Pennsylvania·Business and Financial Operations Occupations·SOC 13-1151

Best Training programs in Pennsylvania, ranked by enrollment

Design or conduct work-related training and development programs to improve individual skills or organizational performance.

50 schools in Pennsylvania run programs that feed this job, graduating 1,301 people a year. The job pays a median of $71,350 in Pennsylvania across about 14,780 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledCorporate TrainerTraining SpecialistJob Training SpecialistLearning and Development Specialist (L and D Specialist)TrainerLabor TrainerSales TrainerSkills Trainer
Graduates / yr
1,301
in Pennsylvania
Median pay · Pennsylvania
$71,350
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
14,780
people employed
Schools
50
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
59%
across those schools
Median net price
$23,598
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Pennsylvania that lead to this job

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

7 programs in Pennsylvania that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Pennsylvania (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 Pennsylvania page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1603
46.3%
33$49,084$26,536
2399
30.7%
19$40,786$33,629
3140
10.8%
4$49,084$26,536
491
7.0%
6$41,127$25,500
547
3.6%
6$39,658$24,500
619
1.5%
3$33,805$27,000
72
0.2%
1$49,084$26,536

Top 25 schools in Pennsylvania

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 12 of the 50 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Pennsylvania State University - World Campus
University Park, PA Public · 5 feeder programs
230Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General$58,88434%91%
2Villanova University
Villanova, PA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
127Human Resources Development92%$33,77427%
3Wilkes University
Wilkes-Barre, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
109Educational/Instructional Technology63%$27,08291%
4University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
93Adult and Continuing Education and Teaching97%$22,0555%
5West Chester University of Pennsylvania
West Chester, PA Public · 3 feeder programs
84Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General71%78%
6Temple University
Philadelphia, PA Public · 3 feeder programs
70Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General$50,12875%80%
7Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Indiana, PA Public · 3 feeder programs
57Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General$42,54256%91%
8University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus
Pittsburgh, PA Public · 2 feeder programs
45Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General$53,33985%58%
9Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania
Bloomsburg, PA Public · 1 feeder programs
40Educational/Instructional Technology54%93%
10Pennsylvania State University - Main Campus
University Park, PA Public · 3 feeder programs
39Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General$58,88486%61%
11Wilson College
Chambersburg, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
37Educational/Instructional Technology48%$18,58692%
12Saint Joseph's University - Philadelphia
Philadelphia, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
26Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General$58,52879%$34,41889%
13Lehigh University
Bethlehem, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
25Educational/Instructional Technology88%$26,91226%
14Point Park University
Pittsburgh, PA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
24Educational/Instructional Technology59%$23,70497%
15Robert Morris University
Moon Township, PA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
21Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General66%$24,17590%
16Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
Kutztown, PA Public · 1 feeder programs
20Educational/Instructional Technology54%91%
17Drexel University
Philadelphia, PA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
19Educational/Instructional Technology78%$36,00479%
18La Roche University
Pittsburgh, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
19Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General57%$20,38076%
19Lehigh Carbon Community College
Schnecksville, PA Public · 1 feeder programs
19Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General30%
20Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania
Slippery Rock, PA Public · 1 feeder programs
19Educational/Instructional Technology66%71%
21University of Scranton
Scranton, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
19Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General80%$25,83481%
22Pennsylvania State University - Penn State Harrisburg
Middletown, PA Public · 2 feeder programs
17Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General26%98%
23Thomas Jefferson University
Philadelphia, PA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
17Organizational Communication, General69%$26,03481%
24Albright College
Reading, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
15Industrial and Organizational Psychology$48,83851%$21,90676%
25Peirce College
Philadelphia, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
11Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General10%$12,905

All 50 schools in Pennsylvania

Every school in Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Pennsylvania State University - World CampusUniversity ParkPublic2305
Villanova UniversityVillanovaPrivate not-for-profit1272
Wilkes UniversityWilkes-BarrePrivate not-for-profit1091
University of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphiaPrivate not-for-profit932
West Chester University of PennsylvaniaWest ChesterPublic843
Temple UniversityPhiladelphiaPublic703
Indiana University of PennsylvaniaIndianaPublic573
University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh CampusPittsburghPublic452
Commonwealth University of PennsylvaniaBloomsburgPublic401
Pennsylvania State University - Main CampusUniversity ParkPublic393
Wilson CollegeChambersburgPrivate not-for-profit371
Saint Joseph's University - PhiladelphiaPhiladelphiaPrivate not-for-profit261
Lehigh UniversityBethlehemPrivate not-for-profit251
Point Park UniversityPittsburghPrivate not-for-profit242
Robert Morris UniversityMoon TownshipPrivate not-for-profit212

What training and development specialists earn in Pennsylvania

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

Median annual in Pennsylvania
$71,350
Mean annual
$77,070
Jobs in state
14,780
What the range looks like
10th pct$45,040Median$71,35090th pct$118,270
Versus the national median
+3.0%

U.S. median $69,280. Pennsylvania pays above the national figure.

Job concentration
0.83×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Metro areas in Pennsylvania

Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD
$76,710median
7,980 jobs
Pittsburgh, PA
$71,580median
2,390 jobs
State College, PA
$75,070median
140 jobs
Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA
$67,370median
1,000 jobs
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ
$65,970median
800 jobs
York-Hanover, PA
$59,690median
440 jobs
Lancaster, PA
$62,740median
500 jobs
Erie, PA
$63,380median
240 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+10.8%
Much faster than average
Openings per year
43,900
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
48,700
452,300 → 501,000
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree

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 Training and Development Specialists page.

How to become a Training

Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree
Work experience needed
Less than 5 years

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

SpeakingLearning StrategiesActive ListeningReading ComprehensionWritingCritical Thinking

The same job in other states

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

Related careers in Pennsylvania

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 7 majors mapped to Training and Development Specialists7 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 09.0901Organizational Communication, General
  • 13.0501Educational/Instructional Technology
  • 13.1201Adult and Continuing Education and Teaching
  • 42.2804Industrial and Organizational Psychology
  • 52.1001Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General
  • 52.1005Human Resources Development
  • 52.1006Executive/Career Coaching

Common questions

Answers for people weighing training and development specialists programs in Pennsylvania.

What degree do you need to become a Training?+

Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General, which awarded 603 degrees in Pennsylvania in 2024-25, 46.3% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Training?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 7 programs to this occupation. The largest are Human Resources Management and Services, Educational/Instructional Media Design, Teacher Education and Professional Development, Public Relations, plus 1 more. Together they graduate about 1,301 people a year in Pennsylvania.

How much do training and development specialists earn in Pennsylvania?+

The median is $71,350 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 3.0% above the U.S. median of $69,280. 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 training and development specialists growing?+

BLS projects a +10.8% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, much faster than average, with roughly 43,900 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

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

50 institutions in Pennsylvania reported graduates from at least one of the 7 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 training and development specialists work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Corporate Trainer, Training Specialist, Job Training Specialist, Learning and Development Specialist (L and D Specialist) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 13-1151.

Training and Development Specialists in other statesUtahArizonaTexasGeorgiaNew HampshireMinnesotaNew YorkIndiana

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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