Best degree programs for Advertising Sales Agents, ranked by enrollment
1 college programs and 85 schools train Advertising Sales Agents. Compare graduates per year, cost and pay, $64,820 median wage, 91,700 U.S. jobs. Federal data.
1 college programs at 85 schools train advertising sales agents, graduating 1,847 people a year (IPEDS completions). The largest is Selling Skills and Sales Operations. The job pays a median of $64,820 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
About advertising sales agents
Sell or solicit advertising space, time, or media in publications, signage, TV, radio, or Internet establishments or public spaces.
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.
1 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 52.1804 | 1,847 | 100.0% | 85 | $50,281 | $24,250 |
Top 50 schools by graduates into this job
Counting every feeder program a school offers, not just its largest one.
What advertising sales agents 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Utahmoderate | $74,260 | 1,110 | 1.08× | 4 | 205 |
| Indiana | $57,030 | 1,410 | 0.74× | 5 | 192 |
| Kentuckylimited | $51,580 | 620 | 0.53× | 2 | 149 |
| Ohio | $50,410 | 3,220 | 0.98× | 11 | 148 |
| Kansaslimited | $48,660 | 920 | 1.08× | 1 | 136 |
| Iowamoderate | $58,480 | 900 | 0.98× | 3 | 123 |
| Illinois | $66,290 | 3,790 | 1.05× | 11 | 112 |
| Californiamoderate | $80,360 | 9,620 | 0.90× | 4 | 104 |
| North Carolinalimited | — | 2,220 | 0.76× | 1 | 96 |
| Oklahomalimited | $57,670 | 700 | 0.69× | 2 | 86 |
| Wisconsin | $63,270 | 1,290 | 0.75× | 8 | 83 |
| Pennsylvanialimited | $58,350 | 4,260 | 1.19× | 2 | 64 |
| Washingtonmoderate | $101,320 | 3,510 | 1.67× | 3 | 61 |
| Georgiamoderate | $58,140 | 3,150 | 1.09× | 3 | 46 |
| Minnesota | $62,660 | 1,750 | 1.00× | 5 | 45 |
| North Dakotalimited | $50,110 | 260 | 1.01× | 2 | 45 |
| Tennesseelimited | $40,910 | 1,820 | 0.94× | 2 | 31 |
| Michiganmoderate | $64,800 | 2,040 | 0.78× | 3 | 25 |
| Alabamalimited | $50,870 | 910 | 0.73× | 1 | 24 |
| New Jerseylimited | $69,620 | 2,110 | 0.84× | 2 | 22 |
| Idaholimited | $53,460 | 220 | 0.44× | 1 | 17 |
| Coloradolimited | $73,420 | 1,110 | 0.65× | 1 | 7 |
| Massachusettslimited | $80,500 | 1,480 | 0.69× | 2 | 7 |
| Nebraskalimited | $62,890 | 1,190 | 1.97× | 2 | 7 |
| Arizonalimited | $62,050 | 1,160 | 0.61× | 1 | 5 |
| Floridalimited | $58,420 | 6,420 | 1.10× | 1 | 3 |
| Mississippilimited | $46,810 | 490 | 0.71× | 1 | 2 |
| Wyominglimited | $47,290 | 150 | 0.89× | 1 | 2 |
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
- Prepare and deliver sales presentations to new and existing customers to sell new advertising programs and to protect and increase existing advertising.
- Maintain assigned account bases while developing new accounts.
- Provide clients with estimates of the costs of advertising products or services.
- Locate and contact potential clients to offer advertising services.
- Explain to customers how specific types of advertising will help promote their products or services in the most effective way possible.
- Obtain and study information about clients' products, needs, problems, advertising history, and business practices to offer effective sales presentations and appropriate product assistance.
- Prepare promotional plans, sales literature, media kits, and sales contracts, using computer.
- Process all correspondence and paperwork related to accounts.
Skills
- Speaking4.1
- Active Listening3.8
- Reading Comprehension3.4
- Critical Thinking3.3
- Writing3.1
- Monitoring3.0
- Active Learning2.9
- Mathematics2.8
Knowledge areas
- Sales and Marketing4.9
- Customer and Personal Service4.5
- English Language4.0
- Communications and Media3.8
- Mathematics3.6
- Administrative3.4
Abilities
- Oral Expression4.1
- Speech Clarity4.1
- Speech Recognition4.0
- Oral Comprehension4.0
- Written Comprehension3.9
- Written Expression3.5
Core activities
- Selling or Influencing Others4.9
- Communicating with People Outside the Organization4.7
- Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships4.5
- Thinking Creatively4.3
- Performing for or Working Directly with the Public4.3
- Getting Information4.2
Tools and technology
hotmarks an O*NET hot technologyHow to get in
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.
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
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 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 1,847 degrees 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 1,847 people a year.
How much do advertising sales agents earn?+
The median is $64,820 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $35,240 at the 10th percentile to $146,010 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 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?+
85 institutions 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 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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