Types of Degrees Majors Are Getting

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

Education Level	Number of Grads
Master’s Degree	1,335
Bachelor’s Degree	1,255
Associate Degree	295
Graduate Certificate	124
Basic Certificate	27
Doctor’s Degree	20
Undergraduate Certificate	18

What 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

Health Services Administration majors often go into careers in which the following 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

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

• 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 you progress with your health services administration degree, there are several abilities you should pick up that will help you in whatever related career you choose. These abilities include:

• 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 Major?

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

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

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in ?

This major is dominated by women with about 82% of recent graduates being 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	138
Black or African American	294
Hispanic or Latino	329
White	398
International Students	23
Other Races/Ethnicities	73

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in Health Services Administration, too. About 1.8% of those with this major are international students.

How Much Do 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

Some careers associated with health services administration require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. 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 health services administration careers below.

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 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)	10	1
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	33	3
Bachelor’s Degree	29	12
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	62	22
Post-Master’s	6	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	9	1
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	1	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	1	1

Is a Degree in 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

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

Major	Number of Grads
General Public Health	24,667
Public Health Education and Promotion	4,139
Other Public Health	3,136
Community Health and Preventive Medicine	2,232
International Public Health/International Health	1,561
Environmental Health	1,332
Behavioral Aspects of Health	763
Occupational Health and Industrial Hygiene	258
Health/Medical Physics	238
Maternal and Child Health	179
Patient Safety and Healthcare Quality	72

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.