occupation by state, metro area and industry.
Bachelor’s In Supply Chain Management, Ranked
Programs ranked on cost and graduation rate.
What Is Supply Chain Management?
The field in plain terms, and what you study.
Sources
- 1 BLS OEWS, May 2025: Purchasing Managers (SOC 11-3061) Read .
- 2 BLS OEWS, May 2025: Industrial Production Managers (SOC 11-3051) Read .
- 3 BLS OEWS, May 2025: Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers (SOC 11-3071) Read .
- 4 BLS OEWS, May 2025: Operations Research Analysts (SOC 15-2031) Read .
- 5 BLS OEWS, May 2025: Logisticians (SOC 13-1081) Read .
- 6 BLS OEWS, May 2025: Compliance Officers (SOC 13-1041) Read .
- 7 BLS OEWS, May 2025: Buyers and Purchasing Agents (SOC 13-1020) Read .
- 8 BLS OEWS, May 2025: Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks (SOC 43-5061) Read .
- 9 BLS OEWS, May 2025: Cargo and Freight Agents (SOC 43-5011) Read .
- 10 BLS Employment Projections, National Employment Matrix, 2025-35 Read .
- 11 BLS Employment Projections, occupation tables 1.2 and 1.10 (entry education, separations, factors), 2025-35 Read .