Healthcare Administration and Management Careers

Healthcare administration is the closest academic match

“Healthcare administration” maps to Health/Health Care Administration/Management. “General business” maps to Business Administration and Management, General. “Public administration” maps to Public Administration.

The existing chart compares national first-major awards across all degree levels. It covers ten revised IPEDS cycles from 2014–15 through 2023–24.

In 2023–24, colleges reported:

• 332,608 awards in general business.
• 29,709 awards in healthcare administration.
• 15,650 awards in public administration.

All three fields reported awards at associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels in 2023–24.

These figures count reported degrees. They do not identify programs currently offered by colleges.

General business has higher broader-field earnings benchmarks

College Scorecard earnings are broader-field benchmarks for specific credential levels. They are not outcomes estimated separately for each exact field.

For bachelor’s credentials, the one-year weighted median earnings benchmarks were:

• $46,383 for general business.
• $39,521 for public administration.
• $37,831 for healthcare administration.

For master’s credentials, the benchmarks were:

• $61,144 for general business.
• $53,868 for healthcare administration.
• $52,167 for public administration.

The returned Scorecard records do not provide a measure-specific release date.

Healthcare administration has the direct preparation link

Medical and Health Services Managers is the closest management career for this comparison.

The NCES CIP 2020–SOC 2018 crosswalk directly connects healthcare administration with Medical and Health Services Managers.

General business connects structurally with General and Operations Managers and Administrative Services Managers.

Public administration connects structurally with General and Operations Managers.

These links describe preparation relationships. They do not measure graduate destinations, placement rates, or employment probabilities.

Health-services management has the strongest projected growth

BLS reported 597,080 Medical and Health Services Managers in May 2025. Their median annual wage was $123,860.

BLS projects 23.2% employment growth for this career from 2024 through 2034. It projects 62,100 average annual openings.

General and Operations Managers had a May 2025 median annual wage of $105,770. BLS projects 4.4% growth during 2024–34.

Administrative Services Managers had a May 2025 median annual wage of $114,130. BLS projects 4.6% growth during 2024–34.

Medical and Health Services Managers had the highest median wage and projected growth among these three careers.

These projections do not establish a worker shortage or explain the causes of employment growth.

Observed Claude use answers a separate question

The Anthropic Economic Index release dated June 26, 2026 reported observed-Claude-use values of:

• 0.1378 for General and Operations Managers.
• 0.0659 for Medical and Health Services Managers.
• 0.0000 for Administrative Services Managers.

These values are not percentages, automation risks, or employment forecasts.

BLS projections and observed Claude use cannot determine whether AI will change employment in these careers.

Publication conclusion

Healthcare administration has the most direct preparation link to health-services management.

Medical and Health Services Managers also have the strongest 2024–34 projected growth among the three careers compared.

General business has higher broader-field earnings benchmarks at both bachelor’s and master’s levels.

The sources do not establish shortages, graduate placement, causality, or AI-driven employment effects.

Release coverage: The chart uses revised IPEDS releases from 2014–15 through 2023–24. The career comparison uses BLS OEWS May 2025 and BLS Employment Projections 2024–34. The AI observations use the June 26, 2026 Anthropic release.