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Major · Health Professions

A pre-MPH ramp into global health and cross-border care

International Public Health/International Health (CIP 51.2210) prepares students to work on cross-border health systems, infectious disease, maternal-child health, and water/sanitation in low- and middle-income countries. About 308 students complete the major across 27 colleges, with bachelor’s graduates earning around $58,487 in five-year tracked wages.

Schools offering
27
Annual completions
308
Typical degree level
Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$58k

About this major

International Public Health/International Health (CIP 51.2210) prepares specialists to apply public-health methods, social science, and policy work to health problems in low- and middle-income countries. The CIP definition organizes coursework around infectious disease epidemiology, international health policy, public nutrition and food security, maternal and child health, demography and population policy, medical anthropology, and health care finance. Programs lean applied — students design research protocols, evaluate NGO programs, and often complete a study-abroad term or fieldwork capstone with an international partner. Expect a foreign language requirement or area-studies sequence layered on the standard public-health quantitative core.

The major fits students drawn to population-level health in cross-border settings rather than US-domestic clinical or community work. Background interests in global development, infectious disease, anthropology, public policy, and health equity line up well; comfort with statistics and qualitative research methods both help once epidemiology coursework arrives. Students who enjoy reasoning about systems — why a vaccination campaign succeeds in one region and stalls in another — tend to find the work satisfying. The credential rewards careful reading of evidence, steady writing, and willingness to operate across languages and cultures.

308 students complete this CIP across 27 colleges nationally, modest compared with sibling Public Health, General (51.2201) at 10,951 completions. Most universities file global-health concentrators under broader public-health codes, so the headcount understates the real population studying the field. Bachelor’s graduates earn about $58,487 in five-year tracked wages, with named destinations split between medical and health services managers ($117,960 median, 23.2% growth) as a mid-career outcome and health education specialists ($63,000 median, 4.5% growth) closer to entry. UC San Diego graduates 96 bachelor’s students per year, nearly a third of the national total.

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
Medical and health services managers $118k +23.2% Bachelor's degree
Health education specialists $63k +4.5% Bachelor's degree
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

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

Median 5-year earnings

$58k

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

Associate's

$44k

Bachelor's

$58k

Who this major is for

Strong fit signals start with a draw toward cross-border health problems — infectious disease, maternal-child health in low- and middle-income countries, water and sanitation, refugee health — rather than US-domestic clinical or community work. The pattern also fits students willing to commit to a foreign language and a region of focus, those who treat the bachelor’s as a deliberate ramp into an MPH at Hopkins, Harvard, Yale, Emory, Columbia, or Tulane, and those who can accept nonprofit entry pay in the $40,000–$55,000 range while building field experience. The senior roles tied to this CIP sit behind an MPH, MD, or DrPH.

Reconsider the path if your primary draw is direct patient care; this major does not lead to clinical roles, and Doctors Without Borders/MSF hires bachelor’s-level staff for logistics rather than medicine. Pause before committing if you cannot finance graduate study, since the named destinations — medical and health services manager ($117,960) and health education specialist ($63,000) — sit several years past entry. Field deployment to volatile geographies, hardship posts, and working in a language other than English defines much of the global-health labor market. Reconsider also if you mistake the 308-completion figure for an exclusive cohort; the small number reflects a CIP-grouping anomaly, with most global-health students filed under Public Health, General (51.2201) or Public Health, Other (51.2299).

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for International Public Health/International Health

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

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
University of California-San Diego La Jolla, CA 0 96 96
University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA 0 34 34
Georgetown University Washington, DC 0 29 29
Cornell University Ithaca, NY 0 28 28
University of California-Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, CA 0 19 19
University of Miami Coral Gables, FL 0 17 17
Mercer University Macon, GA 0 14 14
Arizona State University Digital Immersion Scottsdale, AZ 0 14 14
DePauw University Greencastle, IN 0 12 12
Union Adventist University Lincoln, NE 0 12 12
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Public Health, General

10,951 completions/yr

Public Health Education and Promotion

2,520 completions/yr

Community Health and Preventive Medicine

1,494 completions/yr

Public Health, Other

1,457 completions/yr

Health Services Administration

1,283 completions/yr

Behavioral Aspects of Health

380 completions/yr

Environmental Health

320 completions/yr

Occupational Health and Industrial Hygiene

77 completions/yr

Considering this direction?

