Public Health at Northern Illinois University

What traits are you looking for in a public health school? To help you decide if Northern Illinois University is right for you, we've gathered the following information about the school's public health program.

NIU is located in Dekalb, Illinois and has a total student population of 16,769. Of the 524 students who graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Northern Illinois University in 2021, 46 of them were public health majors.

Want to know more about the career opportunities in this field? Check out the Careers in Public Health section at the bottom of this page.

NIU Public Health Degrees Available

• Bachelor’s Degree in Public Health
• Master’s Degree in Public Health

NIU Public Health Rankings

Each year, College Factual ranks public health programs across the country. The following shows how NIU performed in these rankings.

Note: While rankings may be a good starting point when you're researching a school, they don't necessarily highlight all of a school's strengths. Don't forget to check out the other details that are available for a school to see if it has what you're looking for in a program.

Bachelor’s Degree Overall Quality & Other Notable Rankings

The public health major at NIU is not ranked on College Factual’s Best Colleges and Universities for Public Health. This could be for a number of reasons, such as not having enough data on the major or school to make an accurate assessment of its quality.

Ranking Type	Rank
Most Popular Public Health Bachelor’s Degree Schools	115
Most Popular Public Health Schools	159
Best Public Health Bachelor’s Degree Schools	180
Best Public Health Master’s Degree Schools	210
Most Focused Public Health Bachelor’s Degree Schools	215
	220
	224
Best Public Health Schools	306
Most Focused Public Health Schools	319

In 2021, 16 students received their master’s degree in public health from NIU. This makes it the #207 most popular school for public health master’s degree candidates in the country.

Public Health Student Demographics at NIU

Take a look at the following statistics related to the make-up of the public health majors at Northern Illinois University.

NIU Public Health Bachelor’s Program

In the 2020-2021 academic year, 46 students earned a bachelor's degree in public health from NIU. About 74% of these graduates were women and the other 26% were men. The typical public health bachelor's degree program is made up of only 21% men. So male students are more repesented at NIU since its program graduates 5% more men than average.

Prospective students may be interested in knowing that this school graduates 15% more racial-ethnic minorities in its public health bachelor's program than the national average.*

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from Northern Illinois University with a bachelor's in public health.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	5
Black or African American	13
Hispanic or Latino	10
White	15
International Students	1
Other Races/Ethnicities	2

NIU Public Health Master’s Program

In the 2020-2021 academic year, 16 students earned a master's degree in public health from NIU. About 94% of these graduates were women and the other 6% were men.

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from Northern Illinois University with a master's in public health.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	1
Black or African American	4
Hispanic or Latino	1
White	8
International Students	2
Other Races/Ethnicities	0

NIU also has a doctoral program available in public health. In 2021, 0 student graduated with a doctor's degree in this field.

Concentrations Within Public Health

Public Health majors may want to concentrate their studies in one of these areas. The completion numbers here include all graduates who receive any type of degree in this field from Northern Illinois University. Some of these focus areas may not be available for your degree level.

Concentration	Annual Degrees Awarded
General Public Health	60
Health Services Administration	2

Related Majors

• Other Health Professions
• Allied Health Professions
• Mental & Social Health Services
• Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science
• Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions

Careers That Public Health Grads May Go Into

A degree in public health can lead to the following careers. Since job numbers and average salaries can vary by geographic location, we have only included the numbers for IL, the home state for Northern Illinois University.

Occupation	Jobs in IL	Average Salary in IL
Medical and Health Services Managers	14,050	$121,900
Health Specialties Professors	10,070	$105,140
Occupational Health and Safety Specialists	2,300	$76,390
Environmental Scientists and Specialists	1,690	$78,640
Community Health Workers	1,270	$42,250

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• Image Credit: By Andy McMurray under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.