Types of Degrees Majors Are Getting

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

Education Level	Number of Grads
Master’s Degree	1,603
Graduate Certificate	168
Bachelor’s Degree	131
Doctor’s Degree	76
Basic Certificate	65
Associate Degree	33

What Majors Need to Know

O*NET surveyed people in occupations related to medical informatics and asked them what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. The responses were rated on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being most important.

Knowledge Areas for Medical Informatics Majors

According to O*NET survey takers, a major in medical informatics should prepare you for careers in which you will need to be knowledgeable in the following areas:

• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Engineering and Technology - Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
• Design - Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.

Skills for Medical Informatics Majors

When studying medical informatics, you’ll learn many skills that will help you be successful in a wide range of jobs - even those that do not require a degree in the field. The following is a list of some of the most common skills needed for careers associated with this major:

• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Systems Analysis - Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
• Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.

Abilities for Medical Informatics Majors

As a medical informatics major, you will find yourself needing the following abilities:

• 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).
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

What Can You Do With a Major?

People with a medical informatics degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Business Intelligence Analysts	9.3%	$90,270
Computer and Information Research Scientists	19.0%	$118,370
Data Warehousing Specialists	9.3%	$90,270
Database Architects	9.3%	$90,270
Software Developers, Applications	30.7%	$103,620

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in ?

The major attracts more women than men. About 77% of the recent graduates in this field are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of medical informatics majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	16
Black or African American	32
Hispanic or Latino	7
White	57
International Students	12
Other Races/Ethnicities	7

Geographic Diversity

Americans aren’t the only ones with an interest in Medical Informatics. About 9.2% of those with this major are international students.

How Much Do Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Medical Informatics majors often go into careers where salaries can range from $93,350 to $123,850 (25th to 75th percentile). This range includes all degree levels, so you may expect those with a more advanced degree to make more while those with less advanced degrees will typically make less.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to

Some degrees associated with medical informatics 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 medical informatics careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	0.9%
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)	1.2%
Some College Courses	2.9%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	2.5%
Bachelor’s Degree	64.6%
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.	1.7%
Master’s Degree	20.5%
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.	0.4%
Doctoral Degree	4.8%
Post-Doctoral Training	0.6%

Online 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)	4	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	15	2
Bachelor’s Degree	50	21
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	104	48
Post-Master’s	17	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	21	2
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	1	1
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Worth It?

The median salary for a medical informatics grad is $108,080 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 171% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $1,363,600 after 20 years!

Majors Related to

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to medical informatics.

Major	Number of Grads
Medical Illustration/Medical Illustrator	83
Other Medical Illustration and Informatics	4

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.