Health Services Administration

Types of Degrees Health Services Administration Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many health services administration graduations there were in 2020-2021 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Master’s Degree	1,359
Bachelor’s Degree	1,279
Associate Degree	297
Graduate Certificate	118
Undergraduate Certificate	26
Basic Certificate	21
Doctor’s Degree	19

What Health Services Administration Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to health services administration 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 Health Services Administration Majors

This major prepares you for careers in which these knowledge areas are important:

• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• 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.
• Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
• Clerical - Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.

Skills for Health Services Administration Majors

When studying health services administration, 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:

• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• 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.
• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
• Time Management - Managing one’s own time and the time of others.

Abilities for Health Services Administration Majors

As a health services administration 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.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

What Can You Do With a Health Services Administration Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with health services administration:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Medical and Health Services Managers	20.5%	$99,730

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Health Services Administration?

The major attracts more women than men. About 85% of the recent graduates in this field are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	125
Black or African American	287
Hispanic or Latino	310
White	456
International Students	22
Other Races/Ethnicities	79

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in Health Services Administration, too. About 1.7% of those with this major are international students.

How Much Do Health Services Administration Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

The median salary for someone in a career related to health services administration is $113,730. This median refers to 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 Health Services Administration

Some degrees associated with health services administration may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to health services administration have obtained the following education levels.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	19.2%
Bachelor’s Degree	65.4%
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.	3.9%
Master’s Degree	11.5%

Online Health Services Administration Programs

In the 2020-2021 academic year, 151 schools offered some type of health services administration program. 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)	9	1
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	34	3
Bachelor’s Degree	27	11
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	67	22
Post-Master’s	6	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	9	1
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	1	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	1	0

Is a Degree in Health Services Administration Worth It?

The median salary for a health services administration grad is $113,730 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 185% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $1,476,600 after 20 years!

Majors Related to Health Services Administration

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

Major	Number of Grads
General Public Health	22,778
Public Health Education and Promotion	4,563
Other Public Health	3,432
Community Health and Preventive Medicine	2,272
International Public Health/International Health	1,599
Environmental Health	1,344
Behavioral Aspects of Health	814
Health/Medical Physics	258
Occupational Health and Industrial Hygiene	211
Maternal and Child Health	163
Patient Safety and Healthcare Quality	43

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.