Production Planner Salary, Skills & Requirements (2026)
Advertised pay, starting pay, skills and experience from 1,708 US job postings by 975 employers. Data as of October 2026.
What US employers post for production planners: advertised pay, the skills and experience they ask for, and the job titles they use, from 1,708 open job postings (October 2026).
- The median advertised pay for production planners in US job postings is $88,000 a year (364 postings from 228 employers, October 2026).
- The middle half of those postings offer $73,000 to $108,000.
- The skills that most set production planner postings apart are production planning, Excel, SAP.
- Postings that state a minimum ask for a median of 3 years of experience.
Production Planner job postings in the US, October 2026
- $88,000
- Median advertised pay (364 postings)
- $73,000–$108,000
- Middle 50% of postings
- 1,708
- US job postings from 975 employers
- 3 years
- Median experience asked
How much does a production planner make?
The median advertised pay is $88,000 a year, from 364 US job postings by 228 employers that state pay. One in ten postings offers $134,000 or more.
Advertised pay in 364 US production planner job postings: median $88,000 a year, middle half $73,000 to $108,000.
- Median: $88,000
- 25th percentile: $73,000
- 75th percentile: $108,000
The figures as a table
| Annual pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| $30K–$40K | 0.3% |
| $40K–$50K | 3.3% |
| $50K–$60K | 8.2% |
| $60K–$70K | 9.9% |
| $70K–$80K | 15.7% |
| $80K–$90K | 14.8% |
| $90K–$100K | 13.7% |
| $100K–$110K | 10.2% |
| $110K–$120K | 9.3% |
| $120K–$130K | 2.8% |
| $130K–$140K | 5.2% |
| $140K–$150K | 1.9% |
| $150K–$160K | 1.9% |
| $160K–$170K | 0.5% |
| $170K–$180K | 1.1% |
| $200K–$210K | 1.1% |
Midpoint of each posting's pay range, hourly pay × 2,080 hours; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
| Median | Middle 50% | Postings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postings that state an annual salary | $90,000 | $76K–$110K | 309 |
| All pay postings, annualised | $88,000 | $73K–$108K | 364 |
What is the starting salary for a production planner?
Figure withheld: fewer than 250 US postings list pay. How we decide.
Skills employers ask for in production planner job postings
| Skill | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Excel | 48% |
| Communication | 46% |
| Analytical skills | 31% |
| Problem-solving | 31% |
| Organizational skills | 28% |
| SAP | 22% |
| Attention to detail | 21% |
| Microsoft Office | 19% |
| Word | 17% |
| Production planning | 17% |
Skills named in the posting text; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026. Methodology.
Skills that set production planners apart
- Production planning211.1× as often as in all postings · 17%
- Excel4.7× as often as in all postings · 48%
- SAP21.5× as often as in all postings · 22%
- Analytical skills4.3× as often as in all postings · 31%
- Erp/mrp systems147.5× as often as in all postings · 8%
- Mrp170× as often as in all postings · 7%
- Scheduling18× as often as in all postings · 11%
- Production scheduling242.8× as often as in all postings · 6%
- Erp systems21.4× as often as in all postings · 8%
- Supply chain33.4× as often as in all postings · 6%
- Capacity planning64.6× as often as in all postings · 5%
- Inventory management17.5× as often as in all postings · 7%
Skills named in at least 5% of these postings and at least 3 times as often as in job postings overall.
Have a production planner job posting in front of you? See which of its skills your resume is missing.
What does a production planner do?
Employers post these jobs as Production Scheduler, Material Planner, Materials Planner, Manufacturing Planner, Master Planner and other titles. The largest specializations are Material Planner (21%), Production Controller (8%), Maintenance Planner (3%), Production Coordinator (2%), Planning Manager (1%), Operations Planner (under 1%).
The closest official occupation is Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks (43-5061.00). Its most important tasks:
- Distribute production schedules or work orders to departments.
- Revise production schedules when required due to design changes, labor or material shortages, backlogs, or other interruptions, collaborating with management, marketing, sales, production, or engineering.
- Review documents, such as production schedules, work orders, or staffing tables, to determine personnel or materials requirements or material priorities.
