Allied Health Professions

Types of Degrees Allied Health Professions Majors Are Getting

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

Education Level	Number of Grads
Master’s Degree	12,328
Doctor’s Degree	533
Graduate Certificate	89

What Allied Health Professions Majors Need to Know

O*NET surveyed people in occupations related to allied 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 Allied Health Majors

According to O*NET survey takers, a major in allied health should prepare you for careers in which you will need to be knowledgeable in the following areas:

• 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.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• 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.
• 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.

Skills for Allied Health Majors

When studying allied health, 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:

• 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.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

Abilities for Allied Health Majors

A major in allied health will prepare for your careers in which the following abilities are important:

• 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.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• 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 Allied Health Professions Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with allied health:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Athletic Trainers	22.7%	$47,510
Cardiovascular Technologists and Technicians	10.0%	$56,850
Diagnostic Medical Sonographers	23.2%	$72,510
Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics	15.1%	$34,320
Health Specialties Professors	25.9%	$97,370
Health Technologists and Technicians	19.6%	$42,920
Hearing Aid Specialists	20.6%	$52,770
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Technologists	13.4%	$71,670
Neurodiagnostic Technologists	19.6%	$42,920
Nuclear Medicine Technologists	10.0%	$76,820
Occupational Health and Safety Technicians	9.9%	$50,780
Physician Assistants	37.4%	$108,610
Radiation Therapists	12.6%	$82,330
Radiologic Technologists	12.3%	$59,520
Respiratory Therapists	23.3%	$60,280
Surgical Technologists	11.7%	$47,300

Who Is Getting a Master’s Degree in Allied Health Professions?

This is one of the most frequently chosen graduate majors. It is the 18th most popular in the country with 12,328 students graduating with a master’s in allied health in 2021. This major is dominated by women with about 72% of recent graduates being female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	1,079
Black or African American	473
Hispanic or Latino	1,049
White	8,180
International Students	117
Other Races/Ethnicities	1,430

Geographic Diversity

Americans aren’t the only ones with an interest in Allied Health. About 0.9% of those with this major are international students. The most popular countries for students from outside the country are:

• Saudi Arabia
• Canada
• Japan
• South Korea
• United Kingdom

How Much Do Allied Health Professions Majors Make?

Master’s Degree Starting Salary

The median early-career salary of allied health professions students with a master’s degree is $101,254 a year according to 2019-2020 data from the U.S. Department of Education. During this timeframe, most salaries fell between $95,547 (25th percentile) and $108,044 (75th percentile).

We don’t know for sure if all of these people took jobs related to allied health so take that into consideration.

Salaries According to BLS

Allied Health majors often go into careers where salaries can range from $51,380 to $78,870 (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 Allied Health Professions

Some degrees associated with allied health 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.

Find out what the typical degree level is for allied health careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	0.1%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	5.1%
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)	12.1%
Some College Courses	5.9%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	40.8%
Bachelor’s Degree	17.7%
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.	1.4%
Master’s Degree	7.7%
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.	2.9%
Doctoral Degree	1.0%
Post-Doctoral Training	0.7%

Online Allied Health Professions Programs

In 2020-2021, 1,786 schools offered a allied health 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)	930	23
Certificate (2-4 Years)	129	1
Associate’s Degree	2,220	35
Bachelor’s Degree	46	6
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	511	17
Post-Master’s	4	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	11	3
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	9	6
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Allied Health Professions Worth It?

The median salary for a allied health grad is $61,540 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 54% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $432,800 after 20 years!

Majors Related to Allied Health Professions

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

Major	Number of Grads
Nursing	66,964
Medicine	28,629
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	24,774
Public Health	19,473
Health & Medical Administrative Services	17,335
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences	16,952
Mental & Social Health Services	16,815
Communication Sciences	10,547
Dentistry	6,770
Bioethics/Medical Ethics	4,684
Chiropractic	2,658
Alternative Medicine & Systems	2,582
Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services	2,481
Optometry	1,822
Advanced Dentistry & Oral Sciences	1,762
Medical Illustration & Informatics	1,747
Health Sciences & Services	1,746
Other Health Professions	1,261
Health/Medical Prep Programs	1,122
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science	954
Medical Science	909
Allied Health & Medical Assisting Services	462
Dental Support Services	122
Alternative Medical Support Services	80
Movement & Mind-Body Therapies	55
Energy & Biologically Based Therapies	37
Ophthalmic & Optometric Support Services	11
Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants	4
Health Aids/Attendants/Orderlies	0

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

More about our data sources and methodologies.