Types of Degrees Majors Are Getting

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

Education Level	Number of Grads
Master’s Degree	123
Bachelor’s Degree	106
Graduate Certificate	15
Basic Certificate	11
Doctor’s Degree	2
Undergraduate Certificate	1

What Majors Need to Know

O*NET surveyed people in occupations related to occupational health and industrial hygiene 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 Occupational Health and Industrial Hygiene Majors

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

• 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.
• Biology - Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
• Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
• Chemistry - Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.

Skills for Occupational Health and Industrial Hygiene Majors

When studying occupational health and industrial hygiene, 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.
• 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 Occupational Health and Industrial Hygiene Majors

Occupational Health and Industrial Hygiene majors often go into careers where the following abilities are vital:

• 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.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).

What Can You Do With a Major?

People with a occupational health and industrial hygiene degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Health Specialties Professors	25.9%	$97,370
Occupational Health and Safety Specialists	8.1%	$73,020
Occupational Health and Safety Technicians	9.9%	$50,780

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in ?

This major tends to be male dominated. About 79% of recent graduates are men.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of occupational health and industrial hygiene majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	1
Black or African American	9
Hispanic or Latino	9
White	69
International Students	8
Other Races/Ethnicities	10

Geographic Diversity

Americans aren’t the only ones with an interest in Occupational Health and Industrial Hygiene. About 7.5% of those with this major are international students.

How Much Do Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Average salaries range from $55,270 to $122,320 (25th to 75th percentile) for careers related to occupational health and industrial hygiene. 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 degrees associated with occupational health and industrial hygiene 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.

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

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
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)	2.6%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	6.4%
Bachelor’s Degree	49.8%
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.	4.9%
Master’s Degree	23.1%
Doctoral Degree	8.1%
Post-Doctoral Training	6.2%

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)	1	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	0	0
Bachelor’s Degree	9	3
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	15	2
Post-Master’s	3	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	5	1
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Worth It?

The median salary for a occupational health and industrial hygiene grad is $74,940 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 88% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $700,800 after 20 years!

Majors Related to

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to occupational health and industrial hygiene.

Major	Number of Grads
General Public Health	24,667
Public Health Education and Promotion	4,139
Other Public Health	3,136
Health Services Administration	3,074
Community Health and Preventive Medicine	2,232
International Public Health/International Health	1,561
Environmental Health	1,332
Behavioral Aspects of Health	763
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.