Work out how a product gets from a factory to a shelf on time and for less money, then prove it with numbers.
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The median pay is about $82,320 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $50,890 at the lower end to about $133,160 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
2 to 4 years after high school, on the usual route.
$8,300 to $50,000 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
No. There is no license to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Very high demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$82,320
Bottom tenth
$50,890
Top tenth
$133,160
The national median is $82,320 a year. The bottom tenth earn $50,890 or less and the top tenth $133,160 or more (2025 federal wage survey). The federal wage survey calls this occupation Logisticians, which covers supply chain analysts, logistics analysts and planners under one title.
$50,890 to $64,440
What the bottom tenth to bottom quarter of logisticians earn, 2025
Many people start a step lower as a coordinator or expediter in a warehouse, then move into analysis once they know how the operation actually runs.
$107,250 a year
The median for logisticians in Washington state, the highest of any state
The District of Columbia is close behind at $104,770 and Maryland at $102,700. The lowest is Nebraska, at $65,370. State medians from the 2025 federal wage survey.
Roughly, all in
$8,300 to $50,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is a two year associate degree in logistics at in-state rates, roughly $8,300 in total, which is enough for a coordinator job you can be promoted out of. The high end is four years of a bachelor's degree at an in-state public university at about $12,000 a year, plus an industry certification at several hundred to about $2,000. Two years at a community college then transferring cuts the degree route to around $32,000. Employer tuition help is common here, because large companies want warehouse and dispatch staff to move up into planning roles, so ask before you pay for anything yourself.
Employer tuition help is common in this field because large companies want their warehouse staff to move up into planning roles.
Manufacturing
One of the two top industries for logisticians in O*NET (Occupational Information Network), the federal career database.
Government
The other top industry. Defense logistics is a big part of it, and federal jobs are posted on USAJOBS (the official federal hiring site).
Professional, scientific and technical services
Mostly consulting firms and defense contractors.
Transportation, warehousing and wholesale
The operational end of the field.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
A bachelor's degree is the normal entry, but plenty of people arrive from the warehouse floor.
High school
Grades 11 and 12
Math, statistics if offered, and any computer class. Learn spreadsheets properly, because that is the daily tool.
Bachelor's degree
4 years
Supply chain management, logistics, business, industrial engineering or economics. Coursework covers accounting, economics and procurement.
Internship or warehouse job
Summers
Time spent in an actual distribution center is worth more than any elective. It teaches you why the plan on your screen does not survive a Monday.
First analyst role
2 to 3 years
Demand planning, inventory analysis, transportation analysis or procurement support. You learn the company's systems here.
Certification and specialization
Ongoing
Add an industry credential and choose a lane: planning, sourcing, transportation or network design.
Math and statistics
Forecasting demand is statistics with a deadline.
Business or economics
Cost, margin and trade-offs are the language of the job.
Computer science
Spreadsheets first, then databases and a scripting language.
Geography
Ports, borders, distances and weather all shape a supply chain.
Nobody licenses supply chain analysts and there is no exam you must pass to hold the title. Certifications are voluntary and employer driven. The one real exception is defense work: the Department of Defense requires specific acquisition certifications for people working on its purchasing and logistics programs, and those are earned on the job after you are hired.
Things you don't need, but that help.
SCPro (Supply Chain Professional)
Run by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, an industry body since 1963.
SQL (the language used to pull data out of databases)
The difference between waiting for a report and getting the answer yourself.
Enterprise planning systems
Knowing how a large company's ordering and inventory system actually works is a hiring requirement at scale.
Lean and Six Sigma training
Process improvement methods that manufacturers ask for by name.
A season in a warehouse or a store
Credibility with the people who have to live with your plan.
A second language
Suppliers and freight forwarders are global, and Spanish or Mandarin opens doors.
Data visualization
A clear chart is how a plan gets approved.
A driver's license
Site visits to plants and distribution centers are part of the job.
Government is one of the two top industries for this occupation, and much of the federal work is defense logistics: moving parts, fuel and equipment for the military. Pay follows the federal salary schedule rather than the market, and comes with a pension and unusual job security. Openings are posted on USAJOBS (the official federal hiring site), and veterans get a hiring preference.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Open yesterday's exception report: what did not ship, what ran out, what arrived that nobody ordered. Chase the three worst ones. Then a planning meeting where sales promise a number nobody in operations believes. Spend the afternoon in a spreadsheet or a database working out what a change in supplier, route or order size would actually cost. Write it up in one page with a recommendation, because that page is what gets acted on.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
O*NET (Occupational Information Network), the federal career database, counts about 255,100 logisticians (2025) and rates growth to 2035 as much faster than average (7% or higher), with about 26,600 openings a year.
When O*NET (Occupational Information Network) surveyed people in this job, 75% said a new hire needs a bachelor's degree. Only 8% said a high school diploma was enough.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
People and operations first, then the rest of the field. See every career in business and money.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in United States dollars, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and published pay scales. They vary by state, employer and experience. Tuition is for in-state students at public schools unless the card says otherwise. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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