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Healthcare administration degrees for your next step
Find the education that fits the work you want to do. Compare healthcare administration degrees, understand the career paths, and put salary numbers in context.
Source-linked program details. Published ranking methods.
Explore the degrees and responsibilities behind healthcare management.
The Accreditation Nobody Mentions Until It Is Too Late
This is the thing worth knowing before anything else, and almost nobody arrives knowing it. CAHME is the only accreditor of master's-level healthcare management programs recognized by the US Department of Education and CHEA. 103 of the 414 master's programs ranked here hold it. The other 311 do not, and they do not generally say so.
It matters for one concrete reason: postgraduate administrative fellowships, the main route into hospital leadership, are frequently restricted to graduates of CAHME-accredited programs. That restriction is applied when you apply, which is after two years and the tuition. It is free to check and almost never volunteered, which is the single largest information asymmetry in this field.
At undergraduate level the picture is different and equally misunderstood: no bachelor's degree anywhere is CAHME-accredited, because CAHME does not accredit at that level and never has. AUPHA certifies undergraduate programs instead. A school advertising a CAHME-accredited bachelor's is describing a category that does not exist, which makes it a useful thing to test an admissions office on.
What CAHME and AUPHA each cover sets out the distinction in full, including the third claim schools make that sounds like both and is neither.
What a Healthcare Administration Degree Costs, and What It Pays
In-state tuition across the 368 ranked bachelor's programs runs from $910 to $67,896 a year. That is the same credential at both ends, and the gap is larger than most readers expect before they compare. Studying online does not close it: the 190 fully online programs cost more at the median than the on-campus ones, not less.
On the other side, Medical and Health Services Managers earn a national median of $123,860, with the lowest tenth under $73,390 and the top tenth above $224,340. Where you work moves that further than any choice of job title does: New York pays a median of $164,120 and Arkansas $94,340. The salary breakdown carries every state and the comparison against nursing and general management.
Healthcare Administration Degrees by Level and Format
368 programs
Bachelor's Degrees
Scored on graduation rate, tuition, delivery and selectivity, with 33 states covered page by page.
414 programs
Master's Degrees
Where accreditation decides what you can apply for afterwards, and where 25% of programs hold it.
190 programs
Online Degrees
Just over half the field, finishable without moving, and more expensive at the median than studying on campus.
Healthcare Administration Careers, and the One That Needs a License
Federal statistics count all four of these as a single occupation and publish one set of wages for them. What differs is the way in, and one of them is the only job in this field you cannot legally hold without a state license.
Nursing Home Administrator
The one healthcare management job you cannot legally hold without a license. All 50 states and DC require it, and every state requires the NAB exam.
Usual way in: Bachelor's degree plus a state-approved administrator-in-training period
Hospital Administrator
Department or executive leadership inside a hospital or health system. The most credential-heavy route in the field, and the one where CAHME accreditation decides what you can apply for.
Usual way in: Master's degree, commonly an MHA from a CAHME-accredited program
Medical Practice Manager
Runs a physician practice or clinic as a small business: billing, payer contracts, staffing and the schedule. The route that stays open on a bachelor’s degree.
Usual way in: Bachelor's degree, or experience in the practice plus a certification
Clinical Manager
Leads a clinical department such as nursing, imaging or the laboratory. Usually reached from a clinical license rather than from an administration degree.
Usual way in: A clinical credential first, with a management degree added later
The field as a whole covers what the work actually involves and the route into it.
Credentials, in the Order a Career Meets Them
Ordered by how open the door is rather than by prestige, because for most readers eligibility decides the question. The first takes anyone; the last requires a master's, five years and a current executive post.
| CPHQ | NAHQ | The quality and patient safety credential, and the only one here with no formal eligibility requirement. Anyone may sit it, which makes it the usual first credential in this field. |
| CHFP | HFMA | The healthcare finance credential, earned by completing two modules rather than by clearing a single hurdle exam. The cheapest route to a recognized credential in this field. |
| CMPE | ACMPE, the certification body of MGMA | The practice management credential, and the one reachable earliest: its first pathway opens to someone with a bachelor's degree and two years of healthcare experience. |
| NHA | NAB and your state licensing board | A state license rather than a certification, and the only credential in this field you must legally hold to do the job. Required in all 50 states and DC. |
| FACHE | ACHE | The field's senior credential and the hardest to qualify for. A master's degree, five years of healthcare management and a current executive post are required before you may apply. |
Start with Healthcare Administration Degrees in Your State
Tuition is charged at in-state rates and the wage this degree leads to varies by tens of thousands of dollars between states, so the local page is usually the useful one. 33 states have their own ranking; the rest are listed in full on the bachelor's hub.
Guides to the Decisions That Get Made Wrong
Programs
MHA vs MBA: Which Healthcare Management Master’s Is Worth It
The accreditation that matters follows the program, not the letters. A healthcare MBA can hold it and an MHA can lack it, which reverses the usual advice.
Credentials
Healthcare Administration Accreditation: CAHME, AUPHA And What Each Means
CAHME accredits master’s programs and AUPHA certifies undergraduate ones. No bachelor’s degree anywhere is CAHME-accredited, and a school claiming otherwise is describing something that does not exist.
Common Questions About Healthcare Administration Degrees
What is a healthcare administration degree?
Is a healthcare administration degree worth it?
Do you need a license to work in healthcare administration?
Which healthcare administration programs are accredited?
How much does a healthcare administration degree cost?
How are these rankings put together?
Where This Data Comes From
Program counts, graduation rates, tuition, admission rates and degrees awarded come from IPEDS, the US Department of Education's institutional survey, for CIP codes 51.0701, 51.0702 and 51.2211. Wages are BLS OEWS, May 2025, SOC 11-9111. Accreditation comes from CAHME's own directory, matched to institutions by hand. Degree titles, delivery format and certification claims come from each school's own program page, fetched and confirmed rather than assumed.
One consequence of using that data honestly is worth stating up front. Where a program's accreditation status could not be confirmed, it is excluded from the master's ranking rather than scored as unaccredited, because unknown and unaccredited are different things.
The full methodology sets out the weights, the factors deliberately left out, and why.