Median Earnings for Healthcare Degrees (2026 stats)
TL;DR
The typical healthcare bachelor's program pays $86,206 a year after graduation and $92,022 five years out, in EDsmart Data's analysis of College Scorecard program data. That is $32,665 more than the median bachelor's program in any field. The highest-paying healthcare credential is Advanced/Graduate Dentistry and Oral Sciences (Master's) at $221,833 in year one.
Key Facts
- Healthcare bachelor's, year 1: $86,206
- Healthcare bachelor's, year 5: $92,022
- Top-paying healthcare field: Advanced/Graduate Dentistry and Oral Sciences
- Healthcare programs with earnings data: 10,952
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Median earnings for healthcare degrees by credential level
Healthcare vs all fields
Our analysis finds healthcare bachelor's graduates earn $86,206 in year one versus $53,541 for all bachelor's programs.
Program medians weighted by graduates with reported earnings.
Healthcare degree earnings and debt by credential
| Credential | Year-1 earnings | Year-5 earnings | All fields, year 1 | Median debt | Programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Certificate | $31,671 | $35,585 | $32,222 | $9,500 | 2,572 |
| Associate | $69,303 | $68,779 | $46,373 | $28,114 | 2,724 |
| Bachelor's | $86,206 | $92,022 | $53,541 | $36,000 | 2,448 |
| Master's | $99,524 | $115,667 | $71,026 | $53,767 | 2,182 |
| Doctoral | $85,569 | $131,609 | $85,240 | $82,295 | 558 |
| Professional | $70,959 | $145,944 | $76,631 | $199,924 | 468 |
Nursing career ladder: earnings at each step
Weighted medians across all programs at each credential level.
Top 25 highest-paying healthcare degrees and certificates
Fields with at least 5 programs reporting year-1 earnings, ranked by median earnings one year after completion.
| Field of study | Credential | Year-1 earnings | Year-5 earnings | Median debt | Programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced/Graduate Dentistry and Oral Sciences | Master's | $221,833 | $269,679 | $195,729 | 19 |
| Allied Health and Medical Assisting Services | Master's | $201,159 | $209,435 | $181,563 | 17 |
| Medical Clinical Sciences/Graduate Medical Studies | Master's | $167,263 | $243,537 | $80,109 | 12 |
| Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions | Doctoral | $151,543 | $77,076 | $71,750 | 6 |
| Dentistry | Doctoral | $139,953 | $162,622 | $468,312 | 8 |
| Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing | Doctoral | $137,191 | $137,449 | $79,803 | 188 |
| Dentistry | Professional | $133,274 | $172,563 | $302,418 | 60 |
| Health and Medical Administrative Services | Doctoral | $121,467 | $120,638 | $82,061 | 8 |
| Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing | Professional | $120,985 | $135,951 | $93,800 | 35 |
| Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions | Professional | $120,861 | $134,501 | $30,026 | 6 |
| Optometry | Doctoral | $115,787 | $134,302 | $228,565 | 5 |
| Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions | Master's | $114,555 | $130,165 | $133,220 | 258 |
| Optometry | Professional | $111,862 | $132,437 | $196,418 | 16 |
| Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing | Master's | $107,822 | $120,419 | $52,759 | 467 |
| Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Administration | Doctoral | $104,325 | $139,855 | $168,778 | 49 |
| Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Administration | Professional | $103,463 | $138,301 | $137,605 | 96 |
| Health Services/Allied Health/Health Sciences, General | Doctoral | $100,066 | $118,104 | $101,068 | 6 |
| Health Professions Education, Ethics, and Humanities | Master's | $98,439 | $105,498 | $23,206 | 46 |
| Medical Illustration and Informatics | Master's | $90,913 | $102,420 | $35,567 | 32 |
| Public Health | Doctoral | $90,261 | $111,143 | $137,956 | 12 |
| Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing | Bachelor's | $89,974 | $98,238 | $41,125 | 1,040 |
| Public Health | Professional | $88,809 | $121,123 | $53,000 | 5 |
| Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Administration | Master's | $88,708 | $136,759 | $40,614 | 19 |
| Communication Disorders Sciences and Services | Doctoral | $84,566 | $93,230 | $80,859 | 35 |
| Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science/Research and Allied Professions | Master's | $79,266 | $86,003 | $52,750 | 13 |
Top 25 schools for BSN nursing earnings
| School | State | Year-1 earnings | Year-5 earnings | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. San Francisco State University | CA | $145,008 | $159,614 | $16,485 |
| 2. Unitek College | CA | $143,152 | — | $50,177 |
| 3. California State University-East Bay | CA | $139,123 | $153,321 | $22,991 |
| 4. Samuel Merritt University | CA | $138,536 | $147,607 | $25,937 |
| 5. Sonoma State University | CA | $134,423 | $148,502 | $24,985 |
| 6. California State University-Sacramento | CA | $132,168 | $137,886 | $13,500 |
| 7. Dominican University of California | CA | $128,516 | $145,714 | $27,000 |
| 8. California State University-Monterey Bay | CA | $127,203 | $137,644 | $15,125 |
| 9. Pacific Union College | CA | $126,952 | $127,526 | $33,334 |
| 10. Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts | CA | $126,893 | — | $36,298 |
| 11. California State University-Stanislaus | CA | $126,532 | $122,913 | $20,000 |
| 12. North-West College-San Diego | CA | $122,955 | — | — |
| 13. Glendale Career College | CA | $122,955 | — | — |
| 14. Iona University | NY | $121,499 | — | $27,000 |
| 15. University of San Francisco | CA | $120,438 | $156,479 | $25,250 |
| 16. New York University | NY | $120,121 | $116,391 | $24,995 |
| 17. Monroe University | NY | $119,557 | $123,172 | $34,500 |
| 18. Mount Sinai Phillips School of Nursing | NY | $119,316 | — | $21,200 |
| 19. CUNY York College | NY | $117,821 | $115,067 | $14,500 |
| 20. SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University | NY | $117,590 | $112,537 | $22,387 |
| 21. Career Networks Institute | CA | $116,832 | — | $45,016 |
| 22. CUNY Graduate School and University Center | NY | $116,825 | $115,692 | $18,000 |
| 23. California State University-Dominguez Hills | CA | $116,349 | $131,815 | $13,000 |
| 24. Wagner College | NY | $115,762 | $114,718 | $27,000 |
| 25. Molloy University | NY | $114,478 | $117,979 | $31,000 |
What the data shows
Healthcare degrees pay above average at the bachelor's level in our analysis, and the credential level matters as much as the field. Moving up a level usually raises year-one earnings more than switching schools does.
Earnings vary widely by program. The school-level table shows how far the best programs sit above the national median, so compare a specific program's earnings rather than relying on the field average.
Methodology
Program figures come from the College Scorecard field-of-study file: one record per institution × 4-digit CIP code × credential level. Earnings are median annual earnings of federal-aid recipients who completed the program and were working and not enrolled, measured 1, 4, and 5 years after completion (in the dollar year of the Scorecard release). Debt is the median federal loan balance (Stafford and Grad PLUS) at completion; private loans and Parent PLUS are excluded. Programs with too few graduates are suppressed by the Department of Education and drop out of each column.
When we summarize many programs, we take the median across programs weighted by the number of graduates in each program's earnings (or debt) cohort, so large programs count more than tiny ones.
Healthcare covers CIP family 51 (health professions). Health certificates at bachelor's- or graduate-predominant universities are excluded because they are usually post-degree credentials.
Frequently asked questions
How much do healthcare degree graduates earn?
The median healthcare bachelor's program pays $86,206 one year after graduation and $92,022 five years out, based on College Scorecard data for 2,448 programs.
What is the highest-paying healthcare degree?
Advanced/Graduate Dentistry and Oral Sciences (Master's) leads at $221,833 in year-one median earnings, followed by Allied Health and Medical Assisting Services (Master's, $201,159).
Do healthcare associate degrees pay well?
The median healthcare associate program pays $69,303 in year one, versus $46,373 for associate programs in all fields.
How much debt do healthcare graduates have?
Median federal debt for healthcare bachelor's graduates is $36,000.
Data sources
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard institution and field-of-study files (latest release in our extract)