Careers in Healthcare Administration

Healthcare administration prepares people to run the business side of healthcare: budgets, staffing, operations, compliance and strategy. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) tracks this work under one occupation, medical and health services managers, and its Occupational Outlook Handbook is the most reliable public source on what the job involves, where it is done and what it pays. This guide summarizes that profile, explains how degrees and experience fit in, and covers the one common role that requires a state license. Every pay and outlook figure here is occupation-wide; none of it describes what graduates of any particular program earn.

What medical and health services managers do

BLS describes these managers, "also called healthcare executives or healthcare administrators," as people who plan, direct and coordinate medical and health services. They may run an entire facility, a clinical department or a group medical practice. Typical duties BLS lists include:

• setting goals for the efficiency and quality of services
• making sure the facility complies with laws and regulations
• preparing and monitoring budgets, including patient fees and billing
• recruiting, training and supervising staff, and creating work schedules
• representing the facility at investor meetings or on governing boards

Titles depend on the setting. BLS gives three examples: nursing home administrators, who manage all aspects of a facility, including admissions, building maintenance and resident care; clinical managers, who oversee a department such as intensive care or physical therapy; and health information managers, who keep patient record databases complete, accurate and secure.

Where they work

BLS reports that medical and health services managers held about 640,400 jobs in 2025. The largest employers were:

Most work full time, and BLS notes that evening or weekend work and on-call duty may be required in settings that run around the clock, such as hospitals and nursing homes. Programs also describe sectors their graduates enter; Cornell's Sloan MHA page, for example, lists hospitals and health systems, health care consulting, health insurance and government agencies among others. Those lists describe one program's alumni, not the field as a whole.

Pay and job outlook, as BLS reports them

For the medical and health services managers occupation, BLS reports:

• Median annual wage: $123,860 in May 2025. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $73,390 and the highest 10 percent more than $224,340.
• By industry (May 2025 medians): government $136,130; hospitals $133,580; outpatient care centers $116,060; offices of physicians $105,770; nursing and residential care facilities $100,520.
• Projected growth: employment is projected to grow 24 percent from 2025 to 2035, which BLS calls much faster than the average for all occupations, with about 62,300 openings projected each year on average.

These are occupation-wide figures from BLS, not program outcomes. They include experienced executives and entry-level managers alike, and a median is not a starting salary. No degree guarantees a job or a particular wage.

Education and experience

BLS says these managers "typically need a bachelor's degree" to enter the occupation, though requirements vary: some employers hire candidates with an associate's degree, others prefer a master's degree, and work experience sometimes substitutes for education. BLS also notes that advancement to top executive positions "may require a master's degree."

Experience matters as much as the diploma. BLS says employers may require work experience in either an administrative or a clinical role, and that managers often start as medical records specialists, administrative assistants or financial clerks. If you are weighing levels, see our guide to bachelor's vs. master's vs. doctoral degrees, or browse bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs. For people choosing between degree types, our MHA vs. MBA guide explains how the two awards differ.

Licensure: nursing home administrators and regulated roles

Most healthcare management jobs do not require a license, but some do. BLS states that all states require licensure for nursing home administrators and that requirements vary by state. The National Association of Long Term Care Administrator Boards (NAB), whose members are the state boards and agencies that license long-term care administrators, explains that "each state has its own requirements" for a nursing home administrator license, for administrator-in-training programs and for continuing education. NAB tells candidates to confirm requirements with their own licensing jurisdiction, because state rules can change without notice to NAB.

Some degree programs describe how their coursework relates to a specific state's rules. The University of Alabama at Birmingham says completing its BS in Health Care Management general manager track with a long-term care internship "qualifies a student for licensure examination" through the Alabama Board of Examiners of Nursing Home Administrators. The University of Scranton says its health administration bachelor's graduates will have met "some of the educational requirements" of the Pennsylvania board. Note the difference: meeting part of the educational requirement is not the same as being licensed, and a statement about one state does not carry over to another.

The degree is not a clinical license

A healthcare administration degree prepares you for management roles, not for patient care. It does not license you as a nurse, therapist or any other clinician. BLS notes that some management positions require candidates to be licensed as a registered nurse or social worker, which is a separate credential earned through separate education. Related fields such as health informatics and public health lead to different kinds of roles; our guide to the MHA vs. MPH explains one of those boundaries.