Master of Public Health Salary and Career Outlook

Public Health Degree Careers Description

The public health field is wide. According to the American Public Health Association (APHA), public health promotes and protects the health of all people and their communities.

A master's in public health is a graduate degree. The Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) accredits schools of public health and public health programs outside schools of public health, and its accreditation criteria set out 22 foundational competencies for the MPH, which include:

Evidence-Based Approaches to Public Health

• Apply epidemiological methods to settings and situations in public health practice.
• Select quantitative and qualitative data collection methods appropriate for a given public health context.
• Analyze quantitative and qualitative data using biostatistics, informatics, computer-based programming and software, as appropriate.
• Interpret results of data analysis for public health research, policy or practice.

Public Health and Health Care Systems

• Compare the organization, structure and function of health care, public health and regulatory systems across national and international settings.
• Discuss the means by which structural bias, social inequities and racism undermine health and create challenges to achieving health equity at organizational, community and systemic levels.

Planning and Management to Promote Health

• Assess population needs, assets and capacities that affect communities' health.
• Apply awareness of cultural values and practices to the design, implementation or critique of public health policies or programs.
• Design a population-based policy, program, project or intervention.
• Explain basic principles and tools of budget and resource management.
• Select methods to evaluate public health programs.

Policy in Public Health

• Discuss the policy-making process, including the roles of ethics and evidence.
• Propose strategies to identify relevant communities and individuals and build coalitions and partnerships for influencing public health outcomes.
• Advocate for political, social or economic policies and programs that will improve health in diverse populations.
• Evaluate policies for their impact on public health and health equity.

Leadership

• Apply leadership and/or management principles to address a relevant issue.
• Apply negotiation and mediation skills to address organizational or community challenges.

Communication

• Select communication strategies for different audiences and sectors.
• Communicate audience-appropriate public health content, both in writing and through oral presentation, to a non-academic, non-peer audience with attention to factors such as literacy and health literacy.
• Describe the importance of cultural humility in communicating public health content.

Interprofessional Practice

• Integrate perspectives from other sectors and professions to promote and advance population health.

Systems Thinking

• Apply a systems thinking tool to visually represent a public health issue in a format other than standard narrative.

The sections below turn those competencies into jobs: the occupations that overlap with public health work and what each pays nationally, with state and metropolitan detail for epidemiologists and health education specialists.

5 Key Jobs in Public Health

BLS describes work by occupation, and no single occupation is "the" public health job. The five below are BLS occupations that overlap with public health work: biostatistics, community health, epidemiology, health education and public health leadership. Each is listed with its Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) title and code, and the wages for all five are in the table under Median Public Health Salary.

Biostatistics jobs

Statisticians (SOC 15-2041) develop or apply mathematical or statistical theory and methods to collect, organize, interpret and summarize numerical data to provide usable information. BLS lists biostatistician as an illustrative example under this code and publishes no separate wage series for biostatisticians, so the wages on this page describe all statisticians.

Community health jobs

Community health workers (SOC 21-1094) promote health within a community by assisting individuals to adopt healthy behaviors, serve as advocates for the health needs of individuals and may deliver preventive services such as blood pressure, glaucoma and hearing screenings. BLS lists lay health advocate, peer health promoter and promotor(a) as examples.

Epidemiology Jobs

Epidemiologists (SOC 19-1041) investigate and describe the determinants and distribution of disease, disability or health outcomes, and may develop the means for prevention and control.

Health education jobs

Health education specialists (SOC 21-1091) provide and manage health education programs that help individuals, families and their communities maximize and maintain healthy lifestyles. They use data to identify community needs before planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating those programs. BLS lists public health educator, community health education coordinator and diabetes educator as examples.

Public Health Leadership Jobs

Medical and health services managers (SOC 11-9111) plan, direct or coordinate medical and health services in hospitals, clinics, managed care organizations, public health agencies or similar organizations. For a closer look at pay in health administration, see the Master of Health Administration salary guide.

Where public health professionals work

This table shows health education specialists (SOC 21-1091): the five states with the highest employment counts for that occupation among the states for which BLS publishes one. The counts cover this one occupation, not all public health employment, and they are May 2025 counts, not forecasts.

