Best degree programs for Marketing Managers, ranked by enrollment
9 college programs and 1,089 schools train Marketing Managers. Compare graduates per year, cost and pay, $166,790 median wage, 395,240 U.S. jobs. Federal data.
9 college programs at 1,089 schools train marketing managers, graduating 53,822 people a year (IPEDS completions). The largest is Marketing/Marketing Management, General. The job pays a median of $166,790 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
About marketing managers
Plan, direct, or coordinate marketing policies and programs, such as determining the demand for products and services offered by a firm and its competitors, and identify potential customers. Develop pricing strategies with the goal of maximizing the firm's profits or share of the market while ensuring the firm's customers are satisfied. Oversee product development or monitor trends that indicate the need for new products and services.
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 | Marketing/Marketing Management, Generalmain feeder CIP 52.1401 | 49,123 | 91.3% | 973 | $44,670 | $24,250 |
| 2 | Digital Marketingmain feeder CIP 52.1404 | 1,960 | 3.6% | 106 | $44,670 | $24,250 |
| 3 | Marketing, Othermain feeder CIP 52.1499 | 1,226 | 2.3% | 82 | $44,670 | $24,250 |
| 4 | CIP 19.0905 | 530 | 1.0% | 32 | $36,635 | $24,750 |
| 5 | International Marketingmain feeder CIP 52.1403 | 516 | 1.0% | 13 | $44,670 | $24,250 |
| 6 | Marketing Researchmain feeder CIP 52.1402 | 182 | 0.3% | 19 | $44,670 | $24,250 |
| 7 | CIP 51.2011 | 122 | 0.2% | 8 | $48,728 | $23,761 |
| 8 | CIP 19.0203 | 107 | 0.2% | 11 | $40,949 | $23,344 |
| 9 | CIP 52.1910 | 56 | 0.1% | 8 | $35,157 | $26,750 |
Top 50 schools by graduates into this job
Counting every feeder program a school offers, not just its largest one.
What marketing 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 | $147,880 | 44,680 | 1.25× | 64 | 4,884 |
| Florida | $142,620 | 24,820 | 0.98× | 43 | 3,821 |
| Ohio | $132,330 | 10,620 | 0.75× | 54 | 2,977 |
| Utah | $139,830 | 6,100 | 1.38× | 13 | 2,832 |
| Georgia | $160,760 | 8,510 | 0.69× | 40 | 2,197 |
| Pennsylvania | $150,810 | 13,840 | 0.90× | 64 | 2,194 |
| Illinois | $162,860 | 21,140 | 1.36× | 53 | 1,877 |
| Arizona | $132,220 | 4,870 | 0.59× | 17 | 1,859 |
| New York | $181,200 | 54,000 | 2.19× | 65 | 1,807 |
| Wisconsin | $133,600 | 4,890 | 0.65× | 35 | 1,764 |
| Michigan | $138,510 | 6,620 | 0.59× | 42 | 1,763 |
| Massachusetts | $212,020 | 14,270 | 1.54× | 39 | 1,465 |
| Alabama | $120,160 | 1,540 | 0.29× | 16 | 1,443 |
| North Carolina | $165,480 | 10,790 | 0.86× | 22 | 1,385 |
| South Carolina | $143,290 | 3,760 | 0.64× | 17 | 1,346 |
| Tennessee | $131,990 | 7,730 | 0.93× | 24 | 1,284 |
| Washington | $172,270 | 8,880 | 0.98× | 26 | 1,027 |
| California | $193,620 | 54,660 | 1.18× | 39 | 962 |
| Minnesota | $173,300 | 8,500 | 1.13× | 31 | 959 |
| Oklahoma | $126,920 | 1,420 | 0.33× | 18 | 907 |
| New Jersey | $180,040 | 13,510 | 1.24× | 24 | 888 |
| Virginia | $187,820 | 6,890 | 0.66× | 18 | 846 |
| Kansas | $154,510 | 1,570 | 0.43× | 20 | 836 |
| Indiana | $136,260 | 3,350 | 0.41× | 30 | 820 |
| Connecticut | $169,240 | 5,800 | 1.34× | 12 | 816 |
| Iowa | $131,120 | 2,210 | 0.56× | 17 | 807 |
| New Hampshire | $143,280 | 1,460 | 0.84× | 10 | 805 |
| Mississippi | $100,940 | 770 | 0.26× | 20 | 778 |
| Louisiana | $120,650 | 940 | 0.19× | 14 | 737 |
| Arkansas | $136,520 | 1,860 | 0.56× | 16 | 709 |
| Idaho | $142,090 | 1,320 | 0.61× | 9 | 673 |
| Missouri | $130,550 | 6,550 | 0.88× | 25 | 651 |
| Kentucky | $128,930 | 1,930 | 0.38× | 13 | 649 |
| Colorado | $182,730 | 6,010 | 0.82× | 13 | 567 |
| Maryland | $154,160 | 6,510 | 0.93× | 15 | 541 |
| Oregon | $161,560 | 4,960 | 0.99× | 14 | 400 |
| Nebraska | $110,570 | 1,910 | 0.73× | 8 | 368 |
| Delaware | — | 1,060 | 0.86× | 5 | 289 |
| Nevadamoderate | $107,550 | 3,430 | 0.87× | 4 | 288 |
| West Virginia | $98,750 | 300 | 0.17× | 8 | 264 |
| District of Columbia | $177,170 | 3,470 | 1.95× | 5 | 256 |
| Hawaiilimited | $117,770 | 570 | 0.36× | 2 | 185 |
| Maine | $135,380 | 1,320 | 0.81× | 6 | 181 |