- Arrange for delivery, assembly, or distribution of supplies or parts to expedite flow of materials and meet production schedules.
- Confer with establishment personnel, vendors, or customers to coordinate production or shipping activities and to resolve complaints or eliminate delays.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (CC BY 4.0).
How much experience do you need to be a production planner?
Among 910 postings that state a minimum, the median is 3 years. 4% say 0 years and 18% ask for 1 year or less.
Minimum experience asked in 910 US production planner job postings: median 3 years, and 18% ask for 1 year or less.
The figures as a table
| Minimum experience asked | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| 0 yr | 4% |
| 1 yr | 14% |
| 2 yrs | 26% |
| 3-4 yrs | 28% |
| 5-7 yrs | 25% |
| 8-9 yrs | 2% |
| 10+ yrs | 2% |
Postings that state a minimum (required or preferred); at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
We do not show a degree figure: in our checks, degree requirements in posting text were found too rarely to publish one. Why.
Other names for a production planner: job titles employers use
| Job title | Employers using it |
|---|---|
| Production Planner | 255 (26.2%) |
| Production Scheduler | 128 (13.1%) |
| Material Planner | 99 (10.2%) |
| Materials Planner | 49 (5.0%) |
| Manufacturing Planner | 35 (3.6%) |
| Master Planner | 25 (2.6%) |
| Master Scheduler | 24 (2.5%) |
| Production Control Specialist | 24 (2.5%) |
| Production Control Manager | 20 (2.1%) |
| Production Planning Manager | 18 (1.8%) |
| Production Control Coordinator | 18 (1.8%) |
| Senior Production Planner | 18 (1.8%) |
| Master Production Scheduler | 16 (1.6%) |
| Production Control Planner | 16 (1.6%) |
| Manufacturing Production Planner | 15 (1.5%) |
| Material Analyst | 13 (1.3%) |
| Production Planner/Scheduler | 13 (1.3%) |
| Production Planner II | 13 (1.3%) |
| Materials Planning Manager | 12 (1.2%) |
| Production Planning Specialist | 11 (1.1%) |
Titles read in our audit and used by at least 3 employers.
Production planner job titles compared
The titles people search for most, from the US job postings that use each exact title (October 2026).
| Job title | Open postings | Employers | Median pay | Median experience | Skills named most |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Production Scheduler | 163 | 128 | – | – | Excel, communication, organizational skills |
Production Planner compared with similar careers
| Career | Median pay | Median experience | Postings | Shares N of top 25 skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Production Planner | $88K | 3 years | 1,708 | – |
| Supply Chain Manager | $100K | 3 years | 4,489 | 19 |
| Production Manager | $86K | 3 years | 8,027 | 14 |
| Urban Planner | – | 3 years | 693 | 15 |
| Logistics Manager | $70K | 3 years | 13,004 | 17 |
Similar careers
| Career | Shares N of the top 25 skills | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Supply Chain Manager | 19 | $100K |
| Production Manager | 14 | $86K |
| Urban Planner | 15 | – |
| Logistics Manager | 17 | $70K |
| Buyer | 18 | $100K |
| Operations Manager | 15 | $85K |
Applying for production planner jobs?
- Production planner resume examples: one-page examples for these roles
- Match your resume to a job: paste a posting and see the skills your resume is missing
- Check your resume: see how an applicant tracking system reads it
- Find production planner jobs: search open postings
Frequently asked questions
How much does a production planner make?
Source and method
Open US job postings collected from employers' applicant tracking systems, de-duplicated, counted only when their job title was read in our audit. Shares count at most 20 postings per employer, and franchise locations of one brand count as one employer. Pay uses hourly and annual figures only; a figure is shown when leaving out the largest employer moves it by 10% or less. Every figure states its number of postings. Methodology and measured accuracy.
Accuracy check: we read 20 randomly chosen postings counted on this page in full; 18 of them were this career or a closely related one (October 2026).
Download the figures on this page (CSV): every number above with its count of postings. Aggregate figures are licensed CC BY 4.0; cite the page when you reuse them.