Health/Medical Psychology Degrees (2026 stats)

Health/Medical Psychology: what the data shows

Common questions about health/medical psychology degrees, answered from IPEDS, College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, and O*NET in this repository—not program marketing copy.

What is a health/medical psychology degree?

A Health/Medical Psychology program is classified under NCES CIP 42.2810 in the Clinical, Counseling and Applied Psychology field family (42.28).

A program that focuses on the psychological study of health and illness, and recovery, from the perspective that these phenomena arise from a combination of physical, behavioral, and social conditions. Includes instruction in abnormal and social psychology, psychophysiology, psychopharmacology, learning processes, clinical and behavioral therapies, biopsychosocial modeling, clinical procedures and assessment, preventive education, psychotherapy, rehabilitation processes, and research methods

IPEDS counted 215 completions for this CIP in the survey year in our extract.

Types of health/medical psychology degrees and related programs

Other NCES program codes in the 42.28 family with pages on EDsmart Data:

• Applied Behavior Analysis (CIP 42.2814)
• Applied Psychology (CIP 42.2813)
• Clinical Child Psychology (CIP 42.2807)
• Clinical Psychology (CIP 42.2801)
• Community Psychology (CIP 42.2802)
• Counseling Psychology (CIP 42.2803)
• Educational Psychology (CIP 42.2806)
• Environmental Psychology (CIP 42.2808)
• Family Psychology (CIP 42.2811)
• Forensic Psychology (CIP 42.2812)
• Geropsychology (CIP 42.2809)
• Industrial and Organizational Psychology (CIP 42.2804)
• Performance and Sport Psychology (CIP 42.2815)
• School Psychology (CIP 42.2805)
• Somatic Psychology (CIP 42.2816)
• Transpersonal/Spiritual Psychology (CIP 42.2817)

How long does it take to get a health/medical psychology degree?

Award levels reported to IPEDS for CIP 42.2810 in our file:

• 215 Bachelor's (76.0% of IPEDS total)—typically four years
• 67 Master's (23.7% of IPEDS total)—one to two years beyond a bachelor's
• 1 Doctorate (0.4% 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 Teachers and Instructors, All Other (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 42.2810, 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/medical psychology degree?

Our degree→occupation mapping links Health/Medical Psychology to the BLS roles below. Employment is U.S. OEWS; median wage is national May 2024 where published in our extract.

See Careers & Jobs for mean wages and industry context.

Is a health/medical psychology degree worth it?

College Scorecard national medians for the Clinical, Counseling and Applied Psychology bachelor's program family: median debt $40,066, median earnings $50,523 four years after enrollment. Debt-to-earnings proxy: 1.16.

About 5.6% 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 $10,934 and median net price is $19,058.

We do not score "worth" on opinion—compare debt, earnings, wages for mapped occupations, and completion data above against your cost and career target.