Best degree programs for Parts Salespersons, ranked by enrollment
2 college programs and 89 schools train Parts Salespersons. Compare graduates per year, cost and pay, $38,630 median wage, 270,070 U.S. jobs. Federal data.
2 college programs at 89 schools train parts salespersons, graduating 1,893 people a year (IPEDS completions). The largest is Selling Skills and Sales Operations. The job pays a median of $38,630 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
About parts salespersons
Sell spare and replacement parts and equipment in repair shop or parts store.
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.
2 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 | Selling Skills and Sales Operationsmain feeder CIP 52.1804 | 1,847 | 97.6% | 85 | $50,281 | $24,250 |
| 2 | CIP 52.1907 | 46 | 2.4% | 4 | $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 parts salespersons 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 | $39,190 | 3,080 | 1.02× | 4 | 205 |
| Indiana | $37,500 | 7,080 | 1.27× | 5 | 192 |
| Kentuckylimited | $36,400 | 4,220 | 1.22× | 2 | 149 |
| Ohio | $36,790 | 10,580 | 1.10× | 11 | 148 |
| Kansaslimited | $36,940 | 3,700 | 1.48× | 1 | 136 |
| Iowamoderate | $46,670 | 3,810 | 1.41× | 3 | 123 |
| Illinois | $42,240 | 8,500 | 0.80× | 11 | 112 |
| Californiamoderate | $44,440 | 26,990 | 0.85× | 4 | 104 |
| North Carolinalimited | $32,480 | 11,460 | 1.34× | 1 | 96 |
| Oklahomalimited | $36,390 | 3,980 | 1.34× | 2 | 86 |
| Wisconsin | $45,380 | 5,200 | 1.02× | 8 | 83 |
| Pennsylvaniamoderate | $38,520 | 10,430 | 0.99× | 3 | 67 |
| Michiganmoderate | $44,070 | 7,520 | 0.98× | 4 | 63 |
| Washingtonmoderate | $46,830 | 6,230 | 1.01× | 3 | 61 |
| Georgiamoderate | $36,970 | 9,760 | 1.15× | 3 | 46 |
| Minnesota | $47,030 | 5,790 | 1.13× | 5 | 45 |
| North Dakotalimited | $48,600 | 1,610 | 2.16× | 2 | 45 |
| Tennesseelimited | $36,110 | 6,250 | 1.10× | 2 | 31 |
| Alabamalimited | $33,820 | 5,880 | 1.60× | 1 | 24 |
| New Jerseylimited | $45,510 | 4,810 | 0.65× | 2 | 22 |
| Idaholimited | $44,580 | 1,980 | 1.33× | 1 | 17 |
| Coloradolimited | $47,660 | 4,840 | 0.97× | 1 | 7 |
| Massachusettslimited | $44,660 | 4,080 | 0.65× | 2 | 7 |
| Nebraskalimited | $45,100 | 2,360 | 1.32× | 2 | 7 |
| Arizonalimited | $46,020 | 3,890 | 0.69× | 1 | 5 |
| Floridalimited | $37,190 | 16,200 | 0.94× | 2 | 4 |
| New Yorklimited | $45,180 | 7,460 | 0.44× | 1 | 4 |
| Mississippilimited | $35,000 | 2,940 | 1.46× | 1 | 2 |
| Wyominglimited | $38,620 | 750 | 1.53× | 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
- Receive payment or obtain credit authorization.
- Assist customers, such as responding to customer complaints and updating them about back-ordered parts.
- Fill customer orders from stock, and place orders when requested items are out of stock.
- Receive and fill telephone orders for parts.
- Locate and label parts, and maintain inventory of stock.
- Prepare sales slips or sales contracts.
- Read catalogs, microfiche viewers, or computer displays to determine replacement part stock numbers and prices.
- Determine replacement parts required, according to inspections of old parts, customer requests, or customers' descriptions of malfunctions.
Skills
- Active Listening4.0
- Speaking4.0
- Reading Comprehension3.6
- Critical Thinking3.3
- Monitoring3.1
- Writing3.0
- Active Learning2.9
- Mathematics2.8
Knowledge areas
- Customer and Personal Service4.4
- Sales and Marketing4.1
- Administration and Management4.0
- Administrative3.9
- Computers and Electronics3.8
- English Language3.6
Abilities
- Oral Comprehension4.0
- Oral Expression4.0
- Near Vision3.9
- Written Comprehension3.8
- Speech Recognition3.8
- Speech Clarity3.6
Core activities
- Working with Computers4.5
- Getting Information4.4
- Communicating with People Outside the Organization4.3
- Performing for or Working Directly with the Public4.3
- Making Decisions and Solving Problems4.2
- Documenting/Recording Information4.0
Tools and technology
hotmarks an O*NET hot technologyHow to get in
How to become a Parts Salesperson
Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0- Typical entry education
- No formal educational credential
- On-the-job training
- Moderate-term on-the-job training
Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.
Ranges from a few days to one year of on-the-job training.
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 2 majors mapped to Parts Salespersons2 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 52.1804Selling Skills and Sales Operations
- 52.1907Vehicle and Vehicle Parts and Accessories 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 Parts Salesperson?+
No formal educational credential 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, 97.6% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Parts Salesperson?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 2 programs to this occupation. The largest are General Sales, Specialized Sales. Together they graduate about 1,893 people a year.
How much do parts salespersons earn?+
The median is $38,630 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $28,240 at the 10th percentile to $62,890 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 parts salespersons growing?+
BLS projects a +3.1% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 30,200 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career?+
89 institutions reported graduates from at least one of the 2 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 parts salespersons work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Parts Salesman, Parts Consultant, Parts Salesperson, Parts Counterperson among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 41-2022.
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 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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