Public health is a crucial sector that ensures the wellness and health of the entire society. And, with burning events like the Covid-19 pandemic throwing public health into the spotlight, the demand for well-qualified community health specialists has increased remarkably.
As a result, the interest in public health and the community health specialist salary has been growing, too. Let’s see how much you’ll expect to earn working as a CHS.
Community Health Specialist Salary
According to the BLS, in 2019, the median annual wage for CHSs was $55,220. Impressively, the top earners (about 10%), who likely possess a master’s degree or additional experience, earned over $98,680.
Hospitals (private, local, and state) are the most popular industry that accounts for the largest proportion of the health educator workforce. Those working in this sector enjoy an average salary of $64,680/year in 2019.
Though salaries depend heavily on multiple elements, a degree in exercise science can bring a wide array of career options with more captivating earning potential.
For instance, a nutritionist or dietitian could earn a median of $61,270 a year, whereas a high school teacher enjoyed an average annual salary of $61,660 in 2019.
Overall employment of community health professionals and health education workers is predicted to see a 17%-growth between 2020-2030 – way faster than the average of all occupations.
There will be about 16,100 new employment opportunities for CHSs each year in the next decade. Job experts expect that those openings will mostly result from the need to substitute employees who exit the workforce (for example, to retire) or move to a different field.
What Affects The Community Health Specialist Salary?
Salary ranges may vary broadly, depending on many factors, including the number of years you’ve devoted to your profession, education, and location.
- Education
It is evident knowledge that obtaining a qualification or degree relevant to your major can positively influence your wage potential. Education is not all yet an imperative factor that can put you at a competitive advantage.
- Years of Experience
Your experience level determines the possibility of negotiating a fruitful salary. Generally, a company is more willing to pay a community health professional with years of experience than a new grad with a bunch of certificates and qualifications.
To be more explicit, this table shows how experience affects your salary (based on statistics from the National Compensation Survey and the BLS):
| Experience level | Salary |
| Under one year (entry-level) | $38,473 |
| 1-4 years (early career) | $46,081 |
| 5-9 years (mid-career) | $60,239 |
| 10-19 years (experienced) | $78,121 |
| 20+ years (late career) | $102,972 |
- Location
Your company’s location also impacts your earning potential as a community health worker. Usually, firms located in large metropolitan areas correlate to higher wages as well as higher costs of living.
We’ll give you a more precise outlook on community health specialist salaries can differ among different cities through the below table (based on statistics from the BLS):
| City | Median Salary |
| Detroit, MI | $47,236 |
| Phoenix, AZ | $51,673 |
| St. Louis, MO | $53,300 |
| Tampa Bay, FL | $53,785 |
| Omaha, NE | $53,856 |
| Los Angeles, CA | $74,483 |
| Miami, FL | $76,221 |
| San Francisco, CA | $78,373 |
| Washington DC, DC | $88,015 |
| Atlanta, GA | $100,082 |
How To Increase Your Community Health Specialist Salary?
So, you’ve got a better vision of your earning potential as a community health worker. Shall we walk through some decisive strategies to raise that potential to the highest point possible?
Hone Your Skills
It’s extremely vital to keep honing your skills every day, whether you’re a beginner learning how to become a community health specialist or an experienced employee intending to move to a higher-level position.
Building and promoting in-demand qualities can step up your competitiveness and bring you more higher-paying offers and promotions. Those skills include program evaluation, informatics, surveillance, biostatistics, and epidemiology.
Take More Duties
One strategy to accelerate your wage and prove your ability is to involve yourself in more projects and responsibilities. Any employer would be happy paying more for a hard worker delivering great performances and improvements.
Keep looking for chances to lead a CHS team or dive into special projects to show off your abilities and talent.
Expand Your Network
Like any other profession, creating and expanding a robust network is essential for seeking more employment opportunities with higher wages and additional beneficial policies.
By connecting and building relationships with many people within your field, you can be well-informed of new opportunities locally and globally and land a high-income job.
By connecting with more people in your field, you’ll be able to learn about new opportunities and potentially land a more worthwhile job.
Takeaways
A community health career is one of the few careers where you can contribute to providing easier access to healthcare services to the public and improving people’s well-being.
After all, this employment option will pay you off if you’re passionate, patient, and cultured enough. Apart from being a rewarding career path, there are also other reasons for choosing the domain, such as versatility, opportunities for growth, and job security.
If the meaningful goal and handsome salary of this occupation have already determined your career destination, don’t hesitate to challenge yourself with practical community health specialist jobs and get better.