How to become a Supply Chain Manager: education, training and skills.
What workers in the job actually report about their education, experience and training, the skills to build first, and the stepping-stone roles that lead in.
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.
- 67% Bachelor's Degree
- 19% Master's Degree
- 10% Post-Baccalaureate Certificate
- 5% Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree
BLS typical entry-level education: a high school diploma or equivalent
BLS lists a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry-level education for supply chain managers in the United States (Employment Projections, 2025–35). Most supply chain managers report needing a bachelor's degree (67% of workers surveyed by O*NET). O*NET places the job in Job Zone 4 of 5 (considerable preparation). The most common answer for related work experience was “over 10 years” (33%). For on-the-job training, “over 1 month, up to and including 3 months”, “over 3 months, up to and including 6 months” and “over 6 months, up to and including 1 year” were reported equally often (24% each).
What BLS lists for supply chain managers
According to BLS 2025–35 projections data, supply chain managers in the United States typically need 5 years or more of work experience in a related occupation to enter the occupation.
Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35
Once hired, supply chain managers in the United States typically need no on-the-job training to become fully competent, according to BLS 2025–35 projections data.
Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35
Six steps to becoming a Supply Chain Manager
Data Steps 1 to 5 summarise BLS and O*NET data for the role; step 6 is advice.
- EducationPlan for a high school diploma or equivalent
BLS typical entry-level education, 2025–35 projections. In O*NET's worker survey, 67% report a bachelor's degree.
- TrainingExpect on-the-job training
Tied: over 1 month, up to and including 3 months, over 3 months, up to and including 6 months and over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (24% each).
- ExperienceRelated experience
Most common: over 10 years (33% of workers).
- SkillsBuild the core skills
Coordination, Judgment and Decision Making, Time Management are rated most important.
- ToolsLearn the tools
Inventory management systems, Warehouse management system WMS, MEDITECH software.
- CredentialsCheck licensing where you live
Many occupations need a state license or certification. Requirements vary by state, so confirm with your state's licensing board.
What workers report
Data Share of workers giving each answer, O*NET.
O*NET Job Zone 4 (Considerable Preparation Needed): 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.
Data Pay once you are in the job: the BLS median is $107,230; the lowest-paid quarter earn $82,440 or less. See the full Supply Chain Manager salary data.
What employers require, by BLS survey
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.
- Most common minimum education
- High school diploma
- 55.6% of workers
- No minimum education
- less than 30%
- of workers
- No prior experience required
- less than 0.5%
- of workers
- Median prior experience, where required
- 1,825 days (about 5.0 years)
- On-the-job training required
- 57.9%
- of workers
- License or certification required
- 10.5%
- of workers, as reported by employers (state licensing rules are separate)
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey. Minimum requirements reported by employers for average performance; individual employers differ. Estimates are preliminary; ranges are shown as published.
How this page is built
Education, experience, training and Job Zone come from O*NET 31.0 survey data for the occupation. The typical entry-level education, work experience and on-the-job training lines come from BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35. O*NET answers with low-precision estimates are not shown, and an answer is called the most common only when no hidden answer could be larger. Stepping-stone roles use our skill-match score: 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.
- Licensing rules in your state.
- Requirements at a specific employer.
- How long the path will take you personally.
- 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.
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