Allied Health

Types of Degrees Allied Health Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many allied health professions graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Associate Degree	29,240
Basic Certificate	22,225
Master’s Degree	14,052
Undergraduate Certificate	11,022
Bachelor’s Degree	7,962
Doctor’s Degree	786
Graduate Certificate	126

What Allied Health Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to allied health were asked what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. They weighted these areas on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Knowledge Areas for Allied Health Majors

Allied Health majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Medicine and Dentistry - Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

Skills for Allied Health Majors

allied health majors are found most commonly in careers in which the following skills are important:

• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

Abilities for Allied Health Majors

As a allied health major, you will find yourself needing the following abilities:

• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).

What Can You Do With a Allied Health Major?

People with a allied health degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Athletic Trainers	22.7%	$47,510
Cardiovascular Technologists and Technicians	10.0%	$56,850
Diagnostic Medical Sonographers	23.2%	$72,510
Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics	15.1%	$34,320
Health Specialties Professors	25.9%	$97,370
Health Technologists and Technicians	19.6%	$42,920
Hearing Aid Specialists	20.6%	$52,770
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Technologists	13.4%	$71,670
Neurodiagnostic Technologists	19.6%	$42,920
Nuclear Medicine Technologists	10.0%	$76,820
Occupational Health and Safety Technicians	9.9%	$50,780
Physician Assistants	37.4%	$108,610
Radiation Therapists	12.6%	$82,330
Radiologic Technologists	12.3%	$59,520
Respiratory Therapists	23.3%	$60,280

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Allied Health?

This is one of the most frequently chosen healthcare majors. It is the 6th most popular in the country with 9,264 students graduating with a bachelor’s in allied health in 2021. The major attracts more women than men. About 76% of the recent graduates in this field are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of allied health majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	455
Black or African American	591
Hispanic or Latino	1,265
White	4,956
International Students	138
Other Races/Ethnicities	557

Geographic Diversity

Americans aren’t the only ones with an interest in Allied Health. About 1.7% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Allied Health

Some degrees associated with allied health may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

Find out what the typical degree level is for allied health careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	0.1%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	5.1%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	12.1%
Some College Courses	5.9%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	40.8%
Bachelor’s Degree	17.7%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	1.4%
Master’s Degree	7.7%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	2.9%
Doctoral Degree	1.0%
Post-Doctoral Training	0.7%

Online Allied Health Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	892	19
Certificate (2-4 Years)	127	2
Associate’s Degree	2,325	33
Bachelor’s Degree	48	10
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	585	24
Post-Master’s	6	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	10	2
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	12	7
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	1	1

Majors Related to Allied Health

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to allied health.

Major	Number of Grads
Nursing	308,114
Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants	88,809
Health & Medical Administrative Services	85,302
Allied Health & Medical Assisting Services	79,189
Public Health	42,551
Health Sciences & Services	35,887
Mental & Social Health Services	31,550
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	29,934
Medicine	29,206
Dental Support Services	25,040
Communication Sciences	23,288
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science	19,017
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences	18,729
Somatic Bodywork & Therapeutic Services	10,516
Health/Medical Prep Programs	9,413
Other Health Professions	7,387
Dentistry	6,961
Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services	5,644
Bioethics/Medical Ethics	5,056
Alternative Medicine & Systems	3,431
Chiropractic	2,698
Medical Illustration & Informatics	2,689
Health Aids/Attendants/Orderlies	2,244
Advanced Dentistry & Oral Sciences	1,845
Optometry	1,789
Medical Science	1,090
Ophthalmic & Optometric Support Services	760
Movement & Mind-Body Therapies	468
Alternative Medical Support Services	136
Energy & Biologically Based Therapies	116

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
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020

More about our data sources and methodologies.