Public Health

Types of Degrees Public Health Majors Are Getting

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

Education Level	Number of Grads
Master’s Degree	16,133
Graduate Certificate	2,359
Doctor’s Degree	981

What Public Health Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, public health majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the 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

Some of the most crucial abilities to master while a public health student include the following:

• 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 Public Health 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 Master’s Degree in Public Health?

This is one of the most frequently chosen graduate majors. It is the 14th most popular in the country with 16,133 students graduating with a master’s in public health in 2021. This major is dominated by women with about 77% 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	1,764
Black or African American	2,685
Hispanic or Latino	1,892
White	6,991
International Students	1,320
Other Races/Ethnicities	1,481

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in Public Health, too. About 8.2% 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 Public Health Majors Make?

Master’s Degree Starting Salary

The U.S. Department of Education found that students who graduated in 2017-2019 with a master’s degree in public health made a median starting salary of $49,402 per year. During this timeframe, most salaries fell between $44,414 (25th percentile) and $56,746 (75th percentile).

Note that some of these people may have jobs that are not directly related to a public health degree.

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 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 Public Health

Some degrees associated with public 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.

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

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 Public Health Programs

In the 2020-2021 academic year, 774 schools offered some type of public health 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)	31	4
Certificate (2-4 Years)	2	0
Associate’s Degree	118	12
Bachelor’s Degree	245	73
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	632	136
Post-Master’s	52	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	197	8
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	17	2
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	6	1

Is a Degree in Public Health 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 Public Health

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

Major	Number of Grads
Nursing	66,964
Medicine	28,629
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	24,774
Health & Medical Administrative Services	17,335
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences	16,952
Mental & Social Health Services	16,815
Allied Health Professions	12,950
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
• Image Credit: By Article 25 Flickr under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.