Best degree programs for Industrial Production Managers, ranked by enrollment
9 college programs and 2,544 schools train Industrial Production Managers. Compare graduates per year, cost and pay, $126,060 median wage, 246,250 U.S. jobs. Federal data.
9 college programs at 2,544 schools train industrial production managers, graduating 450,170 people a year (IPEDS completions). The largest is Business Administration and Management, General. The job pays a median of $126,060 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
About industrial production managers
Plan, direct, or coordinate the work activities and resources necessary for manufacturing products in accordance with cost, quality, and quantity specifications.
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.
9 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 52.0201 | 348,906 | 77.5% | 2,305 | $43,506 | $25,000 |
| 2 | CIP 52.0101 | 60,975 | 13.5% | 806 | $44,700 | $24,000 |
| 3 | CIP 52.0205 | 11,666 | 2.6% | 144 | $43,506 | $25,000 |
| 4 | CIP 52.0203 | 11,155 | 2.5% | 377 | $43,506 | $25,000 |
| 5 | CIP 14.3501 | 8,011 | 1.8% | 137 | $74,748 | $24,989 |
| 6 | CIP 15.1501 | 7,899 | 1.8% | 188 | $68,912 | $25,236 |
| 7 | CIP 51.2009 | 909 | 0.2% | 11 | $48,728 | $23,761 |
| 8 | CIP 52.0216 | 399 | 0.1% | 29 | $43,506 | $25,000 |
| 9 | CIP 51.2006 | 250 | 0.1% | 13 | $48,728 | $23,761 |
Top 50 schools by graduates into this job
Counting every feeder program a school offers, not just its largest one.
What industrial production 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | $132,620 | 25,130 | 0.87× | 222 | 60,771 |
| Texas | $130,890 | 21,200 | 0.95× | 146 | 32,547 |
| Florida | $119,870 | 9,480 | 0.60× | 101 | 27,177 |
| Arizona | $124,810 | 3,630 | 0.71× | 38 | 25,339 |
| Indiana | $121,500 | 9,400 | 1.85× | 49 | 20,362 |
| New York | $130,470 | 6,630 | 0.43× | 143 | 17,642 |
| North Carolina | $125,940 | 9,640 | 1.23× | 112 | 14,824 |
| Massachusetts | $148,050 | 4,470 | 0.78× | 65 | 13,709 |
| New Hampshire | $146,590 | 1,540 | 1.42× | 19 | 13,397 |
| Virginia | $128,230 | 2,570 | 0.40× | 65 | 13,004 |
| Colorado | $141,020 | 1,730 | 0.38× | 34 | 11,915 |
| Pennsylvania | $109,140 | 10,200 | 1.06× | 126 | 11,436 |
| Illinois | $127,270 | 11,570 | 1.20× | 91 | 11,363 |
| Utah | $115,290 | 2,590 | 0.94× | 12 | 11,194 |
| Georgia | $127,820 | 5,510 | 0.71× | 84 | 11,103 |
| Ohio | $109,340 | 14,290 | 1.63× | 100 | 10,356 |
| Michigan | $120,660 | 14,320 | 2.05× | 72 | 9,216 |
| Kentucky | $112,250 | 6,430 | 2.03× | 47 | 8,617 |
| New Jersey | $147,260 | 6,780 | 1.00× | 50 | 8,536 |
| Maryland | $132,540 | 2,480 | 0.57× | 42 | 8,227 |
| Alabama | $122,520 | 3,620 | 1.08× | 46 | 7,924 |
| Missouri | $117,660 | 4,110 | 0.88× | 59 | 7,277 |
| West Virginia | $111,760 | 1,000 | 0.90× | 32 | 6,837 |
| Louisiana | $133,210 | 2,680 | 0.87× | 35 | 6,631 |
| Minnesota | $123,580 | 5,080 | 1.09× | 59 | 6,423 |
| Idaho | $107,340 | 1,210 | 0.89× | 11 | 6,119 |
| Tennessee | $119,430 | 6,310 | 1.21× | 52 | 6,007 |
| South Carolina | $126,880 | 6,390 | 1.75× | 51 | 5,936 |
| Washington | $145,210 | 4,760 | 0.85× | 55 | 5,496 |
| Connecticut | $134,780 | 3,360 | 1.25× | 20 | 4,105 |
| Oklahoma | $120,570 | 2,140 | 0.79× | 37 | 4,083 |
| Arkansas | $118,120 | 2,560 | 1.24× | 44 | 3,672 |
| Nebraska | $107,200 | 2,160 | 1.33× | 25 | 3,564 |
| Mississippi | $118,660 | 2,290 | 1.24× | 28 | 3,530 |
| District of Columbia | $124,420 | 50 | 0.05× | 10 | 3,386 |
| Iowa | $106,510 | 3,620 | 1.47× | 43 | 3,276 |
| Kansas | $125,750 | 2,420 | 1.07× | 39 | 3,105 |
| Oregon | $119,420 | 3,150 | 1.01× | 31 | 2,844 |
| New Mexico | $124,670 | 670 | 0.49× | 25 | 1,988 |
| Maine | $124,810 | 800 | 0.79× | 18 | 1,545 |
| Nevada | $112,270 | 1,620 | 0.66× | 9 | 1,427 |
| Rhode Island | $124,120 | 940 | 1.19× | 11 | 1,219 |
| Delaware | $153,000 | 370 | 0.48× | 6 | 1,025 |
| South Dakota | $107,490 | 720 | 0.99× | 17 | 1,014 |
| Montana | $120,690 | 270 | 0.34× | 18 | 965 |
| North Dakota | $116,050 | 490 | 0.72× | 16 | 894 |
| Hawaii | $124,650 | 130 | 0.13× | 8 | 762 |
| Vermont | $114,150 | 480 | 1.00× | 7 | 689 |
| Wyoming | $151,490 | 390 | 0.88× | 9 | 473 |
