Medical Assistant Degrees (2026 stats)
TL;DR
Medical Assistant maps to BLS occupations averaging about $61,432, with roughly 126,560 workers nationwide in those roles. Median in-state published tuition is about $4,436; common paths include Home Health Aides and Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologists.
Key Statistics
Medical Assistant: what the data shows
Common questions about medical assistant degrees, answered from IPEDS, College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, and O*NET in this repository—not program marketing copy.
What is a medical assistant degree?
A Medical Assistant program is classified under NCES CIP 51.3901 in the Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants field family (51.39).
A program that prepares individuals to assist in providing general nursing care under the direction of a registered nurse, physician or dentist. Includes instruction in taking patient vital signs, applying sterile dressings, patient health education, and assistance with examinations and treatment.
IPEDS counted 1 completions for this CIP in the survey year in our extract.
How long does it take to get a medical assistant degree?
Award levels reported to IPEDS for CIP 51.3901 in our file:
- 2,247 Associate (40.0% of IPEDS total)—about two years of full-time study
- 1 Bachelor's (0.0% of IPEDS total)—typically four years
- 2,247 Master's (40.0% of IPEDS total)—one to two years beyond a bachelor's
- 1,120 Doctorate (19.9% 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 do you learn in medical assistant?
O*NET skill ratings for occupations mapped to this major emphasize Active Listening, Service Orientation, Social Perceptiveness, Critical Thinking, Monitoring, Reading Comprehension, and related competencies. See the Skills section for the full list in our extract.
What degree do you need?
For Home Health Aides (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%).
O*NET education distributions describe incumbent workers, not minimum legal or employer requirements.
What jobs can you get with a medical assistant degree?
Our degree→occupation mapping links Medical Assistant 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Home Health Aides | — | — |
| Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologists | — | — |
| Mental Health Counselors | — | — |
| Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health | 84,930 | $80,060 |
| Medical Assistants | 793,460 | $44,200 |
| 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 medical assistant degree worth it?
About 50.5% 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 $4,436 and median net price is $10,359.
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 Medical Assistant and the types of students that study this field.
Tuition Costs for Common Institutions
$4,436 Median In-State Public
$15,314 Median Out of State Private
Tuition costs for Medical Assistant majors are, on average, $4,436 for in-state public colleges, and $15,314 for out of state private colleges.
Tuition costs comparison for Medical Assistant programs.
Institutions awarding the most Medical Assistant degrees
| # | Institution | State | Completions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Moines Area Community College | IA | 1,637 |
| 2 | Ivy Tech Community College | IN | 1,209 |
| 3 | Hondros College of Nursing | OH | 1,122 |
| 4 | Unitek College | CA | 1,107 |
| 5 | Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts | CA | 869 |
| 6 | ECPI University | VA | 747 |
| 7 | Bluegrass Community and Technical College | KY | 579 |
| 8 | Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College | KY | 472 |
| 9 | Veeb Nassau County School of Practical Nursing | NY | 407 |
| 10 | Ashland Community and Technical College | KY | 406 |
IPEDS Completions (c2024_a), all award levels for this CIP in our extract.
Degrees Awarded Over Time
1 Total Degrees Awarded in 2023
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Medical Assistant from 2015 to 2023.
Historical trend of degrees awarded in Medical Assistant.
Top 5 Schools by Enrollment
| # | School | State | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ivy Tech Community College | IN | 58,267 |
| 2 | Miami Dade College | FL | 46,182 |
| 3 | Lone Star College System | TX | 45,188 |
| 4 | Dallas College | TX | 43,869 |
| 5 | Tarrant County College District | TX | 42,300 |
Schools with the largest enrollment offering Medical Assistant programs.
