Inventory analyst education requirements

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

There are several educational requirements to become an inventory analyst. Inventory analysts usually study business, accounting, or finance. 67% of inventory analysts hold a bachelor's degree, and 15% hold an associate degree. We analyzed 6,844 real inventory analyst resumes to see exactly what inventory analyst education sections show.

The most common colleges for inventory analysts are the University of Phoenix and the University of Phoenix.

There are also many online inventory analyst courses to help get the education required to be an inventory analyst.

There are certain inventory analyst certifications that you should consider. These inventory analyst certifications include Certified in Production and Inventory Management (CPIM) and Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP).

What education do you need to become an inventory analyst?

What degree do you need to be an inventory analyst?

The most common degree for inventory analysts is bachelor's degree, with 67% of inventory analysts earning that degree. The second and third most common degree levels are associate degree degree at 15% and associate degree degree at 8%.

Bachelor's, 67%

Associate, 15%

Master's, 8%

High School Diploma, 6%

Other Degrees, 4%

What should I major in to become an inventory analyst?

You should major in business to become an inventory analyst. 39% of inventory analysts major in business. Other common majors for an inventory analyst include accounting and finance.

Business, 39%

Accounting, 12%

Finance, 6%

Supply Chain Management, 5%

Other Majors, 38%

Most common colleges for inventory analysts

Inventory analysts often get their degrees at University of Phoenix, Northern Illinois University, and Michigan State University. Here are the most common colleges for inventory analysts in the US based on their resumes.

Inventory analyst common college	Percentages
University of Phoenix	16.36%
Northern Illinois University	7.93%
Michigan State University	7.77%
Purdue University	6.45%
Pennsylvania State University	6.28%

Show more common inventory analyst colleges

Best majors for inventory analysts

Rank	Major	Percentages
1	Business	39.5%
2	Accounting	12.3%
3	Finance	6.0%
4	Supply Chain Management	5.1%
5	Marketing	4.7%

Show more common inventory analyst majors

Best colleges for inventory analysts

The best colleges for inventory analysts are Northwestern University, Carnegie Mellon University, and University of Pennsylvania.

An inventory analyst with advanced education typically earns a higher salary and has access to better jobs. That's why Zippia looked into the best colleges for inventory analysts. We based this list on several metrics: admissions rate, retention rate, mean earnings of graduates, the ratio of working vs. non-working students ten years after admission, the average cost of attendance, and median debt for graduates who become inventory analysts.

1. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$56,225

Enrollment

19,548

2. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

In-state tuition

$55,584

Enrollment

10,764

3. SUNY Stony Brook

Stony Brook, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$9,625

Enrollment

17,407

4. New York University

New York, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$51,828

Enrollment

26,339

5. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Champaign, IL • Private

In-state tuition

$15,094

Enrollment

32,974

6. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

In-state tuition

$54,568

Enrollment

8,451

7. Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, PA • Private

In-state tuition

$55,465

Enrollment

6,483

8. Pennsylvania State University

University Park, PA • Private

In-state tuition

$18,454

Enrollment

40,108

9. University of Texas at Austin

Austin, TX • Private

In-state tuition

$10,610

Enrollment

40,329

10. Baruch College of the City University of New York

New York, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$7,262

Enrollment

14,629

20 best online courses for inventory analysts

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3. Financial Accounting - Inventory Costs

4.3

(254)

Mastering Inventory Costs & Flows: An In-Depth Guide to Accounting for Inventory in Business Operations...

4. Supply Chain Management A-Z: Operations & Logistics Basics

4.5

(2,394)

Supply Chain Management Basics: An MBA style course to boost your career as a business operations & logistics manager...

5. RA: Data Science and Supply chain analytics.(A-Z with R)

4.5

(322)

Learn R,Supply-chain Data Science, Inventory Optimization,Big Data forecasting, Machine learning and Revenue Management...

6. eBay Drop Shipping Guide with No Inventory - Work From Home

(9,490)

Learn exactly how to work from home purely selling and drop shipping on e Bay. No up front inventory! Basic to Advanced!...

7. SAP MM Materials Management (beginner to expert level)

4.3

(331)

Master SAP Materials Management module with practical implementation steps. Prepare and crack SAP MM Certification exam...

8. PHP for Beginners to Inventory POS Sales Project - AdminLTE

4.2

(392)

Create Inventory POS System Project With Billing by use of Bootstrap Responsive Admin LTE Dashboard With PHP PHP7 MYSQL...

9. Laravel 9 - Build Complete Inventory Management System A-Z

4.5

(666)

In This Course, You Will Build Two Different Projects With Laravel 9 including Inventory Management System A-Z...

10. Unity RPG Inventory Systems Asset Pack: Behind The Scenes

4.2

(840)

Review and integrate an RPG-Style Inventory System. All Code Base Provided As A Flexible Asset Pack...

11. Fundamentals of Logistics, Supply Chain & Customer Service

4.5

(3,822)

Learn Logistics, Supply Chain and Customer Service. 3 Courses in 1...

12. SAP Materials Management (MM) Super User Training

4.6

(614)

Complete Beginner and Intermediate Purchasing & Inventory Management Training - Perform all the task in SAP in no time...

13. Create POS System - Inventory & sales with PHP 7 & adminLTE

4.5

(282)

Learn how to create a POS system with inventory management and billing using PHP 7 and Admin LTE...

14. RA: Data Science and Supply Chain analytics. A-Z with Python

4.4

(840)

Learn Python, Supply Chain Data Science ,Linear Programming, Forecasting, Pricing and Inventory Management...

