Business
What you can do with Fashion Merchandising
Buying, marketing and managing apparel for retail.
- Careers
- 4
- Early career
- $60,000
- Mid-career
- $100,000
- Growing fast
- 2 of 4
How these numbers work: A major does not have its own salary. Early and mid-career pay is what people who hold this degree earn at the start of their careers and midway through them. Career pay comes from the 4 careers a Fashion Merchandising degree commonly leads to, and counts everyone in those jobs, including people who have been doing them for thirty years. The two answer different questions, which is why they do not match.
The New York Fed does not report Fashion Merchandising on its own. Its early and mid-career figures here are for Marketing, the broader group it places this major in.
2 of 4 careers this degree leads to are projected to grow faster than average from 2024 to 2034. Of those, Wholesale / Retail Buyer has the most openings, about 52,200 a year.
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4 careers this degree leads to
Marketing Manager
$166,790Plan and direct marketing policies and programs to create interest in products or services.
- Middle half of workers
- $123,020 to $216,410
- Growth
- Much faster than average
- Openings a year
- 34,300
Work-life55Remote68Satisfaction74- Market Research
- Digital Marketing
- Brand Management
- Analytics
Fashion Designer
$80,960Design original clothing and accessories, translating trends and ideas into wearable collections.
- Middle half of workers
- $51,940 to $106,470
- Growth
- Slower than average
- Openings a year
- 2,300
Work-life46Remote63- Garment Design
- Pattern Making
- Trend Analysis
- Sketching
Wholesale / Retail Buyer
$77,710Choose and purchase the products a retailer or wholesaler sells, negotiating with suppliers on price and terms.
- Middle half of workers
- $60,800 to $100,820
- Growth
- Faster than average
- Openings a year
- 52,200
- Negotiation
- Market Analysis
- Forecasting
- Vendor Management
Merchandise Displayer
$39,390Design the displays, windows and store layouts that show products off and move them.
- Middle half of workers
- $35,130 to $47,220
- Growth
- About average
- Openings a year
- 20,800
- Visual Design
- Spatial Layout
- Trend Awareness
- Manual Skills
Related majors
Set on Fashion Merchandising?
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Where these pay figures come from
Early and mid-career pay is the median annual wage of full-time workers who hold a bachelor's degree in that major, ages 22 to 27 and ages 35 to 45, from 2024 data. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (IPUMS). Published as Outcomes by Major by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Career pay is the annual wage of everyone working in that occupation, not only recent graduates, so it includes people who have done the job for decades. The middle half is the 25th to the 75th percentile. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and O*NET OnLine (median and percentile annual wages May 2025; employment projections 2024-2034).
All figures are national. What you earn depends on where you work, who you work for, and how far you take the degree.