Best degree programs for Advertising and Promotions Managers, ranked by enrollment
4 college programs and 1,064 schools train Advertising and Promotions Managers. Compare graduates per year, cost and pay, $133,660 median wage, 21,470 U.S. jobs. Federal data.
4 college programs at 1,064 schools train advertising and promotions managers, graduating 61,806 people a year (IPEDS completions). The largest is Marketing/Marketing Management, General. The job pays a median of $133,660 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
About advertising and promotions managers
Plan, direct, or coordinate advertising policies and programs or produce collateral materials, such as posters, contests, coupons, or giveaways, to create extra interest in the purchase of a product or service for a department, an entire organization, or on an account basis.
Fields of study that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level, the tier our program pages are built on. Numbers are graduates per year.
4 degree programs that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are College Scorecard figures for people who finished the program, reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. That is a different measurement from the occupation-wide wages further down this page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 52.1401 | 49,123 | 79.5% | 973 | $44,670 | $24,250 |
| 2 | CIP 09.0903 | 4,542 | 7.3% | 90 | $39,658 | $24,500 |
| 3 | CIP 09.0900 | 4,140 | 6.7% | 164 | $39,658 | $24,500 |
| 4 | CIP 09.0902 | 4,001 | 6.5% | 144 | $39,658 | $24,500 |
Top 50 schools by graduates into this job
Counting every feeder program a school offers, not just its largest one.
What advertising and promotions managers earn
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
Top-paying states
Top-paying metro areas
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Where the jobs are, state by state
Pick a state for in-state pay, the schools there, and the programs they run.
| State | Median pay | Jobs | Concentration | Schools | Graduates / yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | $104,170 | 3,670 | 1.89× | 64 | 6,278 |
| Ohio | $102,110 | 240 | 0.31× | 55 | 3,079 |
| Georgia | $133,810 | 420 | 0.63× | 42 | 2,581 |
| Utah | — | 240 | 1.00× | 12 | 2,562 |
| Pennsylvania | $122,940 | 1,540 | 1.83× | 63 | 2,416 |
| Michigan | $101,610 | 220 | 0.37× | 38 | 2,329 |
| New York | $173,700 | 3,550 | 2.66× | 67 | 2,150 |
| Illinois | $167,330 | 160 | 0.19× | 49 | 1,993 |
| Alabama | $64,640 | 60 | 0.22× | 16 | 1,859 |
| Massachusetts | $163,090 | 300 | 0.61× | 37 | 1,735 |
| Wisconsin | $131,530 | 110 | 0.28× | 28 | 1,670 |
| Tennessee | $98,170 | — | — | 23 | 1,525 |
| South Carolina | $156,300 | — | — | 14 | 1,509 |
| North Carolina | $121,730 | — | — | 20 | 1,420 |
| California | $167,230 | 3,080 | 1.22× | 36 | 1,364 |
| Washington | $163,380 | 530 | 1.08× | 24 | 1,205 |
| New Jersey | $165,390 | 470 | 0.80× | 25 | 1,014 |
| Oklahoma | — | 90 | 0.37× | 17 | 1,008 |
| Minnesota | $126,920 | 110 | 0.27× | 30 | 958 |
| Iowa | $108,890 | 210 | 0.99× | 19 | 899 |
| Connecticut | $129,280 | 240 | 1.02× | 12 | 890 |
| Arkansas | $74,880 | 140 | 0.78× | 14 | 869 |
| Virginia | $148,400 | 180 | 0.31× | 16 | 832 |
| Colorado | $164,990 | 180 | 0.46× | 13 | 831 |
| Oregon | $154,490 | 430 | 1.59× | 14 | 830 |
| Louisiana | $78,810 | 120 | 0.47× | 15 | 800 |
| Kansas | $148,560 | 40 | 0.19× | 20 | 799 |
| Mississippi | $66,520 | 100 | 0.63× | 21 | 799 |
| New Hampshire | $120,530 | 50 | 0.51× | 11 | 797 |
| Indiana | $113,930 | 120 | 0.28× | 32 | 785 |
| Kentucky | $107,030 | 230 | 0.82× | 17 | 770 |
| Missouri | $81,520 | — | — | 24 | 746 |
| Maryland | $107,380 | 460 | 1.22× | 14 | 663 |
| Idaho | $80,680 | 60 | 0.55× | 7 | 624 |
| Rhode Island | $157,890 | 60 | 0.86× | 9 | 607 |
| District of Columbia | $143,040 | 80 | 0.87× | 5 | 532 |
| Nebraska | $106,380 | 160 | 1.12× | 7 | 484 |
| Maine | $106,280 | — | — | 6 | 184 |
| New Mexicomoderate | — | 80 | 0.68× | 3 | 84 |
| Montanamoderate | $131,770 | — | — | 3 | 55 |
Skills and tools
From O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupational database. Importance is a 1 to 5 scale.
What they do day to day
- Plan and prepare advertising and promotional material to increase sales of products or services, working with customers, company officials, sales departments, and advertising agencies.
- Inspect layouts and advertising copy, and edit scripts, audio, video, and other promotional material for adherence to specifications.
- Confer with department heads or staff to discuss topics such as contracts, selection of advertising media, or product to be advertised.
- Coordinate with the media to disseminate advertising.
- Coordinate activities of departments, such as sales, graphic arts, media, finance, and research.
- Plan and execute advertising policies and strategies for organizations.
- Direct, motivate, and monitor the mobilization of a campaign team to advance campaign goals.
- Prepare budgets and submit estimates for program costs as part of campaign plan development.
Skills
- Active Listening4.1
- Critical Thinking4.0
- Speaking4.0
- Reading Comprehension3.8
- Writing3.8
- Monitoring3.3
- Active Learning3.3
- Mathematics3.0
Knowledge areas
- Sales and Marketing4.7
- English Language4.4
- Communications and Media4.3
- Customer and Personal Service4.2
- Administration and Management4.1
- Computers and Electronics3.3
Abilities
- Oral Expression4.3
- Oral Comprehension4.0
- Written Comprehension4.0
- Speech Clarity4.0
- Speech Recognition3.9
- Deductive Reasoning3.9
Core activities
- Working with Computers4.6
- Communicating with People Outside the Organization4.4
- Getting Information4.3
- Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates4.3
- Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work4.2
- Thinking Creatively4.0
Tools and technology
hotmarks an O*NET hot technologyHow to get in
How to become a Advertising
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.
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 4 majors mapped to Advertising and Promotions Managers4 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 09.0900Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication
- 09.0902Public Relations/Image Management
- 09.0903Advertising
- 52.1401Marketing/Marketing Management, General
Related careers
Jobs O*NET identifies as close to this one, with their own pay and outlook.
Common questions
What degree do you need to become an Advertising?+
Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Marketing/Marketing Management, General, which awarded 49,123 degrees in 2024-25, 79.5% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming an Advertising?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 4 programs to this occupation. The largest are Marketing, Public Relations. Together they graduate about 61,806 people a year.
How much do advertising and promotions managers earn?+
The median is $133,660 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $63,300 at the 10th percentile to $286,240 at the 90th. 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 and promotions managers growing?+
BLS projects a -2.2% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, decline, with roughly 2,100 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career?+
1,064 institutions 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 advertising and promotions managers work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Promotions Manager, Promotions Director, Communications Manager, Advertising Manager (Ad Manager) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 11-2011.
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
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