Quick answer: Facilities management is one of the strongest online fits in the silo. Facilities managers earn a median $106,660 per year, or $51.28 per hour (BLS OEWS, May 2025). The credential runs through a bachelor’s in facility management, engineering technology or business.
Facilities Management at a Glance
Measure
Value
Median annual wage
$106,660
Median hourly wage
$51.28
Employed nationally
156,180
Bottom 10 percent
$64,480
Top 10 percent
$176,120
Middle half
$82,020 to $138,870
Projected change, 2024-34
3.8%
Annual openings
about 13,200
Wage and employment figures: BLS OEWS, May 2025. Growth and openings: BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34.
What Do These Programs Actually Look Like?
Facilities management is one of the strongest online fits in the silo. The subject is building systems, contracts, budgets and compliance rather than hands-on work, and the students are typically already running buildings. Programs are commonly built as degree-completion tracks for people with a trade or technician background.
Where This Sits on the Ladder
This degree sits above credentials many readers already hold. The rungs run:
Maintenance technician or trade - keeps the systems running, knows the building physically
Maintenance supervisor or chief engineer - runs the crew and the preventive maintenance program
Facilities manager - owns the capital plan, contracts, budget and compliance for the portfolio
For scale, maintenance and repair workers, general show a median of $49,590 against $106,660 for facilities managers (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
How Fast Is the Field Growing?
Employment is projected to change by 3.8% between 2024 and 2034, with roughly 13,200 openings a year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). Openings come from growth and from replacing people who leave the occupation, which is why the annual figure can look large relative to the percentage.
The Credential That Actually Matters
There is no license to manage a facility. The recognized credentials are certifications rather than degrees: the Facility Management Professional and the Certified Facility Manager from IFMA are the ones employers reference most. A degree supports the financial and planning side of the role, and the institution should hold accreditation from a recognized institutional accreditor, but certification plus demonstrated building experience is what most hiring is built on.
Separately from any programmatic accreditation, the institution should hold accreditation from a recognized institutional accreditor. Credit transfer between institutions is decided by the receiving school and genuinely varies, so get any transfer evaluation in writing before enrolling.
What Does the Job Involve Day to Day?
Facilities managers own the building as an asset rather than as a set of systems: capital planning and replacement schedules, vendor and service contracts, energy and operating cost, code and safety compliance, space planning, and increasingly sustainability reporting. The people who succeed usually came up through HVAC, electrical or maintenance, because knowing what a chiller replacement actually involves is not something a business degree teaches.
What You Will Study
Coursework covers building systems and operations, facility finance and capital planning, real estate and lease fundamentals, project management, contract and vendor management, energy management and sustainability, and health, safety and emergency preparedness. The finance and capital planning content is the part that most clearly separates a manager from a supervisor, and it is what technicians most often lack.
Cost, Time and Whether It Pays
This site does not publish tuition figures, because there is no sourced dataset behind them and the number varies enormously by institution and residency. What can be stated is the wage structure the degree leads into. The middle half of facilities managers earn between $82,020 and $138,870, with the bottom 10 percent at $64,480 and the top 10 percent at $176,120 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). The gap between the 25th and 75th percentile is the honest range to plan against - not the median alone, and not the top figure.
Where Do These Roles Pay Most?
State
Median annual wage
Employment
Washington
$139,990
2,790
New York
$131,350
9,580
Delaware
$129,260
240
New Jersey
$124,110
5,690
Massachusetts
$124,100
6,070
Highest-paying states, BLS OEWS, May 2025. Cost of living is not held constant, so a higher median does not automatically mean more disposable income.
Where the Jobs Are
State
Employment
Median annual wage
California
20,550
$118,620
Texas
13,140
$99,430
New York
9,580
$131,350
Illinois
9,180
$106,980
Florida
8,620
$98,780
Largest employing states, BLS OEWS, May 2025. Employment concentration and pay do not track each other. State and metro pages linked below carry the full distribution.
