Iowa·Sales and Related Occupations·SOC 41-3011

Best Advertising Sales Agent programs in Iowa, ranked by enrollment

Sell or solicit advertising space, time, or media in publications, signage, TV, radio, or Internet establishments or public.

3 schools in Iowa run programs that feed this job, graduating 123 people a year. The job pays a median of $58,480 in Iowa across about 900 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledSales RepresentativeAdvertising RepresentativeAdvertising Account RepresentativeAdvertising Sales Representative (Ad Sales Representative)AgentBrokerIdea ManSolicitor
Graduates / yr
123
in Iowa
Median pay · Iowa
$58,480
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
900
people employed
Schools
3
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
56%
across those schools
Median net price
$20,840
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Iowa that lead to this job

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

1 programs in Iowa that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Iowa (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 Iowa page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 52.1804In Iowa
123
100.0%
3$50,281$24,250

Top 3 schools in Iowa

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 0 of the 3 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Iowa State University
Ames, IA Public · 1 feeder programs
110Selling Skills and Sales Operations75%89%
2Des Moines Area Community College
Ankeny, IA Public · 1 feeder programs
12Selling Skills and Sales Operations39%
3Grand View University
Des Moines, IA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
1Selling Skills and Sales Operations54%$20,84099%

All 3 schools in Iowa

Every school in Iowa 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 Iowa that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Iowa State UniversityAmesPublic1101
Des Moines Area Community CollegeAnkenyPublic121
Grand View UniversityDes MoinesPrivate not-for-profit11

What advertising sales agents earn in Iowa

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

Median annual in Iowa
$58,480
Mean annual
$62,460
Jobs in state
900
What the range looks like
10th pct$30,250Median$58,48090th pct$92,120
Versus the national median
-9.8%

U.S. median $64,820. Iowa pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
0.98×

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

Metro areas in Iowa

Cedar Rapids, IA
$62,460median
100 jobs
Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA
$62,510median
350 jobs
Sioux City, IA-NE-SD
$60,130median
30 jobs
Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL
$54,180median
60 jobs
Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA
$59,440median
40 jobs
Dubuque, IA
$52,830median
30 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
-6.4%
Decline
Openings per year
9,300
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
-6,600
103,700 → 97,100
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 Advertising Sales Agents page.

How to become a Advertising Sales Agent

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

SpeakingActive ListeningReading ComprehensionCritical ThinkingWritingMonitoring

The same job in other states

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

Related careers in Iowa

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 1 majors mapped to Advertising Sales Agents1 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 52.1804Selling Skills and Sales Operations

Common questions

Answers for people weighing advertising sales agents programs in Iowa.

What degree do you need to become an Advertising Sales Agent?+

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 Selling Skills and Sales Operations, which awarded 123 degrees in Iowa in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming an Advertising Sales Agent?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are General Sales. Together they graduate about 123 people a year in Iowa.

How much do advertising sales agents earn in Iowa?+

The median is $58,480 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 9.8% below the U.S. median of $64,820. 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 advertising sales agents growing?+

BLS projects a -6.4% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, decline, with roughly 9,300 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

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

3 institutions in Iowa 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 advertising sales agents work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Sales Representative, Advertising Representative, Advertising Account Representative, Advertising Sales Representative (Ad Sales Representative) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 41-3011.

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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