Ohio·Sales and Related Occupations·SOC 41-4012

Best Sales Representative programs in Ohio, ranked by enrollment

Sell goods for wholesalers or manufacturers to businesses or groups of individuals.

8 schools in Ohio run programs that feed this job, graduating 321 people a year. The job pays a median of $73,960 in Ohio across about 58,740 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledSalesmanSales ConsultantOutside Sales RepresentativeSales Representative (Sales Rep)ExporterImporterConsigneeDistributor
Graduates / yr
321
in Ohio
Median pay · Ohio
$73,960
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
58,740
people employed
Schools
8
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
57%
across those schools
Median net price
$21,785
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Ohio that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

2 programs in Ohio that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Ohio (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Ohio page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 52.1902In Ohio
206
64.2%
4$35,157$26,750
2
CIP 52.1801In Ohio
115
35.8%
4$50,281$24,250

Top 8 schools in Ohio

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 3 of the 8 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Kent State University at Kent
Kent, OH Public · 1 feeder programs
192Fashion Merchandising$36,62564%86%
2Ohio University - Main Campus
Athens, OH Public · 1 feeder programs
57Sales, Distribution, and Marketing Operations, General65%85%
3Bowling Green State University - Main Campus
Bowling Green, OH Public · 1 feeder programs
26Sales, Distribution, and Marketing Operations, General$58,77364%81%
4University of Akron Main Campus
Akron, OH Public · 1 feeder programs
18Sales, Distribution, and Marketing Operations, General$49,60552%60%
5Owens Community College
Perrysburg, OH Public · 1 feeder programs
14Sales, Distribution, and Marketing Operations, General35%
6Youngstown State University
Youngstown, OH Public · 1 feeder programs
10Fashion Merchandising50%84%
7Ashland University
Ashland, OH Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
3Fashion Merchandising61%$21,78576%
8Ursuline College
Pepper Pike, OH Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
1Fashion Merchandising67%$18,31275%

All 8 schools in Ohio

Every school in Ohio with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in Ohio that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Kent State University at KentKentPublic1921
Ohio University - Main CampusAthensPublic571
Bowling Green State University - Main CampusBowling GreenPublic261
University of Akron Main CampusAkronPublic181
Owens Community CollegePerrysburgPublic141
Youngstown State UniversityYoungstownPublic101
Ashland UniversityAshlandPrivate not-for-profit31
Ursuline CollegePepper PikePrivate not-for-profit11

What sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing earn in Ohio

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Ohio
$73,960
Mean annual
$84,580
Jobs in state
58,740
What the range looks like
10th pct$39,850Median$73,96090th pct$149,870
Versus the national median
+2.6%

U.S. median $72,080. Ohio pays above the national figure.

Job concentration
1.33×

Concentrated here: Ohio employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.

Metro areas in Ohio

Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN
$75,950median
12,360 jobs
Cleveland, OH
$76,020median
11,420 jobs
Akron, OH
$74,990median
4,170 jobs
Columbus, OH
$67,410median
8,900 jobs
Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek, OH
$67,880median
3,290 jobs
Mansfield, OH
$65,970median
390 jobs
Toledo, OH
$65,800median
2,630 jobs
Sandusky, OH
$67,040median
290 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+0.3%
Little or no change
Openings per year
114,800
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
4,400
1,310,500 → 1,314,900
Typical entry education
High school diploma or equivalent
Plus moderate-term on-the-job training

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing page.

How to become a Sales Representative

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.

Top skills

Active ListeningSpeakingCritical ThinkingReading ComprehensionWritingMonitoring

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Ohio

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 6 majors mapped to Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing6 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 01.0105Agricultural/Farm Supplies Retailing and Wholesaling
  • 52.1801Sales, Distribution, and Marketing Operations, General
  • 52.1899General Merchandising, Sales, and Related Marketing Operations, Other
  • 52.1902Fashion Merchandising
  • 52.1904Apparel and Accessories Marketing Operations
  • 52.1909Special Products Marketing Operations

Common questions

Answers for people weighing sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing programs in Ohio.

What degree do you need to become a Sales Representative?+

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 Fashion Merchandising, which awarded 206 degrees in Ohio in 2024-25, 64.2% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Sales Representative?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 2 programs to this occupation. The largest are Specialized Sales, General Sales. Together they graduate about 321 people a year in Ohio.

How much do sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing earn in Ohio?+

The median is $73,960 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 2.6% above the U.S. median of $72,080. 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 sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing growing?+

BLS projects a +0.3% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 114,800 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Ohio?+

8 institutions in Ohio 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 sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Salesman, Sales Consultant, Outside Sales Representative, Sales Representative (Sales Rep) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 41-4012.

Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing in other statesNew YorkCaliforniaTexasPennsylvaniaIowaMissouriWisconsinSouth Carolina

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 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected 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 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, 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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