Types of Degrees Majors Are Getting

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

Education Level	Number of Grads
Bachelor’s Degree	19,583
Master’s Degree	17,036
Graduate Certificate	2,212
Doctor’s Degree	1,037
Associate Degree	903
Basic Certificate	764
Undergraduate Certificate	116

What Majors Need to Know

O*NET surveyed people in occupations related to public health 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 Public Health Majors

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

• 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.
• 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.
• 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 Majors

The following list of skills has been highlighted as some of the most essential for careers related to public health:

• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• 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.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.

Abilities for Public Health Majors

As a public 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.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

What Can You Do With a Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with public health:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Community Health Workers	17.9%	$39,540
Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health	11.1%	$71,130
Epidemiologists	8.2%	$69,660
Health Educators	14.6%	$54,220
Health Specialties Professors	25.9%	$97,370
Industrial Ecologists	11.1%	$71,130
Medical and Health Services Managers	20.5%	$99,730
Occupational Health and Safety Specialists	8.1%	$73,020
Occupational Health and Safety Technicians	9.9%	$50,780
Physicists	14.5%	$120,950

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in ?

This is one of the most frequently chosen healthcare majors. It is the 2nd most popular in the country with 19,511 students graduating with a bachelor’s in public health in 2021. This major is dominated by women with about 81% of recent graduates being female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	2,742
Black or African American	3,033
Hispanic or Latino	3,657
White	8,254
International Students	402
Other Races/Ethnicities	1,495

Geographic Diversity

Public Health appeals to people across the globe. About 2.1% of those with this major are international students. The most popular countries for students from outside the country are:

• China
• India
• Saudi Arabia
• Nigeria
• Canada

How Much Do Majors Make?

Bachelor’s Degree Starting Salary

Salaries According to BLS

Public Health majors often go into careers where salaries can range from $59,660 to $113,730 (25th to 75th percentile). This range includes all degree levels, so the salary for a person with just a bachelor’s degree may be a little less and the one for a person with an advanced degree may be a little more.

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 careers associated with public health 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 careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	1.2%
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)	0.7%
Some College Courses	0.5%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	10.9%
Bachelor’s Degree	42.4%
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.	2.2%
Master’s Degree	27.5%
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.	0.4%
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.	0.8%
Doctoral Degree	9.1%
Post-Doctoral Training	5.2%

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)	35	4
Certificate (2-4 Years)	2	0
Associate’s Degree	126	12
Bachelor’s Degree	269	87
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	641	157
Post-Master’s	51	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	199	10
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	18	3
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	6	2

Is a Degree in Worth It?

The median salary for a public health grad is $75,690 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 90% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $715,800 after 20 years!

Majors Related to

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

Major	Number of Grads
Nursing	319,502
Health & Medical Administrative Services	88,600
Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants	85,339
Allied Health Professions	83,905
Allied Health & Medical Assisting Services	83,587
Health Sciences & Services	36,762
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	30,594
Mental & Social Health Services	30,331
Medicine	29,089
Dental Support Services	26,024
Communication Sciences	23,558
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences	19,400
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science	18,884
Somatic Bodywork & Therapeutic Services	10,622
Health/Medical Prep Programs	9,605
Other Health Professions	7,676
Dentistry	6,771
Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services	6,113
Bioethics/Medical Ethics	4,980
Alternative Medicine & Systems	3,434
Chiropractic	2,881
Medical Illustration & Informatics	2,163
Health Aids/Attendants/Orderlies	1,818
Advanced Dentistry & Oral Sciences	1,796
Optometry	1,746
Medical Science	1,051
Ophthalmic & Optometric Support Services	817
Movement & Mind-Body Therapies	452
Alternative Medical Support Services	140
Energy & Biologically Based Therapies	89

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 Article 25 Flickr under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.