Healthcare Administration Salary With a Bachelor’s Degree: $94,340 to $164,120 by State

The healthcare administration salary with a bachelor's degree is best read from the BLS figure for the job the degree leads to: a median of $123,860 a year (May 2025). BLS reports one distribution for the whole occupation, not one per degree, and state medians run from $94,340 to $164,120.

That one number hides three things a student needs: the spread inside the job, the spread between states, and the price of the degree set against both.

What Do Healthcare Administrators With a Bachelor’s Degree Earn?

The occupation behind a healthcare administration degree is Medical and Health Services Managers, and BLS lists a bachelor's degree as the typical entry-level education. It counts 597,080 of these workers. They sit on a wide range, and the range is the useful part.

The 90th percentile is 3.1 times the 10th. One job title covers a department supervisor at a small clinic and a hospital vice president, and the pay range is that wide because the jobs are.

Is That a Starting Salary for a New Graduate?

No, and the federal data cannot say what a first offer is. A percentile marks a position among all workers in the occupation, including people with decades of experience and graduate degrees, so the 10th percentile is not a prediction for a new graduate.

BLS adds that these managers typically "need work experience in an administrative or clinical role in a hospital or other healthcare facility." So a new graduate can expect to start in a supporting role before a manager title. The jobs page covers the usual entry points. The support and records jobs this site tracks below the manager level have national medians of $45,930 to $51,140, which is the range a first role often sits in, and the bachelor's programs are the route BLS names into the manager occupation itself.

How Much Does the State Change the Salary?

By a lot. The state median ranges across $69,780 between New York and Arkansas, so a graduate who stays in one state and a graduate who moves can face very different pay for the same title. The table pairs the five highest and five lowest medians among states with a ranked bachelor's program with what those programs charge.

Two cautions apply. State wages are what employers in the state pay, not what graduates of that state's programs earn, because many students leave. And a high median usually travels with a high cost of living, so a bigger number is not automatically a bigger raise in buying power. The full list is on the salary page, and each state page above shows its programs and employment count.

What Does the Bachelor’s Cost Against That Pay?

The median ranked bachelor's program charges $15,223 a year in tuition for an in-state student. Over four years that is $60,892, equal to about 49% of one year of the occupation's median pay. That is published tuition only. It is before aid, fees, housing and any transfer credit, and an out-of-state or private price can be several times higher.

Finishing is the other half of the cost. The median graduation rate at the institutions behind these programs is 51%, a figure for the whole institution rather than the major. Cost and completion are why the bachelor's rankings score both, and why the cheapest program is not always the cheapest way to reach a degree. For the same reason, if you plan to study online, check the online bachelor's programs for the cost per year of the specific school.

Does a Master’s Degree Change the Salary?

BLS says "others prefer to hire those with a master's degree" and that "advancement to top level executive positions may require a master's degree." That is a statement about hiring and advancement, and BLS does not attach a salary to it. The size of any premium would need a source that splits pay by degree, and none of the figures above do.

If graduate study is the plan, the programs are a separate group with their own rankings. CAHME accreditation applies to master's programs, while AUPHA certification applies to undergraduate ones. The MHA vs MBA guide covers the usual choice between them.

How to Use These Numbers

Treat $123,860 as the middle of a career, not the first year. Look up your state median and its 25th percentile on the table or the salary page, compare the programs there on cost and completion, and check job postings for the title you actually want. The management vs administration post explains why the word in the degree name rarely changes the pay figure.