Health Education Specialists
Provide and manage health education programs that help individuals, families, and their communities maximize and maintain healthy lifestyles. Use data to identify community needs prior to planning, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating programs designed to encourage healthy lifestyles, policies, and environments. May link health systems, health providers, insurers, and patients to address individual and population health needs. May serve as resource to assist individuals, other health professionals, or the community, and may administer fiscal resources for health education programs.
- Median pay
- $64,070
- Doing it now
- 70,400
- By 2035
- Up 5.6%
- Usually needs
- Bachelor's degree
a year
across the country
6,900 openings a year
to get in
What the work involves
- Document activities and record information, such as the numbers of applications completed, presentations conducted, and persons assisted.
- Develop and present health education and promotion programs, such as training workshops, conferences, and school or community presentations.
- Develop and maintain cooperative working relationships with agencies and organizations interested in public health care.
- Develop operational plans and policies necessary to achieve health education objectives and services.
- Collaborate with health specialists and civic groups to determine community health needs and the availability of services and to develop goals for meeting needs.
- Maintain databases, mailing lists, telephone networks, and other information to facilitate the functioning of health education programs.
- Supervise professional and technical staff in implementing health programs, objectives, and goals.
What to study
The fields of study the Department of Education links to this occupation, most widely taught first.
- Public HealthSee 543 colleges that teach it
- Health Services/Allied Health/Health Sciences, GeneralSee 465 colleges that teach it
- Mental and Social Health Services and Allied ProfessionsSee 138 colleges that teach it
- Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied CommunicationSee 470 colleges that teach it
Who it suits
O*NET scores every occupation on six interest dimensions. This one leans hardest on these three.
Helping and teaching
Analytical and curious
Organised and precise
Careers like this one
Where this comes from: the description and the task list are O*NET, which the Department of Labor maintains. Pay, workforce size, outlook and the education normally needed are the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections programme, 2025 wages and 2025 to 2035 projections. Half of them earn more than $64,070 a year, which means half earn less, and what you would earn depends on where you work and how long you have been doing it. The fields of study come from the National Center for Education Statistics crosswalk.