Illinois·Business and Financial Operations Occupations·SOC 13-1199

Best Business Operations Specialist, All Other programs in Illinois, ranked by enrollment

All business operations specialists not listed.

81 schools in Illinois run programs that feed this job, graduating 8,390 people a year. The job pays a median of $82,070 in Illinois across about 32,940 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledSecurity AdvisorSecurity AnalystSecurity ConsultantSecurity SpecialistOnline Services ManagerSustainability ConsultantSustainability SpecialistSustainability Coordinator
Graduates / yr
8,390
in Illinois
Median pay · Illinois
$82,070
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
32,940
people employed
Schools
81
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
49%
across those schools
Median net price
$20,472
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Illinois that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

4 programs in Illinois that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Illinois (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Illinois page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 52.0201In Illinois
8,229
98.1%
81$43,506$25,000
2
CIP 52.1101In Illinois
136
1.6%
14$51,261$23,361
3
CIP 52.0904In Illinois
13
0.2%
3$34,218$23,364
4
CIP 52.0208In Illinois
12
0.1%
2$43,506$25,000

Top 25 schools in Illinois

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 41 of the 81 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1University of Illinois Urbana - Champaign
Champaign, IL Public · 2 feeder programs
1,362Business Administration and Management, General$68,44285%42%
2DeVry University - Illinois
Lisle, IL Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
1,166Business Administration and Management, General$55,10237%$32,38198%
3DePaul University
Chicago, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
449Business Administration and Management, General$48,92068%$28,14176%
4University of Illinois Chicago
Chicago, IL Public · 1 feeder programs
409Business Administration and Management, General$65,78162%77%
5Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Edwardsville, IL Public · 1 feeder programs
328Business Administration and Management, General$43,75357%97%
6University of Illinois Springfield
Springfield, IL Public · 1 feeder programs
293Business Administration and Management, General$44,23653%86%
7Aurora University
Aurora, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
272Business Administration and Management, General$48,84360%$18,43181%
8National Louis University
Chicago, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
256Business Administration and Management, General$45,09630%$18,90495%
9Illinois Institute of Technology
Chicago, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
239Business Administration and Management, General$42,99275%$19,89955%
10Benedictine University
Lisle, IL Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
229Business Administration and Management, General$49,61150%$23,57095%
11Illinois State University
Normal, IL Public · 2 feeder programs
223Business Administration and Management, General$50,64765%88%
12Loyola University Chicago
Chicago, IL Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
202Business Administration and Management, General$64,51373%$33,45482%
13Northern Illinois University
Dekalb, IL Public · 1 feeder programs
184Business Administration and Management, General$52,72449%70%
14North Park University
Chicago, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
177Business Administration and Management, General$43,65858%$18,49469%
15Northwestern University
Evanston, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
154Business Administration and Management, General95%$14,7998%
16Lewis University
Romeoville, IL Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs
147Business Administration and Management, General$53,79367%$17,63271%
17Joliet Junior College
Joliet, IL Public · 1 feeder programs
145Business Administration and Management, General$39,88721%
18McKendree University
Lebanon, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
111Business Administration and Management, General$43,33953%$23,99472%
19Concordia University - Chicago
River Forest, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
107Business Administration and Management, General$44,58136%$17,62093%
20Governors State University
University Park, IL Public · 1 feeder programs
106Business Administration and Management, General$44,43622%48%
21Western Illinois University
Macomb, IL Public · 1 feeder programs
101Business Administration and Management, General$45,13745%71%
22William Rainey Harper College
Palatine, IL Public · 2 feeder programs
100Business Administration and Management, General$59,98248%
23Olivet Nazarene University
Bourbonnais, IL Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
93Business Administration and Management, General$47,43561%$20,90356%
24Elmhurst University
Elmhurst, IL Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
85Business Administration and Management, General$49,77170%$20,79474%
25McHenry County College
Crystal Lake, IL Public · 1 feeder programs
82Business Administration and Management, General37%

All 81 schools in Illinois

Every school in Illinois with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in Illinois that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
University of Illinois Urbana - ChampaignChampaignPublic1,3622
DeVry University - IllinoisLislePrivate for-profit1,1661
DePaul UniversityChicagoPrivate not-for-profit4491
University of Illinois ChicagoChicagoPublic4091
Southern Illinois University EdwardsvilleEdwardsvillePublic3281
University of Illinois SpringfieldSpringfieldPublic2931
Aurora UniversityAuroraPrivate not-for-profit2721
National Louis UniversityChicagoPrivate not-for-profit2561
Illinois Institute of TechnologyChicagoPrivate not-for-profit2391
Benedictine UniversityLislePrivate not-for-profit2292
Illinois State UniversityNormalPublic2232
Loyola University ChicagoChicagoPrivate not-for-profit2022
Northern Illinois UniversityDekalbPublic1841
North Park UniversityChicagoPrivate not-for-profit1771
Northwestern UniversityEvanstonPrivate not-for-profit1541

What business operations specialists, all other earn in Illinois

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Illinois
$82,070
Mean annual
$89,910
Jobs in state
32,940
What the range looks like
10th pct$46,360Median$82,07090th pct$137,100
Versus the national median
-1.2%

U.S. median $83,050. Illinois pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
0.77×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Metro areas in Illinois

Springfield, IL
$95,990median
2,170 jobs
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN
$81,170median
21,760 jobs
Decatur, IL
$73,080median
140 jobs
Kankakee, IL
$80,020median
130 jobs
Champaign-Urbana, IL
$76,260median
360 jobs
Peoria, IL
$76,490median
740 jobs
Rockford, IL
$64,060median
380 jobs
Bloomington, IL
$76,610median
220 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+3.0%
About as fast as average
Openings per year
108,200
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
36,300
1,205,700 → 1,242,000
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Business Operations Specialists, All Other page.

How to become a Business Operations Specialist, All Other

Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Top skills

Active ListeningReading ComprehensionCritical ThinkingSpeakingWritingMonitoring

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Illinois

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 5 majors mapped to Business Operations Specialists, All Other5 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 52.0201Business Administration and Management, General
  • 52.0208E-Commerce/Electronic Commerce
  • 52.0499Business Operations Support and Secretarial Services, Other
  • 52.0904Hotel/Motel Administration/Management
  • 52.1101International Business/Trade/Commerce

Common questions

Answers for people weighing business operations specialists, all other programs in Illinois.

What degree do you need to become a Business Operations Specialist, All Other?+

Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Business Administration and Management, General, which awarded 8,229 degrees in Illinois in 2024-25, 98.1% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Business Operations Specialist, All Other?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 4 programs to this occupation. The largest are Business Administration, International Business, Hospitality Administration/Management. Together they graduate about 8,390 people a year in Illinois.

How much do business operations specialists, all other earn in Illinois?+

The median is $82,070 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 1.2% below the U.S. median of $83,050. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for business operations specialists, all other growing?+

BLS projects a +3.0% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 108,200 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Illinois?+

81 institutions in Illinois reported graduates from at least one of the 4 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do business operations specialists, all other work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Security Advisor, Security Analyst, Security Consultant, Security Specialist, Online Services Manager, Sustainability Consultant among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 13-1199.

Business Operations Specialists, All Other in other statesCaliforniaTexasArizonaFloridaNew YorkNorth CarolinaNew HampshireIndiana

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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