| Alaska | $113,280 | 410 | 0.79× | 6 | 365 |
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
- Set and monitor product standards, examining samples of raw products or directing testing during processing, to ensure finished products are of prescribed quality.
- Direct or coordinate production, processing, distribution, or marketing activities of industrial organizations.
- Review processing schedules or production orders to make decisions concerning inventory requirements, staffing requirements, work procedures, or duty assignments, considering budgetary limitations and time constraints.
- Review operations and confer with technical or administrative staff to resolve production or processing problems.
- Hire, train, evaluate, or discharge staff or resolve personnel grievances.
- Develop or implement production tracking or quality control systems, analyzing production, quality control, maintenance, or other operational reports to detect production problems.
- Prepare and maintain production reports or personnel records.
- Review plans and confer with research or support staff to develop new products or processes.
Skills
- Speaking3.9
- Reading Comprehension3.9
- Critical Thinking3.9
- Monitoring3.9
- Active Listening3.9
- Writing3.5
- Active Learning3.5
- Learning Strategies3.4
Knowledge areas
- Production and Processing4.1
- Administration and Management4.0
- Mechanical3.7
- Engineering and Technology3.6
- English Language3.6
- Education and Training3.6
Abilities
- Oral Comprehension4.1
- Oral Expression4.0
- Problem Sensitivity4.0
- Written Comprehension4.0
- Deductive Reasoning3.9
- Inductive Reasoning3.8
Core activities
- Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates4.4
- Making Decisions and Solving Problems4.3
- Getting Information4.3
- Working with Computers4.3
- Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings4.2
- Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events4.2
Tools and technology
hotmarks an O*NET hot technologyHow to get in
How to become a Industrial Production Manager
Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0- Typical entry education
- Bachelor's degree
- Work experience needed
- 5 years or more
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 9 majors mapped to Industrial Production Managers9 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 14.3501Industrial Engineering
- 15.1501Engineering/Industrial Management
- 51.2006Clinical and Industrial Drug Development
- 51.2009Industrial and Physical Pharmacy and Cosmetic Sciences
- 52.0101Business/Commerce, General
- 52.0201Business Administration and Management, General
- 52.0203Logistics, Materials, and Supply Chain Management
- 52.0205Operations Management and Supervision
- 52.0216Science/Technology Management
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 Industrial Production 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 348,906 degrees in 2024-25, 77.5% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming an Industrial Production Manager?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 9 programs to this occupation. The largest are Business Administration, Business/Commerce, Industrial Engineering, Engineering-Related Fields, plus 1 more. Together they graduate about 450,170 people a year.
How much do industrial production managers earn?+
The median is $126,060 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $78,000 at the 10th percentile to $205,520 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 industrial production managers growing?+
BLS projects a +1.9% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 17,100 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career?+
2,544 institutions reported graduates from at least one of the 9 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 industrial production managers work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Plant Manager, Quality Manager, Assembly Manager, Plant Supervisor, Production Manager, Maintenance Manager among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 11-3051.
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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