| North Dakota | $125,580 | 180 | 0.16× | 7 | 174 |
| South Dakota | $167,750 | 220 | 0.19× | 7 | 148 |
| New Mexicomoderate | $122,980 | 800 | 0.36× | 4 | 92 |
| Wyominglimited | $161,580 | 100 | 0.14× | 2 | 59 |
| Montanalimited | $165,580 | — | — | 2 | 47 |
| Alaskalimited | $116,270 | 240 | 0.29× | 1 | 16 |
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
- Identify, develop, or evaluate marketing strategy, based on knowledge of establishment objectives, market characteristics, and cost and markup factors.
- Formulate, direct, or coordinate marketing activities or policies to promote products or services, working with advertising or promotion managers.
- Evaluate the financial aspects of product development, such as budgets, expenditures, research and development appropriations, or return-on-investment and profit-loss projections.
- Develop pricing strategies, balancing firm objectives and customer satisfaction.
- Compile lists describing product or service offerings.
- Direct the hiring, training, or performance evaluations of marketing or sales staff and oversee their daily activities.
- Consult with product development personnel on product specifications, such as design, color, or packaging.
- Use sales forecasting or strategic planning to ensure the sale and profitability of products, lines, or services, analyzing business developments and monitoring market trends.
Skills
- Active Learning3.9
- Active Listening3.9
- Critical Thinking3.9
- Speaking3.9
- Reading Comprehension3.9
- Monitoring3.8
- Writing3.3
- Learning Strategies3.1
Knowledge areas
- Sales and Marketing4.8
- English Language4.5
- Administration and Management4.0
- Customer and Personal Service3.9
- Communications and Media3.8
- Computers and Electronics3.5
Abilities
- Oral Comprehension4.0
- Oral Expression4.0
- Written Comprehension4.0
- Deductive Reasoning3.9
- Written Expression3.9
- Fluency of Ideas3.8
Core activities
- Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates4.8
- Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships4.7
- Working with Computers4.4
- Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work4.3
- Making Decisions and Solving Problems4.3
- Getting Information4.3
Tools and technology
hotmarks an O*NET hot technologyHow to get in
How to become a Marketing 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 Marketing Managers9 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 19.0203Consumer Merchandising/Retailing Management
- 19.0905Apparel and Textile Marketing Management
- 51.2011Pharmaceutical Marketing and Management
- 52.1401Marketing/Marketing Management, General
- 52.1402Marketing Research
- 52.1403International Marketing
- 52.1404Digital Marketing
- 52.1499Marketing, Other
- 52.1910Hospitality and Recreation Marketing 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 a Marketing Manager?+
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, 91.3% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Marketing Manager?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 9 programs to this occupation. The largest are Marketing, Apparel and Textiles, Pharmacy, Family and Consumer Sciences/Human Sciences Business Services, plus 1 more. Together they graduate about 53,822 people a year.
How much do marketing managers earn?+
The median is $166,790 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $90,260 at the 10th percentile to $293,610 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 marketing managers growing?+
BLS projects a +6.6% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, faster than average, with roughly 34,300 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career?+
1,089 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 marketing managers work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Brand Manager, Marketing Manager, Marketing Director, Business Development Manager among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 11-2021.
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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