Supply Chain Manager: what the job is, what it pays, and how to get hired.
The work, the skills that matter, the tools in demand and the pay range, from U.S. government data, plus every TryHired page for the role.
BLS does not publish pay for supply chain managers separately. Every pay figure on this page is for the BLS occupation “Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers” (SOC 11-3071), which includes supply chain managers and other jobs; it is not a figure for supply chain managers alone.
10% of workers in the BLS occupation “Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers” earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $65,120
- Hourly
- $31.31
- Source
- BLS May 2025
25% of workers in the BLS occupation “Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers” earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $82,440
- Hourly
- $39.64
- Source
- BLS May 2025
Half of workers in the BLS occupation “Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers” earn more than this and half earn less.
- Annual
- $107,230
- Hourly
- $51.55
- Source
- BLS May 2025
75% of workers in the BLS occupation “Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers” earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $146,770
- Hourly
- $70.56
- Source
- BLS May 2025
90% of workers in the BLS occupation “Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers” earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $194,900
- Hourly
- $93.70
- Source
- BLS May 2025
Supply Chain Managers direct or coordinate production, purchasing, warehousing, distribution, or financial forecasting services or activities to limit costs and improve accuracy, customer service, or safety. The median pay is $107,230 a year ($51.55 an hour) (BLS, May 2025). The most commonly reported education requirement is a bachelor's degree (67% of workers surveyed by O*NET).
- Median pay
- $107,230
- BLS May 2025
- Employed in the U.S.
- 221,180
- BLS May 2025
- Preparation
- Job Zone 4 of 5
- considerable preparation
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree
- 67% of workers
Supply Chain Managers at a glance
Workers in the BLS occupation “Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers” (which includes supply chain managers) in the United States earned a median annual wage of $107,230 in May 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025
In its 2025–35 employment projections, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry-level education for supply chain managers in the United States.
Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35
BLS projects employment of supply chain managers in the United States to grow 6.1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 18,300 openings a year on average, including replacement openings.
Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35
BLS estimates that 14.4% of transportation, storage, and distribution managers in the United States had the ability to telework in 2025, a preliminary estimate of whether the job allows it, not a count of remote jobs.
Source: BLS Occupational Requirements Survey, 2025 preliminary
Every page for Supply Chain Managers
Pay by percentile, state and metro, with a negotiation script.
Open →How to becomeSupply Chain Manager how to becomeEducation, training and the skills to build first.
Open →ResumeSupply Chain Manager resumeKeywords, bullet formulas and the skills to prove.
Open →Interview questionsSupply Chain Manager interview questionsQuestions with what they test, plus practice mode.
Open →Free toolCheck your resumeParsed text, evidence per bullet, fixes first.
Open →What supply chain managers do day to day
Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).
- Determine appropriate equipment and staffing levels to load, unload, move, or store materials.
- Manage activities related to strategic or tactical purchasing, material requirements planning, controlling inventory, warehousing, or receiving.
- Select transportation routes to maximize economy by combining shipments or consolidating warehousing and distribution.
- Define performance metrics for measurement, comparison, or evaluation of supply chain factors, such as product cost or quality.
- Implement new or improved supply chain processes to improve efficiency or performance.
- Develop procedures for coordination of supply chain management with other functional areas, such as sales, marketing, finance, production, or quality assurance.
- Confer with supply chain planners to forecast demand or create supply plans that ensure availability of materials or products.
- Analyze inventories to determine how to increase inventory turns, reduce waste, or optimize customer service.
What the job requires
Data BLS figures for transportation, storage, and distribution managers (SOC 11-3071), 2025 preliminary BLS Occupational Requirements Survey. This TryHired page covers a specialty within that occupation; the figures describe the whole occupation.
- Telework available
- 14.4%
- of workers had the ability to telework
- Workday sitting
- 68.7%
- mean share of the day required to sit
- Most common strength level
- Sedentary
- 51.1% of workers
- Can pause work
- more than 95%
- of workers could take short, unscheduled breaks
- Self-paced workload
- 91.9%
- of workers set their own workload
- Employer-changed schedules
- 32.9%
- of workers had schedules changed by the employer week to week
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey. Estimates are preliminary; ranges are shown as published.
Industries that employ it
Data Share of all supply chain manager jobs in each industry, 2025 (BLS Employment Matrix). Figures cover all transportation, storage, and distribution managers (SOC 11-3071), the broader occupation.
- Warehousing and storage8.9% of all jobs in this occupation · +16.3% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $111,890
- Government, excluding state and local education and hospitals8.1% of all jobs in this occupation · -0.1% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $126,650
- Truck transportation7.7% of all jobs in this occupation · +7.6% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $107,160
- Merchant wholesalers, durable goods7.5% of all jobs in this occupation · +7.0% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $111,340
- Management of companies and enterprises7.2% of all jobs in this occupation · +9.9% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $164,170
- Merchant wholesalers, nondurable goods7.0% of all jobs in this occupation · +6.3% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $116,030
Sources: BLS 2025–35 National Employment Matrix (share of the occupation's jobs, projected change) and BLS OEWS May 2025 industry estimates (mean wage). Different industry estimates are not a pay forecast for any person.
Ranked by importance to the job
Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.
Knowledge areas: Transportation, Administration and Management, English Language, Economics and Accounting, Customer and Personal Service, Production and Processing.
Software supply chain managers use
Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.
- Inventory management systemsInventory management softwareIn demand
- Warehouse management system WMSMaterials requirements planning logistics and supply chain softwareIn demand
- MEDITECH softwareMedical softwareHot technology
- Microsoft VisioProcess mapping and design softwareHot technology
- Adexa Supply Chain PlanningMaterials requirements planning logistics and supply chain software
- Aldata Warehouse ManagementMaterials requirements planning logistics and supply chain software
- CDC Supply ChainMaterials requirements planning logistics and supply chain software
- Dex WarehouseMaterials requirements planning logistics and supply chain software
- Epicor SRMMaterials requirements planning logistics and supply chain software
- Epicor WMSMaterials requirements planning logistics and supply chain software
- Graphics softwareGraphics or photo imaging software
- HighJump Software Supply Chain AdvantageMaterials requirements planning logistics and supply chain software
Also called: Global Supply Chain Director, Material Requirements Planning Manager, Solution Design and Analysis Manager, Supply Chain Director.
How this page is built
Tasks, skills, tools, education and related roles come from O*NET 31.0. Pay and employment come from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national estimates. The skill-match score is our calculation: Skill match is the cosine similarity of the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level and subtract the average across all occupations, then compare the direction of the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 means unrelated or opposite (negative values are shown as 0). Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.
- How a specific employer defines the job.
- Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
- Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. TryHired selected, ranked and combined the data; O*NET is not responsible for these pages.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).
How TryHired builds this data: sources, methods and downloads. Spotted an error? Report a correction.