Best Sales Representative programs in Illinois, ranked by enrollment
Sell goods for wholesalers or manufacturers to businesses or groups of individuals.
7 schools in Illinois run programs that feed this job, graduating 43 people a year. The job pays a median of $73,510 in Illinois across about 51,310 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
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.
3 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.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 52.1801In Illinois → | 21 | 48.8% | 3 | $50,281 | $24,250 |
| 2 | CIP 52.1902In Illinois → | 20 | 46.5% | 4 | $35,157 | $26,750 |
| 3 | CIP 01.0105In Illinois → | 2 | 4.7% | 1 | $47,242 | $19,964 |
Top 7 schools in Illinois
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 1 of the 7 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | College of DuPage Glen Ellyn, IL Public · 2 feeder programs | 22 | Sales, Distribution, and Marketing Operations, General | — | 25% | — | — |
| 2 | Dominican University River Forest, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 8 | Fashion Merchandising | $29,907 | 55% | $16,176 | 90% |
| 3 | Eastern Illinois University Charleston, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 4 | Fashion Merchandising | — | 47% | — | 65% |
| 4 | Oakton College Des Plaines, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 3 | Sales, Distribution, and Marketing Operations, General | — | 37% | — | — |
| 5 | Illinois Valley Community College Oglesby, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 2 | Sales, Distribution, and Marketing Operations, General | — | 42% | — | — |
| 6 | Parkland College Champaign, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 2 | Agricultural/Farm Supplies Retailing and Wholesaling | — | 32% | — | — |
| 7 | William Rainey Harper College Palatine, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 2 | Fashion Merchandising | — | 48% | — | — |
All 7 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.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| College of DuPage | Glen Ellyn | Public | 22 | 2 |
| Dominican University | River Forest | Private not-for-profit | 8 | 1 |
| Eastern Illinois University | Charleston | Public | 4 | 1 |
| Oakton College | Des Plaines | Public | 3 | 1 |
| Illinois Valley Community College | Oglesby | Public | 2 | 1 |
| Parkland College | Champaign | Public | 2 | 1 |
| William Rainey Harper College | Palatine | Public | 2 | 1 |
What sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing earn in Illinois
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $72,080. Illinois pays above the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in Illinois
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
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 Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing page.
How to become a Sales Representative
Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0- Typical entry education
- High school diploma or equivalent
- On-the-job training
- Moderate-term on-the-job training
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
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 6 majors mapped to Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing6 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 01.0105Agricultural/Farm Supplies Retailing and Wholesaling
- 52.1801Sales, Distribution, and Marketing Operations, General
- 52.1899General Merchandising, Sales, and Related Marketing Operations, Other
- 52.1902Fashion Merchandising
- 52.1904Apparel and Accessories Marketing Operations
- 52.1909Special Products Marketing Operations
Common questions
Answers for people weighing sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing programs in Illinois.
What degree do you need to become a Sales Representative?+
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 Sales, Distribution, and Marketing Operations, General, which awarded 21 degrees in Illinois in 2024-25, 48.8% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Sales Representative?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 3 programs to this occupation. The largest are General Sales, Specialized Sales, Agricultural Business and Management. Together they graduate about 43 people a year in Illinois.
How much do sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing earn in Illinois?+
The median is $73,510 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 2.0% above the U.S. median of $72,080. 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 sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing growing?+
BLS projects a +0.3% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 114,800 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in Illinois?+
7 institutions in Illinois reported graduates from at least one of the 3 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 sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Salesman, Sales Consultant, Outside Sales Representative, Sales Representative (Sales Rep) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 41-4012.
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 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected 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 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.
Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA
Explore every U.S. college in one conversation
Clema turns plain-language questions into sourced answers across every U.S. institution — earnings, aid, acceptance, graduation, safety, and athletics from IPEDS, College Scorecard, and 10+ federal datasets, built in.
Free for teams up to 3 · No credit card