Health Communication Degrees (2026 stats)
TL;DR
Health Communication maps to BLS occupations averaging about $149,642, with roughly 3,455,310 workers nationwide in those roles. Median in-state published tuition is about $9,998; common paths include Registered Nurses and Home Health Aides.
Key Statistics
Health Communication: what the data shows
Common questions about health communication degrees, answered from IPEDS, College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, and O*NET in this repository—not program marketing copy.
What is a health communication degree?
A Health Communication program is classified under NCES CIP 09.0905 in the Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication field family (09.09).
A program that focuses on how people, individually and collectively, understand and accommodate to health and illness and the role of communication and media in shaping professional health care messages and public acceptance of these messages. Includes instruction in the development and use of health-related and care-related messages and media; the goals and strategies of health care promotion; relationships, roles, situations, and social structures in the context of health maintenance and promotion; and applications to disease prevention, health advocacy, and communications concerning treatments
IPEDS counted 120 completions for this CIP in the survey year in our extract.
Types of health communication degrees and related programs
Other NCES program codes in the 09.09 family with pages on EDsmart Data:
- Advertising (CIP 09.0903)
- Communication Management and Strategic Communications (CIP 09.0909)
- International and Intercultural Communication (CIP 09.0907)
- Organizational Communication, General (CIP 09.0901)
- Political Communication (CIP 09.0904)
- Public Relations (CIP 09.0902)
- Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication (CIP 09.0902)
- Sports Communication (CIP 09.0906)
- Technical and Scientific Communication (CIP 09.0908)
How long does it take to get a health communication degree?
Award levels reported to IPEDS for CIP 09.0905 in our file:
- 120 Bachelor's (52.6% of IPEDS total)—typically four years
- 85 Master's (37.3% of IPEDS total)—one to two years beyond a bachelor's
- 23 Doctorate (10.1% of IPEDS total)—varies by program
Time to completion depends on enrollment intensity and transfer credits; figures above describe credential type, not calendar time for every student.
What degree do you need?
For Registered Nurses (top mapped occupation), O*NET incumbent surveys in our career profile report these education credentials most often: Some college (29%), High School or Equivalent (27%), Bachelors Degree (22%). Bachelor's awards account for a majority of IPEDS completions for CIP 09.0905, but occupation data show multiple pathways.
O*NET education distributions describe incumbent workers, not minimum legal or employer requirements.
What jobs can you get with a health communication degree?
Our degree→occupation mapping links Health Communication to the BLS roles below. Employment is U.S. OEWS; median wage is national May 2024 where published in our extract.
| Occupation | U.S. employment | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Registered Nurses | 3,282,010 | $93,600 |
| Home Health Aides | — | — |
| Health Education Specialists | 65,150 | $63,000 |
| Mental Health Counselors | — | — |
| Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health | 84,930 | $80,060 |
| Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors | 23,220 | $109,660 |
See Careers & Jobs for mean wages and industry context.
Is a health communication degree worth it?
College Scorecard national medians for the Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication bachelor's program family: median debt $44,806, median earnings $63,560 four years after enrollment. Debt-to-earnings proxy: 1.12.
About 3.0% of graduates in this field family were not working and not enrolled one year after completion in Scorecard's national program medians.
Among schools reporting in our Scorecard extract, median published in-state tuition is $9,998 and median net price is $19,376.
We do not score "worth" on opinion—compare debt, earnings, wages for mapped occupations, and completion data above against your cost and career target.
Institutions
Information about the types of higher education institutions that grant degrees in Health Communication and the types of students that study this field.
Tuition Costs for Common Institutions
$9,998 Median In-State Public
$39,275 Median Out of State Private
Tuition costs for Health Communication majors are, on average, $9,998 for in-state public colleges, and $39,275 for out of state private colleges.
Tuition costs comparison for Health Communication programs.
Degrees Awarded Over Time
100,000 Total Degrees Awarded in 2023
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Health Communication from 2015 to 2023.
Historical trend of degrees awarded in Health Communication.
Top 5 Schools by Enrollment
| # | School | State | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southern New Hampshire University | NH | 163,164 |
| 2 | Southern New Hampshire University | NH | 163,164 |
| 3 | Grand Canyon University | AZ | 73,371 |
| 4 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion | AZ | 64,674 |
| 5 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion | AZ | 64,674 |
Schools with the largest enrollment offering Health Communication programs.
