Supply Chain Manager Salary: What the Data Actually Shows

The title on a job posting and the title in federal data are not the same thing. BLS has no occupation called supply chain manager. The closest match is transportation, storage, and distribution managers (SOC 11-3071), whose duties BLS describes as planning, directing, or coordinating the movement of people and goods, and the figures on this page are for that group.^[3] BLS lists "supply chain and logistics managers" as one of its three types, alongside transportation managers and warehouse and distribution center managers.^[3] Two neighboring occupations cover other parts of supply chain work: logisticians (SOC 13-1081) analyze and coordinate an organization's supply chain, and purchasing managers (SOC 11-3061) oversee buyers and purchasing agents.^[3] If your title is "supply chain planner" or "procurement manager," check those pages too.

At the 10th percentile this occupation earns $65,120; at the 90th, $194,900, a gap of $129,780.^[1] The width comes from how different the jobs under one code are. A manager running a regional trucking terminal and a director of global logistics at a corporate headquarters both fall under the same code, and the industry section below shows the pay follows the employer. The middle half earns between $82,440 and $146,770. The average, $121,600, sits $14,370 above the median because a minority of high earners pull it up, so use the median to judge a single offer. The median for all U.S. occupations is $50,980, so even the 10th percentile here is above the typical American wage.^[2]

The federal wage survey counts straight-time gross pay: base salary, cost-of-living allowances, guaranteed pay, and incentive pay such as commissions and production bonuses. It leaves out overtime, severance, nonproduction bonuses, and the employer's cost of benefits.^[4] That matters in this field. BLS says most of these managers work full time and some work more than 40 hours a week, and that some must be on call for emergencies.^[3] Overtime and on-call pay for managers who are paid hourly, where it exists, is outside the numbers here, so treat them as base pay and ask separately how an employer treats extra hours.

The survey also excludes the self-employed.^[4] Few supply chain managers are affected: BLS estimates 3.6 percent are self-employed, against 5.8 percent across all occupations.^[2]

Two states hold the most jobs. California (30,540), Texas (28,710), Illinois (11,030), Ohio (9,480), and New Jersey (9,120) together account for 40.2 percent of the 221,180 jobs in the wage survey, counting only states where BLS published a job count; some states, Florida among them, have a wage but no published count.^[1] California alone has 13.8 percent of the national total, and its median is $123,780, $16,550 above the national figure.

Washington has the highest median among states with at least 1,000 of these managers, $136,500, but on only 2,490 jobs; that is a small market next to the two largest. Texas shows the opposite pattern: 28,710 jobs, nearly as many as California, at a median of $100,700, which is $6,530 below the national median. Illinois sits in between, with 11,030 jobs at $120,250. BLS does not publish this occupation's pay by state and industry together, so the table cannot say whether Texas pays less because of its employers or its prices; the next section removes the price effect.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes Regional Price Parities, which measure what the same basket of goods and services costs in each state against a national average of 100.^[5] Dividing a state's median by its parity restates the pay in national-average dollars. Among states with at least 1,000 of these managers, these come out on top:

• Alabama: $118,320 nominal, about $133,200 after adjusting for prices that are 11.2 percent below the national average.
• Colorado: $132,610 nominal, about $128,700 after adjusting for prices that are 3.1 percent above the national average.
• Georgia: $123,330 nominal, about $128,100 after adjusting for prices that are 3.7 percent below the national average.
• Washington: $136,500 nominal, about $127,600 after adjusting for prices that are 7.0 percent above the national average.
• Illinois: $120,250 nominal, about $120,300 after adjusting for prices that are essentially equal to the national average.

Price adjustment moves Alabama to first: its $118,320 median is not the highest nominal figure, but prices there run 11.2 percent below average, which lifts it to about $133,200. The two biggest markets look different. California's $123,780 median falls to about $111,800, 17th of 36 states, because its prices run 10.7 percent above average. Texas goes the other way, from $100,700 to about $103,800, which still ranks only 26th, so its gap to the best-paid states is mostly a real pay gap and only partly a price one. Illinois, with prices almost exactly at the national average, lands in the top five at about $120,300.

The parities are statewide averages, and distribution centers cluster in specific metros whose prices can differ from the state's. Use the adjusted figures as a first comparison between locations, then check the metro-level parities BEA also publishes before weighing a relocation.

