Environmental Health

Types of Degrees Environmental Health Majors Are Getting

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

Education Level	Number of Grads
Master’s Degree	798
Bachelor’s Degree	378
Graduate Certificate	143
Doctor’s Degree	87
Basic Certificate	21
Associate Degree	12

What Environmental Health Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to environmental health were asked what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. They weighted these areas on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Knowledge Areas for Environmental Health Majors

According to O*NET survey takers, a major in environmental health should prepare you for careers in which you will need to be knowledgeable in the following areas:

• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Biology - Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
• 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.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

Skills for Environmental Health Majors

When studying environmental health, 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:

• 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.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• 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.
• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.

Abilities for Environmental Health Majors

A major in environmental health will prepare for your careers in which the following abilities are important:

• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).

What Can You Do With a Environmental Health Major?

People with a environmental health degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health	11.1%	$71,130
Epidemiologists	8.2%	$69,660
Health Specialties Professors	25.9%	$97,370
Industrial Ecologists	11.1%	$71,130
Occupational Health and Safety Specialists	8.1%	$73,020
Occupational Health and Safety Technicians	9.9%	$50,780

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Health?

The major attracts more women than men. About 60% of the recent graduates in this field are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	43
Black or African American	24
Hispanic or Latino	69
White	206
International Students	16
Other Races/Ethnicities	20

Geographic Diversity

Environmental Health appeals to people across the globe. About 4.2% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Environmental Health

Some careers associated with environmental health require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

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

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	0.2%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	1.0%
Some College Courses	0.2%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	2.6%
Bachelor’s Degree	41.5%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	2.7%
Master’s Degree	35.4%
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.	0.7%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	1.2%
Doctoral Degree	11.2%
Post-Doctoral Training	4.4%

Online Environmental Health 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)	0	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	6	0
Bachelor’s Degree	15	6
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	59	7
Post-Master’s	3	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	33	2
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	1	0

Majors Related to Environmental Health

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

Major	Number of Grads
General Public Health	25,558
Public Health Education and Promotion	4,112
Other Public Health	3,157
Health Services Administration	3,047
Community Health and Preventive Medicine	2,042
International Public Health/International Health	1,696
Behavioral Aspects of Health	633
Maternal and Child Health	275
Occupational Health and Industrial Hygiene	261
Health/Medical Physics	244
Patient Safety and Healthcare Quality	87

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 Article 25 Flickr under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.