Public Health Nursing

Types of Degrees Public Health Nursing Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many public health/community nurse/nursing graduations there were in 2020-2021 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Bachelor’s Degree	1,495
Master’s Degree	232
Graduate Certificate	109
Basic Certificate	36
Doctor’s Degree	11

What Public Health Nursing Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, public health/community nursing majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most important.

Knowledge Areas for Public Health/Community Nursing Majors

Public Health/Community Nursing majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

• 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.
• Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
• 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.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• 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.

Skills for Public Health/Community Nursing Majors

A major in public health/community nursing prepares you for careers in which the following skill-sets are crucial:

• 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.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others’ reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

Abilities for Public Health/Community Nursing Majors

As you progress with your public health/community nursing degree, there are several abilities you should pick up that will help you in whatever related career you choose. These abilities include:

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

What Can You Do With a Public Health Nursing Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with public health/community nursing:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Nursing Instructors and Professors	24.0%	$73,490
Registered Nurses	14.8%	$71,730

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Health Nursing?

This major is dominated by women with about 87% of recent graduates being female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of public health/community nursing majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	79
Black or African American	248
Hispanic or Latino	131
White	684
International Students	1
Other Races/Ethnicities	352

Geographic Diversity

Americans aren’t the only ones with an interest in Public Health/Community Nursing. About 0.1% of those with this major are international students.

How Much Do Public Health Nursing Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Public Health/Community Nursing majors often go into careers where salaries can range from $75,510 to $81,350 (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 Public Health Nursing

Some careers associated with public health/community nursing require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

Find out what the typical degree level is for public health/community nursing careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Some College Courses	5.8%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	36.1%
Bachelor’s Degree	15.1%
Master’s Degree	23.7%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	1.0%
Doctoral Degree	17.1%
Post-Doctoral Training	3.2%

Online Public Health Nursing Programs

In 2020-2021, 34 schools offered a public health/community nursing program of some type. 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)	1	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	0	0
Bachelor’s Degree	3	1
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	24	5
Post-Master’s	6	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	1	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	4	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	1	1

Is a Degree in Public Health Nursing Worth It?

The median salary for a public health/community nursing grad is $75,510 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 89% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $712,200 after 20 years!

Majors Related to Public Health Nursing

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to public health/community nursing.

Major	Number of Grads
Registered Nursing	266,651
Family Practice Nurse/Nursing	16,104
Nursing Administration	9,838
Nursing Practice	7,992
Other Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing	5,092
Nursing Science	4,600
Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse/Nursing	2,287
Adult Health Nurse/Nursing	2,021
Nurse Anesthetist	1,936
Critical Care Nursing	773
Geriatric Nurse/Nursing	563
School Nursing	553
Nurse Midwife/Nursing Midwifery	509
Clinical Nurse Leader	444
Clinical Nurse Specialist	419
Perioperative/Operating Room and Surgical Nurse/Nursing	331
Maternal/Child Health and Neonatal Nurse/Nursing	181
Occupational and Environmental Health Nursing	57
Emergency Room/Trauma Nursing	53
Palliative Care Nursing	14
Forensic Nursing	14

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
• Image Credit: By Aleksahgabrielle under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.