Massachusetts·Management Occupations·SOC 11-2022

Best Sales Manager programs in Massachusetts, ranked by enrollment

Plan, direct, or coordinate the actual distribution or movement of a product or service to the customer.

65 schools in Massachusetts run programs that feed this job, graduating 13,231 people a year. The job pays a median of $191,200 in Massachusetts across about 15,010 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledSales ManagerSales DirectorDistrict Sales ManagerSales VP (Sales Vice President)Zone ManagerExport ManagerAccount ManagerArea Supervisor
Graduates / yr
13,231
in Massachusetts
Median pay · Massachusetts
$191,200
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
15,010
people employed
Schools
65
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
55%
across those schools
Median net price
$26,647
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Massachusetts that lead to this job

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

4 programs in Massachusetts that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Massachusetts (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 Massachusetts page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
110,091
76.3%
60$43,506$25,000
21,970
14.9%
20$44,700$24,000
31,147
8.7%
35$44,670$24,250
423
0.2%
1$48,728$23,761

Top 25 schools in Massachusetts

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 46 of the 65 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Boston University
Boston, MA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
1,791Business Administration and Management, General$71,54589%$21,95611%
2Northeastern University
Boston, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
1,476Business/Commerce, General$74,86891%$18,9255%
3Babson College
Wellesley, MA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
1,153Business Administration and Management, General$69,97093%$30,32617%
4University of Massachusetts - Lowell
Lowell, MA Public · 2 feeder programs
1,123Business Administration and Management, General$52,65765%83%
5University of Massachusetts - Amherst
Amherst, MA Public · 2 feeder programs
902Business Administration and Management, General$64,13883%60%
6University of Massachusetts - Boston
Boston, MA Public · 1 feeder programs
558Business Administration and Management, General$49,41749%84%
7Fitchburg State University
Fitchburg, MA Public · 2 feeder programs
469Business Administration and Management, General$49,90755%87%
8Bentley University
Waltham, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
405Business Administration and Management, General$67,90387%$31,67745%
9Hult International Business School
Cambridge, MA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
387Business Administration and Management, General67%$42,98160%
10Suffolk University
Boston, MA Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs
308Business Administration and Management, General$52,80361%$28,89582%
11Harvard University
Cambridge, MA Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs
284Business Administration and Management, General98%$15,0134%
12Endicott College
Beverly, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
243Business Administration and Management, General$48,21476%$34,19571%
13Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
228Business Administration and Management, General$71,67591%$21,12616%
14University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth
North Dartmouth, MA Public · 3 feeder programs
228Business Administration and Management, General$46,38252%91%
15Merrimack College
North Andover, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
204Business Administration and Management, General$48,01870%$33,87770%
16Emerson College
Boston, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
190Business/Commerce, General77%$40,98251%
17Worcester State University
Worcester, MA Public · 1 feeder programs
167Business Administration and Management, General$46,66061%88%
18Nichols College
Dudley, MA Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs
163Business Administration and Management, General$48,79063%$29,71881%
19Middlesex Community College
Bedford, MA Public · 1 feeder programs
150Business Administration and Management, General$36,44623%
20Cambridge College
Boston, MA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
137Business Administration and Management, General$64,50211%
21Bunker Hill Community College
Boston, MA Public · 1 feeder programs
132Business Administration and Management, General$34,81713%
22Quinsigamond Community College
Worcester, MA Public · 2 feeder programs
123Business Administration and Management, General$42,02822%
23Assumption University
Worcester, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
116Business Administration and Management, General$56,21175%$24,20683%
24Salem State University
Salem, MA Public · 2 feeder programs
113Business Administration and Management, General$46,89750%96%
25Westfield State University
Westfield, MA Public · 3 feeder programs
112Business Administration and Management, General54%81%

All 65 schools in Massachusetts

Every school in Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Boston UniversityBostonPrivate not-for-profit1,7911
Northeastern UniversityBostonPrivate not-for-profit1,4762
Babson CollegeWellesleyPrivate not-for-profit1,1531
University of Massachusetts - LowellLowellPublic1,1232
University of Massachusetts - AmherstAmherstPublic9022
University of Massachusetts - BostonBostonPublic5581
Fitchburg State UniversityFitchburgPublic4692
Bentley UniversityWalthamPrivate not-for-profit4052
Hult International Business SchoolCambridgePrivate not-for-profit3871
Suffolk UniversityBostonPrivate not-for-profit3083
Harvard UniversityCambridgePrivate not-for-profit2843
Endicott CollegeBeverlyPrivate not-for-profit2432
Boston CollegeChestnut HillPrivate not-for-profit2282
University of Massachusetts - DartmouthNorth DartmouthPublic2283
Merrimack CollegeNorth AndoverPrivate not-for-profit2042

What sales managers earn in Massachusetts

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

Median annual in Massachusetts
$191,200
Mean annual
$201,180
Jobs in state
15,010
What the range looks like
10th pct$100,510Median$191,20090th pct$321,000
Versus the national median
+29.0%

U.S. median $148,270. Massachusetts pays above the national figure.

Job concentration
1.01×

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

Metro areas in Massachusetts

Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
$206,610median
11,540 jobs
Worcester, MA
$162,810median
950 jobs
Pittsfield, MA
$144,320median
120 jobs
Springfield, MA
$149,990median
480 jobs
Amherst Town-Northampton, MA
$138,100median
120 jobs
Barnstable Town, MA
$140,740median
180 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+4.7%
About as fast as average
Openings per year
49,000
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
29,000
619,500 → 648,500
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 Sales Managers page.

How to become a Sales Manager

Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree
Work experience needed
Less than 5 years

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 ListeningSpeakingMonitoringCritical ThinkingReading ComprehensionActive Learning

The same job in other states

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

Related careers in Massachusetts

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 5 majors mapped to Sales Managers5 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 19.0203Consumer Merchandising/Retailing Management
  • 51.2011Pharmaceutical Marketing and Management
  • 52.0101Business/Commerce, General
  • 52.0201Business Administration and Management, General
  • 52.1401Marketing/Marketing Management, General

Common questions

Answers for people weighing sales managers programs in Massachusetts.

What degree do you need to become a Sales Manager?+

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 10,091 degrees in Massachusetts in 2024-25, 76.3% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Sales Manager?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 4 programs to this occupation. The largest are Business Administration, Business/Commerce, Marketing, Pharmacy. Together they graduate about 13,231 people a year in Massachusetts.

How much do sales managers earn in Massachusetts?+

The median is $191,200 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 29.0% above the U.S. median of $148,270. 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 managers growing?+

BLS projects a +4.7% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 49,000 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

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

65 institutions in Massachusetts 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 sales managers work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Sales Manager, Sales Director, District Sales Manager, Sales VP (Sales Vice President) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 11-2022.

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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