What to Weigh Before Committing
The honest framing is that this is a promotion path rather than an entry path, and a degree is not required to enter it. Many facilities managers are promoted from maintenance leadership without one. What the degree changes is the ceiling: portfolio and corporate roles increasingly screen for it alongside certification. The destination is solid at a median of $106,660 with a top decile of $176,120 (BLS OEWS, May 2025) and about 13,200 openings a year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34), and it is one of the most direct office-side moves available from a hands-on trade without leaving buildings behind.
How to Choose a Program
Ask whether the program maps to IFMA’s competency areas, because that alignment is what makes the degree legible to employers in this field. Ask whether CFM or FMP preparation is included. If you hold years of trade or maintenance experience, ask in writing what prior learning credit is available - facilities programs are among the more willing to grant it. Confirm institutional accreditation.
Licensing and Credentialing
The national framework is the constant: a bachelor’s in facility management, engineering technology or business, then the CFM certification administered through IFMA. What sits on top of that framework is set jurisdiction by jurisdiction, and this site does not hold a sourced dataset of per-state rules, so confirm the specifics with the employers and certifying bodies you are targeting before enrolling.
Questions to Ask an Admissions Office
Ask these before an application fee, and get the answers in writing rather than over the phone:
Is the program currently with accreditation from IFMA, and has its status changed in the last three years?
How are laboratory, field or practical requirements satisfied in any online or hybrid format?
Which prior coursework, certifications or documented work experience transfer in, and will you evaluate that in writing before I enroll? Transfer is decided by the receiving institution and genuinely varies.
What is the total time to completion for someone in my situation, and where were recent graduates hired?
Colleges Offering This Degree
How we rank schools – graduation rate, graduate earnings, cost and retention.
Advertising plays no part.
This page lists 10 schools, closest group first, then ordered by
BOC Score with the highest at the top.
10 of them carry a score.
LOCAL RANK
Location / proximity to this page
Defines the local group
Graduation rate how often students finish
30%
Median earnings, 10 years after entry whether it paid off
25%
Average net price what students actually pay after aid; lower ranks higher
20%
Retention rate how many come back for year two
15%
Fully online availability whether you can study while working
10%
Scores come from IPEDS (2024) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.
Earnings are for all graduates of a school, not one program, so treat them as a signal
about the institution rather than about this subject.
Sponsored listings are paid placements and are labelled as such; they are separate from
this ranking and never change it. Read the full methodology.
Can you earn a facilities management degree online?
Yes, and it is one of the better online fits on this site. The content is building systems, finance, contracts and compliance rather than hands-on work, and many programs are degree-completion tracks aimed at people already working in buildings.
How much do facilities managers make?
The national median annual wage for facilities managers is $106,660, or $51.28 per hour (BLS OEWS, May 2025). The bottom 10 percent earn $64,480 or less and the top 10 percent earn $176,120 or more, across 156,180 facilities managers nationally.
Do I need a degree to work as a facilities manager?
No. Many are promoted out of maintenance and trade leadership roles. The degree matters most for portfolio, campus and corporate positions, and it is usually paired with certification rather than standing alone.
What is the CFM certification?
The Certified Facility Manager credential from IFMA, the International Facility Management Association. IFMA also offers the Facility Management Professional designation. These certifications carry more weight in hiring than programmatic accreditation does in this field.
Can a maintenance technician move into facilities management?
It is the most common route. Trade and maintenance experience supplies the building knowledge the role depends on; what the degree adds is capital planning, contracts and budget ownership. Some programs grant prior learning credit for documented experience - ask in writing.
Is facilities management growing?
Employment is projected to change by 3.8% from 2024 to 2034, with about 13,200 openings per year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). Growth is steady, and the role exists anywhere there are buildings, which makes it one of the more evenly distributed occupations covered here.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025, SOC 11-3013 Facilities Managers.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections program, 2024-34.
About this guide: Researched and written by the TradeCareerPath Editorial Team. Our editorial team researches and sources every trade school and career guide using federal labor and education data, including BLS OEWS and Employment Projections, DOL apprenticeship records, IPEDS, College Scorecard, and state licensing boards. We follow the editorial standards documented at /editorial-policy/.
