Illinois·Management Occupations·SOC 11-9131

Best Postmaster programs in Illinois, ranked by enrollment

Plan, direct, or coordinate operational, administrative, management, and support services of a U.S.

13 schools in Illinois run programs that feed this job, graduating 289 people a year. The job pays a median of $94,970 in Illinois across about 510 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledPostmasterRemote Encoding Center ManagerDistribution Operations ManagerDistribution Operation Supervisor (SDO)Postal SupervisorDelivery SupervisorMail SuperintendentPostal Superintendent
Graduates / yr
289
in Illinois
Median pay · Illinois
$94,970
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
510
people employed
Schools
13
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
56%
across those schools
Median net price
$19,899
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.

1 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 44.0401In Illinois
289
100.0%
13$45,374$26,000

Top 13 schools in Illinois

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 0 of the 13 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Northwestern University
Evanston, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
67Public Administration95%$14,7998%
2University of Illinois Springfield
Springfield, IL Public · 1 feeder programs
55Public Administration53%86%
3University of Illinois Chicago
Chicago, IL Public · 1 feeder programs
32Public Administration62%77%
4Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Edwardsville, IL Public · 1 feeder programs
25Public Administration57%97%
5Northern Illinois University
Dekalb, IL Public · 1 feeder programs
23Public Administration49%70%
6Aurora University
Aurora, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
16Public Administration60%$18,43181%
7Governors State University
University Park, IL Public · 1 feeder programs
15Public Administration22%48%
8DePaul University
Chicago, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
14Public Administration68%$28,14176%
9Illinois Institute of Technology
Chicago, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
13Public Administration75%$19,89955%
10National Louis University
Chicago, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
13Public Administration30%$18,90495%
11Loyola University Chicago
Chicago, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
10Public Administration73%$33,45482%
12Roosevelt University
Chicago, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
4Public Administration35%$21,08597%
13Dominican University
River Forest, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
2Public Administration55%$16,17690%

All 13 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
Northwestern UniversityEvanstonPrivate not-for-profit671
University of Illinois SpringfieldSpringfieldPublic551
University of Illinois ChicagoChicagoPublic321
Southern Illinois University EdwardsvilleEdwardsvillePublic251
Northern Illinois UniversityDekalbPublic231
Aurora UniversityAuroraPrivate not-for-profit161
Governors State UniversityUniversity ParkPublic151
DePaul UniversityChicagoPrivate not-for-profit141
Illinois Institute of TechnologyChicagoPrivate not-for-profit131
National Louis UniversityChicagoPrivate not-for-profit131
Loyola University ChicagoChicagoPrivate not-for-profit101
Roosevelt UniversityChicagoPrivate not-for-profit41
Dominican UniversityRiver ForestPrivate not-for-profit21

What postmasters and mail superintendents earn in Illinois

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

Median annual in Illinois
$94,970
Mean annual
$96,970
Jobs in state
510
What the range looks like
10th pct$85,280Median$94,97090th pct$110,550
Versus the national median
-1.7%

U.S. median $96,660. Illinois pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
0.94×

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

Metro areas in Illinois

Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN
$101,130median
200 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
-3.5%
Decline
Openings per year
900
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
-500
13,100 → 12,700
Typical entry education
High school diploma or equivalent
Plus moderate-term on-the-job training

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 Postmasters and Mail Superintendents page.

How to become a Postmaster

Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0
Typical entry education
High school diploma or equivalent
Work experience needed
Less than 5 years
On-the-job training
Moderate-term on-the-job training

Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.

Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.

Ranges from a few days to one year of on-the-job training.

Top skills

Reading ComprehensionActive ListeningSpeakingCritical ThinkingMonitoringLearning Strategies

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 1 majors mapped to Postmasters and Mail Superintendents1 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 44.0401Public Administration

Common questions

Answers for people weighing postmasters and mail superintendents programs in Illinois.

What degree do you need to become a Postmaster?+

High school diploma or equivalent is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Public Administration, which awarded 289 degrees in Illinois in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Postmaster?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Public Administration. Together they graduate about 289 people a year in Illinois.

How much do postmasters and mail superintendents earn in Illinois?+

The median is $94,970 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 1.7% below the U.S. median of $96,660. 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 postmasters and mail superintendents growing?+

BLS projects a -3.5% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, decline, with roughly 900 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

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

13 institutions in Illinois reported graduates from at least one of the 1 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 postmasters and mail superintendents work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Postmaster, Remote Encoding Center Manager, Distribution Operations Manager, Distribution Operation Supervisor (SDO) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 11-9131.

Postmasters and Mail Superintendents in other statesNew YorkCaliforniaTexasIndianaFloridaVirginiaArizonaMassachusetts
Programs in IllinoisPublic Administration

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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