^{Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 state estimates for health education specialists (SOC 21-1091).}

Median Public Health Salary

The wages in this table describe five BLS occupations, identified by their SOC titles and codes. BLS publishes no separate wage series for the MPH degree or for biostatisticians within statisticians, so no row shows what a degree pays.

^{Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025 national estimates, all industries. The figures cover workers at all experience levels. The 10th percentile wage is the wage below which 10 percent of the occupation's workers earn; it is not an entry-level or starting wage. BLS describes how it measures these wages, and the limits of estimates for small areas, in its OEWS methods FAQ.}

How degrees and credentials relate to pay

Because BLS measures occupations, the table cannot show a pay difference for holding an MPH. What the sources do show is how two public health credentials treat the degree.

The Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) exam, offered by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing (NCHEC), is open to applicants with a bachelor's, master's or doctoral degree from an accredited institution, plus either a health education major or at least 25 semester credits of coursework, with a grade of C or better, addressing the Nine Areas of Responsibility and Competency. CHES eligibility also sets how those credits must be distributed among course types, so the degree alone is not the test: eligibility rests on a health education major or qualifying coursework.

The Certified in Public Health (CPH) credential is offered by the National Board of Public Health Examiners (NBPHE). CPH eligibility has a route that needs no work experience for alumni who completed all degree requirements for a master's or doctoral degree at a CEPH-accredited school or program. Alumni of a program still in CEPH applicant status remain provisionally certified until the program is fully accredited, and for full certification the graduation date must not precede the accreditation date. The standard routes instead require a relevant graduate-level degree and at least three years of public health work experience, or a bachelor's degree in any concentration and at least five years of public health work experience, and NBPHE reviews that experience to decide whether it qualifies.

For a reader weighing the degree, an MPH from a CEPH-accredited school or program is one route to CPH rather than the only one, and CHES depends on a health education major or qualifying coursework, so compare the roles you want, what each requires and the wages above before deciding.

5 Best Paying Cities for Public Health Careers

This table ranks the metropolitan areas with the highest median annual wage for epidemiologists (SOC 19-1041), among areas for which BLS publishes a wage. Metropolitan areas are BLS-defined areas, not single cities, and some cover more than one state. Estimates for smaller areas can be less reliable.

^{Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025 metropolitan area estimates for epidemiologists (SOC 19-1041).}

5 Top States for Public Health Jobs

This table ranks the states with the highest median annual wage for epidemiologists (SOC 19-1041), among states for which BLS publishes a wage. BLS counts the District of Columbia as a state in this data.

^{Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025 state estimates for epidemiologists (SOC 19-1041).}

Is a Career in Public Health Right for You?

Public health work is varied. APHA describes it as work that is often behind the scenes, with examples such as tracking disease outbreaks, setting worker safety standards and developing school nutrition programs.

If you are still at the bachelor's stage, the guide to what you can do with a bachelor's in public health covers roles to consider before a graduate degree, and you can browse other healthcare degrees to compare fields. Reflect on which of the occupations above matches the work you want to do, and check the wage and the credentials for that role before choosing a program.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a master's in public health make?

BLS does not publish wages by degree. For the five occupations in the table, median annual wages in May 2025 ranged from $51,850 for community health workers to $123,860 for medical and health services managers. Those wages describe all workers in each occupation, not only MPH holders.

What is the highest-paid job in public health?

Of the five occupations compared on this page, medical and health services managers had the highest median annual wage in May 2025, at $123,860, according to BLS. BLS does not rank every public health job, and the figure covers workers at all experience levels.

Which is better, MBA or MPH?

The answer depends on the work you want. The MPH competencies that CEPH sets cover epidemiology, biostatistics, health systems, policy and leadership. BLS reports wages by occupation rather than by degree, so it cannot rank the two degrees by pay; compare the occupations you want, what each requires and the wages above. If you are weighing the MPH against the MPA instead, see MPA vs MPH.

Is a master's in public health worth it?

The data cannot settle that for everyone, because BLS does not separate wages by degree. As described above, CHES eligibility depends on a health education major or qualifying coursework rather than on the degree alone, and CPH has a no-experience route only for alumni of CEPH-accredited schools and programs; the standard routes require three or five years of public health work experience, depending on the degree. Check what your target role requires before committing to a program.