undergradly.
Major · Health Professions & Related Programs

Promote health, educate communities, and navigate an honest earnings ceiling

Health and Wellness, General prepares students to work in population-level health — covering nutrition, disease prevention, fitness, community welfare, and behavior change. About 4,268 degrees are awarded each year across 184 colleges, with offerings at both the associate and bachelor's level.

Schools offering
184
Annual completions
4,268
Typical degree level
Associate's + Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$59k

About this major

Health and Wellness, General sits within the health professions family but takes a distinctly non-clinical angle. Where nursing and allied health programs prepare students for direct patient care, this CIP (51.0001) is defined as preparing individuals to assume roles as health and wellness professionals in private business, community organizations, and health care settings — covering personal health, community health and welfare, nutrition, epidemiology, disease prevention, fitness and exercise, and health behaviors. Programs go by names like Health and Wellness, Health Promotion and Wellness, and Wellness, Health Promotion and Injury Prevention; what they share is an emphasis on teaching and enabling healthy behaviors rather than diagnosing or treating illness.

The curriculum is grounded in behavior-change theory, program planning, and community outreach rather than the sciences-heavy pipeline of pre-med or nursing. Students typically take coursework in nutrition, epidemiology, community health, health communications, and program evaluation. The practical application side shows up in field placements with public health agencies, nonprofits, workplaces, or school systems — settings where graduates will work to design, implement, and evaluate health promotion programs.

The two direct career destinations in the field are health education specialists (median wage $63,000, 4.5% projected job growth) and community health workers ($51,030 median, 11.3% growth). Health education specialists, who require a bachelor's degree as their entry credential, are the more direct match for what this program trains. About 4,268 degrees are completed each year across 184 colleges — a comparatively small footprint within a health family that includes the much larger Health Services/Allied Health field (27,135 annual completions).

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

Occupation Median wage Job growth Typical education
Health education specialists $63k +4.5% Bachelor's degree
Community health workers $51k +11.3% High school diploma or equivalent
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$59k

Associate's vs Bachelor's — early-career earnings

Associate's

$54k

Bachelor's

$61k

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if you care more about changing health behaviors across populations than treating individual patients, or if the idea of running a workplace wellness program, designing a community nutrition initiative, or educating a school system about disease prevention sounds more compelling than a clinical schedule. You may also be a fit if you are drawn to community or nonprofit work, where health education and outreach roles are concentrated, or if you are an associate's student looking for a path into health without committing to a four-year clinical program — the associate's track feeds directly into community health worker roles, a category growing at 11.3% where the formal education bar is accessible.

Think twice if your primary goal is a high salary from the bachelor's degree alone — the earnings ceiling tracked in this field tops out at $63,000 for health education specialists, and there is no embedded management track in the career data that delivers significantly more without additional credentials such as a master's in public health or health administration. Think twice also if you are weighing a program at a for-profit or fully online institution: the top completers list for this major includes Purdue University Global and multiple Carrington College campuses alongside traditional universities, and outcomes in this field can vary significantly by school type. And if your draw is the physical side of fitness and human movement rather than community education, the CIP itself cross-references Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness — a field with its own distinct career pathways worth comparing before you commit.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Health and Wellness, General

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
Purdue University Global West Lafayette, IN 217 539 756
Texas A&M University-College Station College Station, TX 0 386 386
University of Houston Houston, TX 0 302 302
Carrington College-Phoenix North Phoenix, AZ 127 0 127
Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania Slippery Rock, PA 0 118 118
Carrington College-Sacramento Sacramento, CA 101 0 101
Prairie View A & M University Prairie View, TX 0 100 100
University of Rhode Island Kingston, RI 0 92 92
West Virginia University Morgantown, WV 0 92 92
Southern Connecticut State University New Haven, CT 0 86 86
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Health Services/Allied Health/Health Sciences, General

27,135 completions/yr

Public Health, General

10,951 completions/yr

Public Health Education and Promotion

2,520 completions/yr

Foods, Nutrition, and Wellness Studies, General

1,453 completions/yr

Community Health Services/Liaison/Counseling

1,429 completions/yr

Behavioral Aspects of Health

380 completions/yr

Health Communication

118 completions/yr

Maternal and Child Health

3 completions/yr
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What do Health and Wellness majors actually study day-to-day?
The curriculum covers personal and community health broadly rather than clinical care. Expect coursework in nutrition science, epidemiology, health behavior theory, program planning, and community outreach. Upper-division courses often cover disease prevention, environmental health, and health communications. Many programs include a practicum or field placement with a community organization or health agency. The focus is on educating and promoting healthy behavior at a population level — not treating individual patients.
What kinds of jobs do Health and Wellness graduates end up in?
The two primary tracked career destinations are health education specialist and community health worker. Health education specialists ($63,000 median wage, 4.5% projected growth) develop and implement programs to promote healthy behaviors — this role typically requires a bachelor's degree as the entry credential. Community health workers ($51,030 median wage, 11.3% projected growth) work with underserved populations to connect them to health services; that role is classified as requiring only a high school diploma, meaning the degree itself is not a formal prerequisite. In practice, a bachelor's can help with advancement and program management roles, but the entry bar for community health work is low.
Does the bachelor's degree pay off over an associate's in this field?
The five-year median earnings split shows bachelor's completers at about $61,251 compared to $53,633 for associate's completers — a gap of roughly $7,600 per year. That premium is real but modest relative to other health majors. The more important distinction is which roles each degree unlocks: health education specialist formally requires a bachelor's, while community health worker does not. If your target role is community health work, the associate's may be sufficient. If you want to run programs, train staff, or eventually move into supervisory roles, the bachelor's is the practical floor.
What's a realistic earnings picture after this degree?
Five-year median earnings across all completers run about $59,402. For bachelor's completers specifically, the figure is $61,251. The ceiling tracked in the data is $63,000 at health education specialist — which is also the primary bachelor's-level destination. Unlike some health majors, this field does not have a high-earning management track embedded in its career data; there is no $100K+ ceiling visible here without moving into graduate-level work (such as a master's in public health or health administration). The honest picture: this is a mid-range earnings major by health-field standards, with a relatively narrow spread between entry-level community health roles and more credentialed education-specialist positions.
Is Health and Wellness the right fit, or should I look at a related major?
Health and Wellness, General is a niche program — 4,268 annual completions across 184 colleges, dwarfed by the broader Health Services/Allied Health field (27,135 completions). If you want a broader platform that maps to more career options, Health Services/Allied Health Sciences General (CIP 51.0000) is the parent field. If your interest is specifically in health behavior change and education, Public Health Education and Promotion (2,520 completions) is a tighter match with the same two primary career destinations. If the physical side of wellness draws you more than the community education side, Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness General (cross-referenced in this CIP) may align better. Community Health Services/Liaison/Counseling (1,429 completions) is worth comparing if you are drawn to direct service in underserved communities.
What should I know about where this degree is offered?
The top-completion institutions for this major include Purdue University Global (756 completions), Texas A&M University (386), University of Houston (302), and two Carrington College campuses (for-profit, associate's focused, ~127-101 completions each). The presence of Purdue Global and Carrington at the top of the list signals that this field has a significant online and for-profit provider footprint. This is worth noting when evaluating programs: outcomes, accreditation, and employer recognition can vary considerably between a traditional four-year institution and an online or proprietary school. Verify accreditation (SACSCOC, HLC, or equivalent) and employer recognition in your target job market before enrolling.