Public Health Career · BLS May 2025

Health Informatics Jobs and Salary

What Do Health Informatics Jobs Pay, and Do You Need a Master's Degree?

Health informatics jobs in the BLS health information technologist and medical registrar category paid a median $68,020 in May 2025, across 38,100 positions. BLS lists an associate's degree as the typical entry, so a master's is not required to start; it helps with analytics, public health data and leadership roles. Minnesota ($90,760, 1,040 jobs) and California ($90,750, 2,920 jobs) pay the most among sizable markets. Compare health informatics MPH programs.

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A clinician in a white coat and gloves works at a computer showing a data table while a colleague looks on
Photo: Gustavo Fring / Pexels

Health Informatics Specialist Pay: $39,830 to $117,420

Health Information Technologists and Medical Registrars, annual wages, United States (BLS OEWS, May 2025)

The median is the midpoint: half of health information technologists and medical registrars earned more and half less. The 90th percentile shows where experienced and senior roles land; the 10th, where many new graduates start.

What Health Informatics Specialists Do

Health informatics sits where healthcare, data and technology meet. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) groups most of these jobs as health information technologists and medical registrars, and lists these core duties:

  • Help decide what computerized healthcare systems need to do
  • Evaluate and support the rollout of health information systems
  • Organize and update information in clinical databases and registries
  • Compile data and produce reports, such as for disease registries or treatment

Medical registrars, such as cancer registrars, build and maintain databases that track a particular disease. Health information technologists focus on the systems themselves and the data flowing through them.

Where Health Informatics Jobs Are

Employer Share of jobs
Hospitals 46%
Offices of physicians 10%
Management of companies and enterprises 6%

Source: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025.

Hospitals employ nearly half of the workforce, far more than any other setting. Most people in the occupation work full time. If you’re coming from public health, expect most jobs in this occupation to be in hospitals and physician offices rather than health departments.

Health Informatics Salary by State

The national median is $68,020, and the state spread is wide. Minnesota ($90,760, 1,040 jobs) and California ($90,750, 2,920 jobs) combine high pay with real job volume. Wisconsin ($89,260, 650 jobs) and Oregon ($86,230, 660 jobs) are close behind.

The biggest job markets:

State Jobs Median pay
California 2,920 $90,750
Texas 2,880 $76,820
Ohio 2,500 $71,330
North Carolina 2,370 $63,010
Florida 2,360 $76,950
New York 2,000 $75,320
New Jersey 1,680 $61,940
Georgia 1,630 $70,170

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025.

The low end is steep. Puerto Rico ($27,040, 90 jobs), New Mexico ($42,000, 120 jobs), South Carolina ($44,530, 470 jobs), Oklahoma ($45,210, 610 jobs) and Indiana ($46,470, 1,040 jobs) have the lowest medians. Kentucky has 1,320 jobs but a $49,330 median. So if you’re choosing where to work, state matters as much as the degree.

Within the occupation, a quarter earned less than $48,940 and a quarter more than $95,630.

Do You Need a Master’s for Health Informatics Jobs?

Not to get started. BLS says health information technologists and medical registrars typically need at least an associate’s degree, and some positions require a bachelor’s or master’s degree. That makes an MPH an indirect route into this BLS occupation, not the standard one.

Where a master’s in health informatics or an MPH with an informatics concentration earns its keep:

  • Analytics. An MPH adds epidemiology and biostatistics to informatics, the mix behind the Certified Health Data Analyst credential described below.
  • The positions that require a graduate degree. BLS notes some positions in the occupation require a master’s.
  • Management. BLS counts health information managers, who keep patient record databases complete, accurate and secure, among medical and health services managers, a far higher-paid occupation with a $123,860 median.

For the “master in health informatics salary” question, the useful comparison is between jobs. The upper range of this occupation ($95,630 at the 75th percentile, $117,420 at the 90th) and the management occupation are where a master’s is most useful.

Health Informatics Certification: Which One Fits Your Degree

AHIMA offers the main credentials, and the right one depends on the program you complete.

Credential Who can sit Exam fee (member / non-member)
RHIT (Registered Health Information Technician) Graduates of a CAHIIM-accredited associate-level health information management program $229 / $299
RHIA (Registered Health Information Administrator) Graduates of a CAHIIM-accredited bachelor’s or master’s HIM program, or a CAHIIM-approved post-baccalaureate certificate $229 / $299
CHDA (Certified Health Data Analyst) RHIT or RHIA holders, or anyone with a bachelor’s degree or higher; three years of healthcare data experience recommended $259 / $329

Source: AHIMA credential pages.

This is the most important detail for an MPH student: RHIT and RHIA run through CAHIIM-accredited health information management programs, and AHIMA states that health informatics degrees are not currently accepted for RHIT. An MPH with an informatics concentration points you toward the CHDA instead, which tests data acquisition, analysis, interpretation and governance. If you want RHIA eligibility, check whether a program is a CAHIIM-accredited HIM program before you enroll.

Health Informatics Programs on This Site

This is a small, specialized field: 20 programs at 16 schools in 12 states, 13 of them MPH degrees and 7 related master’s. More than half offer an online format. Only 9 publish both a per-credit rate and a credit total, and among them estimated tuition (published per-credit rate times credits, before fees) runs from $18,330 to $90,000, with a median of $26,880.

