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Health Educator

What They Do:

Promote healthy living through educating individuals and communities about preventing injury, illness and disease.  Health educators offer individuals and communities the knowledge and skills necessary to become or stay healthy.  Health educators assess the needs of the community, plan an intervention program, implement and evaluate the program to determine its effectiveness.

Qualifications:

Health educators need to have a bachelor’s degree in health education or health promotion. These program include courses such as anatomy, involve analyzing health education programs, and usually include an internship.

To specialize in sectors such as public health education or school health education, or to be eligible for certain government positions, a master’s degree or doctoral degree is required.

Many health educators are required to take an exam offered through the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. in order to get their Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) designation. To maintain this certification, health educators will need to keep up with continuing education requirements every five years.

What They Make:
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the 2019 median income was $55,220 per year.

 

Where They Work:

  • Non-profit organizations

  • Businesses or corporations

  • Colleges or universities

  • Hospitals

  • Government

  • Local Health Departments

Career Outlook:
  
The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that health educating will experience some significant growth between 2019 and 2029. Across this decade, this profession should grow at a rate of 13%, resulting in 7,500 new jobs for health educators.

 

Sources:

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Health Educators and Community Health Workers,
on the Internet at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/community-and-social-service/health-educators.htm (visited December 2020).

Updated December 2020