15. Master Blazor Development: Build Inventory Management System

4.5

(435)

Learn Blazor Server, Entity Framework Core, and ASP.NET Core Identity for Full Stack Web Development...

16. Complete Tally ERP 9-GST Course with Live Project of Clients

4.2

(353)

Learn Tally ERP 9 with live Accounts of a Business Covering its Accounting, Payroll, GST, Banking, Inventory System...

17. Ultimate TALLY ERP 9 with GST - TALLY with Accounting [2022]

4.5

(781)

Practical hands-on training on the core concepts like accounting, inventory, Payroll with practical hands-on...

18. Practical Pharmaceutical Supply Management: LMIC Focus

4.4

(2,385)

Pharmaceutical Supply Mastery: From Procurement to Efficient Distribution...

19. SAP MM (Materials Management) Consultant Level Course

(306)

Learn SAP Material Management module from scratch. Purchasing, Schema Determination, Material Master, Goods Receipt, etc...

20. SAP MM -Material Management Simplified For Beginners

4.6

(518)

Exclusively designed SAP MM Training for End-Users, MM-Super-users , SAP Beginner to become SAP MM Consultant, S4 HANA...

Top 10 most affordable universities for inventory analysts

The most affordable schools for inventory analysts are Baruch College of the City University of New York, suny farmingdale, and university of florida.

If the best universities for inventory analysts are out of your price range, check out these affordable schools. After factoring in in-state tuition and fees, the average cost of attendance, admissions rate, average net price, and mean earnings after six years, we found that these are the most affordable schools for inventory analysts.

1. Baruch College of the City University of New York

New York, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$7,262

Cost of attendance

14,046

2. SUNY Farmingdale

Farmingdale, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$8,306

Cost of attendance

16,091

3. University of Florida

Gainesville, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$6,381

Cost of attendance

21,034

4. Brigham Young University

Provo, UT • Private

In-state tuition

$5,620

Cost of attendance

18,136

5. Florida State University

Tallahassee, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$5,656

Cost of attendance

21,623

6. California State University - Fullerton

Fullerton, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,886

Cost of attendance

17,645

7. California State University - Dominguez Hills

Carson, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,942

Cost of attendance

14,469

8. Brooklyn College of the City University of New York

Brooklyn, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$7,240

Cost of attendance

13,991

9. USF Sarasota-Manatee

Sarasota, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$5,587

Cost of attendance

13,043

10. California State University - Northridge

Northridge, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,893

Cost of attendance

18,870

Top 10 hardest universities to get into for inventory analysts

The hardest universities for inventory analysts to get into are Northwestern University, Carnegie Mellon University, and University of Pennsylvania.

Some great schools for inventory analysts are hard to get into, but they also set your career up for greater success. The list below shows the most challenging universities to get into for inventory analysts based on an institution's admissions rates, average SAT scores accepted, median ACT scores accepted, and mean earnings of students six years after admission.

1. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

Admissions rate

SAT average

1,508

2. Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, PA • Private

Admissions rate

17%

SAT average

1,507

3. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

Admissions rate

SAT average

1,492

4. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

Admissions rate

13%

SAT average

1,445

5. New York University

New York, NY • Private

Admissions rate

20%

SAT average

1,419

6. Northeastern University

Boston, MA • Private

Admissions rate

19%

SAT average

1,466

7. Case Western Reserve University

Cleveland, OH • Private

Admissions rate

29%

SAT average

1,443

8. Boston University

Boston, MA • Private

Admissions rate

22%

SAT average

1,420

9. Washington University in St Louis

Saint Louis, MO • Private

Admissions rate

15%

SAT average

1,506

10. Boston College

Chestnut Hill, MA • Private

Admissions rate

28%

SAT average

1,429

Top 10 easy-to-apply-to universities for inventory analysts

The easiest schools for inventory analysts to get into are Notre Dame de Namur University, felician university, and oklahoma wesleyan university.

Some schools are much easier to get into. If you want to start your career as an inventory analyst without much hassle, check out the list of schools where you will be accepted in no time. We compiled admissions rates, average SAT scores, average ACT scores, and average salary of students six years after graduation to uncover which were the easiest schools to get into for inventory analysts.

1. Notre Dame de Namur University

Belmont, CA • Private

Admissions rate

82%

SAT average

983

2. Felician University

Lodi, NJ • Private

Admissions rate

81%

SAT average

999

3. Oklahoma Wesleyan University

Bartlesville, OK • Private

Admissions rate

68%

SAT average

964

4. La Roche College

Pittsburgh, PA • Private

Admissions rate

99%

SAT average

1,008

5. Holy Names University

Oakland, CA • Private

Admissions rate

70%

SAT average

849

6. Notre Dame College

Cleveland, OH • Private

Admissions rate

90%

SAT average

994

7. D'Youville College

Buffalo, NY • Private

Admissions rate

100%

SAT average

1,072

8. William Paterson University of New Jersey

Wayne, NJ • Private

Admissions rate

93%

SAT average

994

9. Nyack College

New York, NY • Private

Admissions rate

98%

SAT average

999

10. Oregon Institute of Technology

Klamath Falls, OR • Private

Admissions rate

96%

SAT average

1,139

Average inventory analyst salary by education level

Inventory analysts with a Doctorate degree earn more than those without, at $69,211 annually. With a Master's degree, inventory analysts earn a median annual income of $66,601 compared to $60,472 for inventory analysts with an Bachelor's degree.

Inventory analyst education level	Inventory analyst salary
Master's Degree	$66,601
Bachelor's Degree	$60,472
Doctorate Degree	$69,211
Some College/ Associate Degree	$53,782

Inventory analyst education FAQs

What is the best college for Inventory Analysts?

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Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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