Top 5 Most Affordable Tuition
| # | School | State | Tuition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Antelope Valley Community College District | CA | $1,124 |
| 2 | Lassen Community College | CA | $1,144 |
| 3 | Lassen Community College | CA | $1,144 |
| 4 | Imperial Valley College | CA | $1,148 |
| 5 | Imperial Valley College | CA | $1,148 |
Schools with the lowest tuition costs for Medical Assistant programs.
Top 5 Lowest Net Price
| # | School | State | Net Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Mexico State University-Grants | NM | $68 |
| 2 | Infinity College | LA | $230 |
| 3 | College of the Sequoias | CA | $480 |
| 4 | Wiregrass Georgia Technical College | GA | $614 |
| 5 | Henry Ford College | MI | $660 |
Schools with the lowest average net price for Medical Assistant programs.
Graduation Rates
47.46% Median Graduation Rate (150% of normal time)
49.17% Average Graduation Rate
437 Institutions Reporting
33.50% - 62.57% Interquartile Range
Graduation/completion rates for Medical Assistant 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 Medical Assistant is in AL (1 completions). That state represents about 100.0% 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 AL (0.00% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| AL | 1 | 100.0% | 0.00% |
Degree Levels (IPEDS)
Completions reported to IPEDS for CIP 51.3901 in the survey year used in our extract (5,615 total across levels below).
- 2,247 Associate (40.0% of IPEDS total)
- 1 Bachelor's (0.0% of IPEDS total)
- 2,247 Master's (40.0% of IPEDS total)
- 1,120 Doctorate (19.9% 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 $61,432. Figures are national OEWS estimates for the occupation—not earnings of Medical Assistant graduates alone.
Related occupations (BLS OEWS)
| Occupation | Mean annual wage | U.S. employment |
|---|---|---|
| Home Health Aides | — | — |
| Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologists | — | — |
| Mental Health Counselors | — | — |
| Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health | $110,339 | 84,930 |
| Medical Assistants | $54,270 | 793,460 |
| 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 Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants CIP family (n/a programs reporting debt). Not specific to every Medical Assistant graduate.
- $39,305 median earnings four years after enrollment (national program median)
- 50.5% 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
$61,854 Average Wage in Workforce
The average salary for Medical Assistant majors is $61,854.
Average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Medical Assistant majors.
Occupations by Share
126,560 2023 Workforce
The number of Medical Assistant graduates in the workforce has been growing.
Various jobs filled by those with a major in Medical Assistant by share of the total number of graduates.
Diversity
Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Medical Assistant in the United States.
Workforce Age
N/A Average Age in 2023
This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Medical Assistant.
Age distribution for Medical Assistant degree holders in the workforce.
Gender Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
1 Total Degrees Awarded
1 Female (100.00%)
Gender distribution of Medical Assistant degree recipients.
Race and Ethnicity Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
1 Black or African American (100.00%)
Racial and ethnic distribution of Medical Assistant degree recipients.
Degrees Awarded
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Medical Assistant are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.
Distribution of degree types awarded in Medical Assistant.
Skills
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Medical Assistant field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Required Skills
Medical Assistant majors need many skills, but most especially Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Reading Comprehension.
Rating of how necessary various skills are for Medical Assistant 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 Medical Assistant majors.
About
A program that prepares individuals to assist in providing general nursing care under the direction of a registered nurse, physician or dentist. Includes instruction in taking patient vital signs, applying sterile dressings, patient health education, and assistance with examinations and treatment.
In 2023, 1 degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs in Medical Assistant.
CIP Code
51.3901 - Medical Assistant
What the data shows
About 50.5% of graduates in this field family were not working and not enrolled one year after completion in Scorecard's national program medians. That is a program-level mobility signal, not a national underemployment rate.
Women earned 89.5% of 50,931 Medical Assistant completions in the IPEDS file used here.
Mapped BLS occupations show employment-weighted mean pay of about $61,432. The largest mapped role by headcount is Home Health Aides (N/A U.S. jobs in OEWS).
Published tuition medians in College Scorecard land at $4,436 in-state at public colleges and $15,314 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.