Top 5 Most Affordable Tuition
| # | School | State | Tuition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Irvine Valley College | CA | $1,156 |
| 2 | Santa Monica College | CA | $1,156 |
| 3 | Santa Monica College | CA | $1,156 |
| 4 | Santiago Canyon College | CA | $1,164 |
| 5 | Los Angeles Harbor College | CA | $1,238 |
Schools with the lowest tuition costs for Health Communication programs.
Top 5 Lowest Net Price
| # | School | State | Net Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Macomb Community College | MI | $1,618 |
| 2 | Macomb Community College | MI | $1,618 |
| 3 | West Virginia University at Parkersburg | WV | $1,807 |
| 4 | Irvine Valley College | CA | $2,090 |
| 5 | Santiago Canyon College | CA | $2,129 |
Schools with the lowest average net price for Health Communication programs.
Graduation Rates
Graduation rate data is not available for this degree program.
Graduation/completion rates for Health Communication programs across institutions.
Where students complete this major (IPEDS)
Bachelor's-level completions (IPEDS Completions, award level 5) summed by institution state. State is taken from IPEDS Directory (HD2023) for each reporting institution.
Geographic concentration
The largest number of reported bachelor's completions for Health Communication is in CA (39 completions). That state represents about 32.5% of U.S. bachelor's completions reported for this CIP in the IPEDS file we use.
Among states, the highest concentration relative to all bachelor's degrees awarded in-state is MI (0.01% of that state's bachelor's completions).
Top states by count of bachelor's completions for this CIP (IPEDS).
| State | Bachelor's completions (this CIP) | % of U.S. total (this CIP) | % of state's all bachelor's |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA | 39 | 32.5% | 0.01% |
| MI | 16 | 13.3% | 0.01% |
| OH | 16 | 13.3% | 0.01% |
| TX | 15 | 12.5% | 0.01% |
| IL | 9 | 7.5% | 0.01% |
| KY | 6 | 5.0% | 0.01% |
| NJ | 6 | 5.0% | 0.01% |
| MN | 4 | 3.3% | 0.01% |
| MO | 3 | 2.5% | 0.00% |
| ID | 2 | 1.7% | 0.01% |
| PA | 2 | 1.7% | 0.00% |
| NC | 1 | 0.8% | 0.00% |
| NE | 1 | 0.8% | 0.00% |
Related specializations
Other NCES program codes in the 09.09 CIP family with dedicated pages on EDsmart Data.
- Advertising CIP 09.0903
- Communication Management and Strategic Communications CIP 09.0909
- International and Intercultural Communication CIP 09.0907
- Organizational Communication, General CIP 09.0901
- Political Communication CIP 09.0904
- Public Relations CIP 09.0902
- Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication CIP 09.0902
- Sports Communication CIP 09.0906
- Technical and Scientific Communication CIP 09.0908
Degree Levels (IPEDS)
Completions reported to IPEDS for CIP 09.0905 in the survey year used in our extract (228 total across levels below).
- 120 Bachelor's (52.6% of IPEDS total)
- 85 Master's (37.3% of IPEDS total)
- 23 Doctorate (10.1% of IPEDS total)
Source: IPEDS Completions (c2024_a), summed by award level for this CIP.
Careers & Jobs
Occupations linked to this major in our degree→career mapping, with wages and employment from processed BLS career profiles in this repo.
Across these BLS occupations, employment-weighted mean pay is about $149,642. Figures are national OEWS estimates for the occupation—not earnings of Health Communication graduates alone.
Related occupations (BLS OEWS)
| Occupation | Mean annual wage | U.S. employment |
|---|---|---|
| Registered Nurses | $152,361 | 3,282,010 |
| Home Health Aides | — | — |
| Health Education Specialists | $71,851 | 65,150 |
| Mental Health Counselors | — | — |
| Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health | $110,339 | 84,930 |
| Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors | $127,278 | 23,220 |
Open each occupation for full career profile charts and industry breakdowns on EDsmart Data.
Program outcomes (College Scorecard)
National medians across bachelor's programs in the Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication CIP family (86 programs reporting debt). Not specific to every Health Communication graduate.