The two largest employers pay below the occupation's median. Warehousing and storage employs 21,430 of these managers at a median of $99,330, and truck transportation employs 17,860 at $98,800, together 17.8 percent of the occupation in the wage survey.^[1] BLS's broader grouping puts 30 percent of these managers in transportation and warehousing, 15 percent in wholesale trade, 13 percent in manufacturing, 8 percent in government, and 7 percent in management of companies.^[3] Wholesalers sit in the same band: durable goods wholesalers pay $98,120 and nondurable goods wholesalers $100,250, and freight arrangement firms, the brokers and forwarders, pay $102,310.^[1]

Three employers pay clearly more. Management of companies and enterprises, which covers corporate headquarters and holding companies, pays $156,720, $49,490 above the national median, on 17,630 jobs.^[1] Local government pays $122,880 and the federal executive branch $121,140.^[1] BLS's own table shows the same pattern in its wider groups: management of companies at $156,720, government at $120,650, manufacturing at $117,660, transportation and warehousing at $102,850, and wholesale trade at $100,670.^[3]

The $58,600 gap between the highest and lowest of these industry medians is wider than the $50,730 gap between the highest and lowest state medians among states with at least 1,000 of these managers. One reading of the table is that managers who run the physical operation, the warehouse or the fleet, earn the lower figures, and corporate and public-sector roles earn the higher ones, though BLS does not publish pay by job type within an industry, so that is an interpretation, not a published finding.

BLS expects transportation, storage, and distribution managers to be in demand as e-commerce makes supply chain management more dynamic and complex, requiring tighter integration of logistics with business systems and a growing volume of inventory and supply chains to plan and coordinate; it adds that timeliness of delivery stays a priority as more goods are bought online.^[3] Employment is projected to rise from 228,100 to 242,100 between 2025 and 2035, 6.1 percent, against 3.5 percent for all occupations.^[2]

The openings figure is more useful than the growth rate. About 18,300 openings a year are projected, which is roughly 183,000 over the decade against a net gain of 14,000 jobs. BLS says many of those openings come from replacing workers who transfer to other occupations or leave the labor force, such as to retire.^[3] For a job seeker that means most openings are existing jobs changing hands.

Two job counts appear on this page and measure different things. The wage survey counts 221,180 wage-and-salary jobs in May 2025; the projections count 228,100 jobs in 2025 from a broader set of surveys that includes the self-employed.^[2] Use the first with the pay figures and the second with the growth figures.

The nearest occupations differ in pay, entry route, and outlook. Logisticians, the analyst-level supply chain job, earn a median of $82,320, $24,910 below supply chain managers, in a larger occupation of 251,040 jobs.^[1] BLS lists a bachelor's degree and no work experience as typical for logisticians, and projects 17.6 percent growth against 6.1 percent here.^[2] The analyst route starts sooner and the field is growing faster; the manager route pays more and asks for 5 years or more of related experience.

Purchasing managers earn the most of the group, a median of $148,080, $40,850 above supply chain managers, in a much smaller occupation of 84,320 jobs with 4 percent projected growth.^[1][2] Industrial production managers, who oversee manufacturing plants, earn $126,060, and general and operations managers earn $105,770, within $1,460 of the supply chain manager median, across 3,503,020 jobs.^[1][3] The general operations route is the wider door: our operations manager career guide covers it, and the supply chain versus logistics guide explains where the fields overlap.

Start with the industry, since the spread between industry medians is wider than the spread between state medians. A distribution center manager at a warehousing firm and a supply chain director at a corporate headquarters can have the same code and a gap of about $57,390 between their industry medians.^[1] Then check the state median rather than the national one: $107,230 nationally, but $136,500 in Washington and $100,700 in Texas. Finally, place the offer on the percentile ladder: $82,440 is the 25th percentile and $146,770 the 75th.^[1]

Titles are a weak guide. O*NET's reported titles for this occupation run from warehouse supervisor, shipping manager, and fleet manager to logistics director and global transportation manager, and the supply chain managers record lists titles such as supply chain director and material requirements planning manager.^[6][7] Compare the scope behind the title: how many people report to you, whether you own a budget, and whether you set strategy or run a site. For the path into the job, see our supply chain manager career guide.

BLS says some employers require or prefer specific certifications or licenses, and that certifications demonstrate competency in a particular area of transportation, storage, or distribution management.^[3] It does not publish pay by certification, and neither does the wage survey, so no federal figure says what a credential adds. The best-known supply chain credentials come from ASCM, the association behind the CSCP and CLTD, and from ISM, which offers the CPSM for purchasing and supply management. Check each body's current page for eligibility, fees, and renewal before you commit, and ask a prospective employer whether it pays for them. Our career guide covers how to decide.

The largest lever in the federal data is the employer, covered in the industry section above. The second is scope. BLS describes these managers as preparing and managing departmental budgets, overseeing purchasing and procurement, and evaluating staff, and it notes that in some warehouse or transportation operations a manager spends more time overseeing workers and has fewer budgetary responsibilities.^[3] O*NET's most important tasks for supply chain managers include defining performance metrics, implementing new supply chain processes, and negotiating with suppliers and freight forwarders.^[7] Owning a budget and a number the company cares about is what separates the upper part of the range from the middle.

On education, BLS says employers may prefer a bachelor's degree in a field such as business, transportation, or engineering, and that some colleges offer bachelor's programs in supply chain management and logistics.^[3] BLS does not publish pay by degree, so no federal figure shows what a master's in supply chain management or an MBA adds; weigh one on cost and on the roles it opens. A third lever is a move to a neighboring occupation: purchasing managers earn a median of $148,080 and industrial production managers $126,060, and both are reachable from supply chain work with the right experience.^[1]