Program Credits Per credit Estimated tuition
CUNY MS in Population Health Informatics (online, NY resident) 39 $470 $18,330
Augusta University online MPH (Health Informatics concentration, in-state) 45 $445 $20,025
IU Indianapolis online accelerated MPH (Public Health Informatics, Indiana resident) 45 $605.25 $27,236
CU Anschutz online MPH (Applied Analytics, Informatics and AI, resident) 42 (minimum) $995 $41,790
George Washington University MPH@GW (Health Informatics concentration) 45 $2,000 $90,000

IU Indianapolis’s online MPH runs in 8-week semesters and can be finished in as little as 15 months full time. Out-of-state rates are much higher at several of these: Augusta lists $1,249 a credit out of state, and CU Anschutz $1,566 for non-residents.

For a more technical route, Ohio State’s MPH offers a Biomedical Informatics specialization, and the University at Buffalo MS in Bioinformatics and Biostatistics takes you toward the data science end of the field.

What You’ll Study and What the Programs Are Called

Informatics programs go by several names, and the name tells you where the emphasis sits. Across the 20 programs, you’ll see Health Informatics, Public Health Informatics, Public Health Technology, Biomedical Informatics, and Applied Analytics, Informatics and AI. Many of the same programs also offer epidemiology (10 of them) and biostatistics (4), which is useful if you want to switch focus partway through.

  • Public health informatics concentrations, such as IU Indianapolis’s and Georgia Southern’s fully online option, sit inside a standard MPH, so you graduate with the full public health core plus data systems training.
  • Biomedical informatics, offered at Ohio State, leans toward clinical and research data.
  • Analytics and AI, the framing at CU Anschutz, blends informatics with modern data methods.
  • Stand-alone MS degrees, such as Yale’s MS in Health Informatics and CUNY’s MS in Population Health Informatics, skip some of the broader MPH coursework.

Formats, Admissions and Where the Programs Are

This field is unusually online-friendly: 11 of the 20 programs offer an online format, 8 are online only, and 2 are hybrid. Two are accelerated, including Bay Path University’s online MPH, which offers a Health Informatics concentration in an 8-week format and usually takes one to two years.

Admissions paths are straightforward. Twelve of the programs take applications directly rather than through SOPHAS, and 6 say the GRE is not required while 3 make it optional. If you do apply through the shared system, read the SOPHAS guide first; for testing policies across all fields, see MPH programs without the GRE.

Programs are spread thin geographically. Indiana has the most (3), followed by Arizona, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Georgia, New York and Ohio with 2 each. With so few campus options in most states, online study is often the practical choice.

How to Choose

  • Decide between records and analytics. If you want hospital health information management and the RHIA, look for a CAHIIM-accredited HIM program. If you want population health data and analytics, an MPH or MS in informatics with epidemiology and biostatistics fits better.
  • Check CEPH status. 15 of the 20 programs are at CEPH-accredited schools; see the CEPH accreditation guide.
  • Use residency to your advantage. The low-cost options above depend on in-state rates.
  • Look at the neighbors. If you like the analysis more than the systems, compare the biostatistician career and biostatistics programs, or the broader online MPH programs.

BLS projects employment of health information technologists and medical registrars to grow 16 percent from 2025 to 2035, with about 3,000 openings a year.

Highest-Paying States for Health Information Technologists and Medical Registrars

StateMedian90th percentileJobs
Arkansas$93,300$105,140–
Minnesota$90,760$115,4801,040
California$90,750$167,6502,920
Wisconsin$89,260$123,120650
Wyoming$88,560$106,24050
Oregon$86,230$129,010660
Massachusetts$81,420$122,980880
North Dakota$81,170$98,01060
New Hampshire$81,020$107,080170
Iowa$80,600$104,080270

BLS publishes 29-9021 estimates for 51 states. Full list on the MPH salary page.

The MPH Path: Health Informatics

20 programs we verified offer health informatics, as an MPH concentration or a related master's degree. These online MPH programs at CEPH-accredited schools are a place to start:

All health informatics programs

Frequently Asked Questions

How Much Do Health Informatics Specialists Make an Hour?

The median hourly wage for health information technologists and medical registrars was $32.70 in May 2025. The mean annual wage was $74,970.

Is Health Informatics a Growing Field?

Yes. BLS projects employment of health information technologists and medical registrars to grow 16 percent from 2025 to 2035, much faster than the average for all occupations, with about 3,000 openings a year.

What Certification Should a Health Informatics Graduate Get?

It depends on your degree. AHIMA's RHIT and RHIA require a CAHIIM-accredited health information management program, while the Certified Health Data Analyst (CHDA) is open to anyone with a bachelor's degree or higher, with three years of healthcare data experience recommended.

Can You Study Health Informatics Online?

Yes. Of the 20 health informatics programs on this site, 11 offer an online format and 8 are online only, including CUNY's 39-credit online MS in Population Health Informatics at $470 a credit for New York residents.

Where Do Health Informatics Specialists Work?

Mostly in hospitals. BLS reports that hospitals employ 46 percent of health information technologists and medical registrars, followed by physician offices at 10 percent.

Sources

  1. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 29-9021 Health Information Technologists and Medical Registrars, May 2025
  2. Official program pages of the schools listed, reviewed September 2026
  3. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Health Information Technologists and Medical Registrars
  4. AHIMA: RHIA certification
  5. AHIMA: RHIT certification
  6. AHIMA: CHDA certification

Every program here was checked against the school's own website. Accreditation comes from the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) list, and graduate counts from the U.S. Department of Education (IPEDS). Sponsored listings are labeled and never change which programs we list. How we verify programs