We've taken a hard look at the debt, earnings trajectory, and degree-level tradeoffs for the International Public Health/International Health field. Read our verdict before you commit.

Is International Public Health/International Health worth it? Read verdict
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What do International Public Health majors actually study day-to-day?
Coursework follows the CIP definition: infectious disease epidemiology, international health policy and management, public nutrition and food security, maternal and child health, demography and population policy, medical anthropology, and health care finance in low- and middle-income countries. Programs blend social science, biostatistics, and applied research-design work, often paired with a foreign language requirement or area-studies sequence. Many include a fieldwork or capstone tied to an NGO partner, a study-abroad term, or a domestic public-health agency. Expect heavy reading, qualitative interviews, and grant-writing exercises rather than a clinical lab load.
Is a bachelor’s enough, or do I need an MPH?
The bachelor’s is the only degree level reported in the data, and 27 colleges award it. A bachelor’s alone qualifies you for program-coordinator, monitoring-and-evaluation associate, logistics, and research-assistant roles at international NGOs and US-based public-health research centers, with bachelor’s graduates earning around $58,487 in five-year tracked wages. Senior global-health roles — country director, technical advisor, epidemiologist, health-policy lead — typically expect an MPH from schools such as Hopkins, Harvard, Yale, Emory, Columbia, or Tulane, and clinical or academic tracks add an MD or DrPH on top. Treat the bachelor’s as a deliberate ramp into graduate study if those titles are your target.
What jobs do graduates land — and at what pay?
The two career destinations BLS attaches to this major are medical and health services managers ($117,960 median, 23.2% growth) and health education specialists ($63,000 median, 4.5% growth). The manager line is a mid-career outcome reached after years of operations experience, not an entry-level job. Bachelor’s-only graduates more commonly start as program coordinators or M&E associates at international NGOs — Partners In Health, PATH, FHI 360, IRC, CARE, Save the Children, Population Services International — or as research coordinators at schools of public health. Nonprofit entry pay typically lands in the $40,000–$55,000 range, climbing past $80,000 after an MPH and field experience.
How does this compare to Public Health, General?
Public Health, General (CIP 51.2201) is roughly 35 times larger at 10,951 completions and serves as the broad umbrella code for US-domestic public-health bachelor’s programs. International Public Health (51.2210) is the cross-border, LMIC-focused specialization — emphasis on infectious disease, water and sanitation, and global health systems. Community Health and Preventive Medicine (51.2208, 1,494 completions) is the US-domestic community variant, and Health Services Administration (51.2211, 1,283 completions) targets US healthcare-system management. Public Health, Other (51.2299, 1,457 completions) is the catch-all where many global-health students get filed when their school does not offer a dedicated 51.2210 code.
Where do graduates actually work?
Employment concentrates at international NGOs (Partners In Health, PATH, FHI 360, IRC, CARE, Save the Children, Population Services International), the USAID Global Health bureau via the Pathways Program, the CDC Foundation, WHO field-internship pipelines, and Peace Corps Health volunteer postings. A second track sits at US schools of public health — Hopkins, Harvard, UNC, Emory, Columbia — where graduates work as research coordinators on global-health grants while preparing for an MPH. Doctors Without Borders/MSF hires bachelor’s-level staff for logistics and operations roles rather than clinical posts. Field deployment often involves volatile geography, hardship-post benefits, and a working-language requirement beyond English.
Why is the completions number so low — only 308?
The 308 figure across 27 colleges reflects a CIP-grouping anomaly more than student interest. Most universities file global-health concentrators under broader codes — Public Health, General (51.2201) or Public Health, Other (51.2299) — rather than the dedicated 51.2210 code, so the headcount on this page understates the real population studying global health at the bachelor’s level. UC San Diego (96 bachelor’s completions) drives nearly a third of the national total on its own, with USC (34), Georgetown (29), Cornell (28), and UC Santa Cruz (19) trailing. When evaluating programs, read the curriculum and faculty global-health portfolio — not the CIP code on the diploma.