- $44,806 median federal loan debt among completers
- $63,560 median earnings four years after enrollment (national program median)
- 1.12 debt-to-earnings ratio (Scorecard proxy)
- 3.0% of graduates not working and not enrolled one year out (program cohort)
Source: College Scorecard program-level outcomes aggregated by 4-digit CIP family.
Employment
Wages and industry mix below use BLS OEWS data for occupations linked to this major in our mapping—not a graduate earnings survey.
Yearly Income for Common Jobs
$149,642 Average Wage in Workforce
The average salary for Health Communication majors is $149,642.
Average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Health Communication majors.
Occupations by Share
3,455,310 2023 Workforce
The number of Health Communication graduates in the workforce has been growing.
Various jobs filled by those with a major in Health Communication by share of the total number of graduates.
Diversity
Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Health Communication in the United States.
Workforce Age
N/A Average Age in 2023
This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Health Communication.
Age distribution for Health Communication degree holders in the workforce.
Gender Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
120 Total Degrees Awarded
24 Male (20.00%)
96 Female (80.00%)
Gender distribution of Health Communication degree recipients.
Race and Ethnicity Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
67 White (55.83%)
22 Hispanic or Latino (18.33%)
10 Black or African American (8.33%)
9 Asian (7.50%)
7 Two or More Races (5.83%)
Racial and ethnic distribution of Health Communication degree recipients.
Degrees Awarded
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Health Communication are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.
Distribution of degree types awarded in Health Communication.
Skills
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Health Communication field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Required Skills
Health Communication majors need many skills, but most especially Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Reading Comprehension.
Rating of how necessary various skills are for Health Communication majors.
Skills Bar Chart
This bar chart shows the same information as the radar chart, displaying the importance of each skill.
Skill importance ratings for Health Communication majors.
About
A program that focuses on how people, individually and collectively, understand and accommodate to health and illness and the role of communication and media in shaping professional health care messages and public acceptance of these messages. Includes instruction in the development and use of health-related and care-related messages and media; the goals and strategies of health care promotion; relationships, roles, situations, and social structures in the context of health maintenance and promotion; and applications to disease prevention, health advocacy, and communications concerning treatments
In 2023, 100,000 degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs in Health Communication.
CIP Code
09.0905 - Health Communication
What the data shows
At the program-family level, College Scorecard reports median debt of $44,806 for bachelor's completers and median earnings near $63,560, a debt-to-earnings ratio of 1.12. Those figures describe national program cohorts in this CIP family—not every individual Health Communication graduate.
Women earned 84.8% of 362 Health Communication completions in the IPEDS file used here.
Mapped BLS occupations show employment-weighted mean pay of about $149,642. The largest mapped role by headcount is Registered Nurses (3,282,010 U.S. jobs in OEWS).
Published tuition medians in College Scorecard land at $9,998 in-state at public colleges and $39,275 at private institutions for programs in this field.
Data Sources
This page uses data from the following sources:
- College Scorecard - U.S. Department of Education
- Institutional characteristics, costs, completion rates, and earnings data
- Data years: 2015-2024
- Source: collegescorecard.ed.gov
- Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)
- Employment and wage data by occupation
- Latest data: May 2024
- Source: bls.gov/oes
- O*NET Online - U.S. Department of Labor
- Occupational skills, knowledge, abilities, and work activities
- Database version: 28.0 (August 2023)
- Source: onetcenter.org
- IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System) - National Center for Education Statistics
- Institutional data, completions, enrollment, and financial aid
- Data years: 2015-2024
- Source: nces.ed.gov/ipeds
- Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS)
- Demographic and workforce data
- Latest data: 2023 ACS 5-Year Estimates
- Source: census.gov/acs
Data Processing: All data has been processed, cleaned, and aggregated for presentation. Where specific data points are unavailable, estimates are based on available data and clearly marked.
Last Updated: Data reflects the most recent available information as of January 2025.
Methodology
Data for this profile is sourced from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard dataset, IPEDS completion data, and Bureau of Labor Statistics employment data.
All financial figures are adjusted for inflation and represent the most recent available data. Employment and wage data are from the most recent Census Bureau ACS PUMS estimates.