Types of Degrees Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many health communication graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Master’s Degree	152
Bachelor’s Degree	148
Graduate Certificate	52
Basic Certificate	36
Undergraduate Certificate	23
Doctor’s Degree	13

What Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, health communication majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most important.

Knowledge Areas for Health Communication Majors

Health Communication majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

Skills for Health Communication Majors

When studying health communication, you’ll learn many skills that will help you be successful in a wide range of jobs - even those that do not require a degree in the field. The following is a list of some of the most common skills needed for careers associated with this major:

• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

Abilities for Health Communication Majors

Health Communication majors often go into careers where the following abilities are vital:

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in ?

The major attracts more women than men. About 85% of the recent graduates in this field are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of health communication majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	9
Black or African American	14
Hispanic or Latino	20
White	93
International Students	1
Other Races/Ethnicities	11

Geographic Diversity

Americans aren’t the only ones with an interest in Health Communication. About 0.7% of those with this major are international students.

How Much Do Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Health Communication majors often go into careers where salaries can range from $43,480 to $68,440 (25th to 75th percentile). This range includes all degree levels, so you may expect those with a more advanced degree to make more while those with less advanced degrees will typically make less.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to

Some careers associated with health communication require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to health communication have obtained the following education levels.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	2.6%
Some College Courses	0.7%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	19.2%
Bachelor’s Degree	46.2%
Master’s Degree	24.6%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	0.2%
Doctoral Degree	4.4%
Post-Doctoral Training	2.6%

Online Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	2	1
Certificate (2-4 Years)	1	0
Associate’s Degree	0	0
Bachelor’s Degree	16	7
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	21	4
Post-Master’s	5	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	3	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Worth It?

The median salary for a health communication grad is $59,660 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 50% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $395,200 after 20 years!

Majors Related to

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to health communication.

Major	Number of Grads
Public Relations	5,039
Advertising	4,655
Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication	4,517
General Organizational Communication	1,905
Communication Management and Strategic Communications	1,802
Other Public Relations, Advertising, & Applied Communication	1,409
Sports Communication	943
Technical & Scientific Communication	203
Political Communication	195
International & Intercultural Communication	183

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By Bill Koplitz under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.