Maryland holds the 9th largest healthcare management workforce in
the country and 4 healthcare administration programs in Maryland to
feed it. That is about 4,258 jobs for every degree the
state produces at this level, a ratio only Nevada exceeds.
17,030
Managers employed in MD
4
Programs ranked
4,258
Jobs per program
$131,810
State median pay
A Large Market with Almost No Undergraduate Supply
The states on this site tend to fail in one of two ways. Some have plenty of
programs and thin employment, so graduates compete for few posts.
Pennsylvania is the clearest case, with more programs than anywhere and pay
well under the national median. Maryland fails the other way. It has
17,030 of these jobs, more than all but
8 jurisdictions, paying $131,810 at the median,
and 4 ranked bachelor's programs.
For a reader that is mostly good news, and it changes what the ranking is for.
With this ratio the question is much less which program confers an edge over
the others and much more whether any of the four suits the way you can
actually study. 3 of them are fully online. Two are public and
under $8,000 a year. The local market is deep enough that finishing
matters more than which name is on the certificate.
The one thing the short list does cost you is choice of institution type. A
reader wanting a selective residential campus experience in this specific
major has limited options in Maryland and may end up looking at
Virginia's twelve ranked programs or Pennsylvania's twenty-four,
both within reach of the same employers around Baltimore, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.
All 4 Healthcare Administration Programs in Maryland, Ranked
All 4 ranked healthcare administration bachelor programs in Maryland, with tuition, graduation rate and score
#
School
Type
Delivery
In-state tuition
Graduation rate
Admission rate
Degrees awarded
Score
1
Towson
Public
Fully online
$7,530
69%
82%
93
72.8
2
Stevenson
Private nonprofit
Fully online
$37,734
68%
79%
8
61.6
3
University of Maryland Global Campus
Public
Fully online
$7,776
33%
207
55.6
4
Washington Adventist
Private nonprofit
On campus
$24,804
29%
46%
5
45.8
The top of this table is also the cheapest entry in it: Towson University at $7,530 a year, so nothing at the top of this ranking trades cost against placement. Towson University finishes more of its students than anything else here, at 69%, which is most of why it leads: graduation rate is the heaviest single factor in the score. 3 of the 4 run fully online, and the highest placed of them is the program at the top of the table, so the ranked answer and the distance-study answer are the same one here.
The major ends in a 12-unit internship that is a degree requirement, not an elective, and asks for a full 40-hour week inside a health service organization.
Towson runs health care management as an undergraduate major in the Department of Health Sciences, inside the College of Health Professions. The coursework is built around the business side of care delivery rather than clinical practice: the infrastructure, finances and operations that keep health systems running, and the laws, regulations and technology that keep shifting under them. Full degree requirements and course descriptions sit in the Undergraduate Catalog, and the department publishes a separate program handbook as a PDF for students working out how the major fits together.
The capstone is an internship, and it is a major requirement rather than an elective. It carries 12 units and asks for a full-time commitment of 40 hours per week inside a health service organization, with web-supported supervision from the department while students are on site. Expectations go past observation: interns take part in decision-making, build professional contacts, and are asked to demonstrate leadership and organizational skills. Students can also join Upsilon Phi Delta, the honor society for the health care management profession. Kristin Schuller serves as program coordinator.
12-unit internship required for the major
Internship is full-time, 40 hours per week
Department of Health Sciences, College of Health Professions
Stevenson's Healthcare Management B.S. includes a six-credit internship and coursework shared across business and health professions.
The program combines accounting and economics with health insurance, managed care, personnel management and health information systems. Its required courses also cover community health, epidemiology, and diversity and cultural competence.
The published requirements include Professional Skills Development and a six-credit Healthcare Management Internship. Students work on research, data analysis and communication skills alongside the major's management content. Stevenson identifies the B.S. as holding specialized accreditation from IACBE.
UMGC's 120-credit Health Services Management B.S. combines a 33-credit major with a business core and permits up to 90 approved transfer credits.
Required major courses include managerial epidemiology, health policy, finance, marketing, research and data analysis, facilities management and a capstone. The business core adds subjects such as accounting, information systems, operations and business law.
All courses are available online, with selected hybrid classes also offered. UMGC's plan includes 26 additional general education credits and 19 additional elective credits beyond its 42-credit business core and 33-credit major. Transfer credit is evaluated against the degree requirements.
Washington Adventist's Health Care Administration B.S. is designed for adults with health care work experience and includes guided independent research.
Courses examine organization theory, personnel management, information systems, business data analysis, managerial economics, finance and public policy. The program also includes ethics and a guided independent research project.
The university describes eight-week sessions with online, face-to-face or hybrid evening classes. Principles of Accounting I, completed with a C or better, is a prerequisite for business data analysis and health care finance. The curriculum builds on general education and elective coursework completed before or during the degree.
Above the national median with a high ceiling, on one of the largest employment
bases in the country. Of every state covered here this is among the most
favorable pictures for someone who intends to stay put after graduating.
Wage figures for medical and health services managers in this state
Median
$131,810
Above national median
$7,950
Pay rank
13th of 51
Employed
17,030
Workforce rank
9th of 51
25th percentile
$101,200
75th percentile
$170,900
90th percentile
$242,610
National median
$123,860
BLS OEWS, May 2025, SOC 11-9111.
How We Scored Maryland's Healthcare Administration Programs
Graduation rate carries 40% of the score, in-state tuition 25%, delivery
flexibility 20% and admission selectivity 15%. Every input is federal IPEDS data
or the school's own program page, and a program has to report both a graduation
rate and a tuition figure, and still be enrolling new students, to be ranked at
all. Weights are never renormalized
around a missing factor, because that turns non-disclosure into an advantage. The
same model runs on every state page, with no editorial override and no paid
placement. The full weighting, and the factors left out deliberately, are in the
ranking methodology (version 1.0).
No accreditation factor appears at this level. CAHME accredits healthcare
management programs at master's level only, so no bachelor's degree anywhere
carries it, and an undergraduate program claiming otherwise is describing
something that does not exist. Where a school states AUPHA certification on its
own page, that is reported on the program rather than scored.
Sources for These Maryland Healthcare Administration Rankings
Program counts, graduation rates, tuition, admission rates and degrees awarded:
IPEDS,
US Department of Education, CIP 51.0701 and 51.0702 at award level 5.
Wages:
BLS OEWS,
May 2025, SOC 11-9111 (Medical and Health Services Managers). A wage survey covering the whole occupation at
every education level, carrying no employment projections
.
Accreditation:
CAHME accredits master's programs only and does not accredit any bachelor's degree.
AUPHA certifies undergraduate programs instead. Where a school states that certification
on its own page it is reported on the program rather than scored.
Degree titles, delivery format and certification: each school's own program page.
Questions About Healthcare Administration Degrees in Maryland
How big is the healthcare management job market in Maryland?
Large. Maryland employs 17,030 medical and health services managers, the 9th biggest workforce of the 51 jurisdictions BLS reports, and it pays a median of $131,810. Against that there are 4 ranked bachelor's programs, which works out at about 4,258 jobs per program. Only Nevada has a tighter ratio.
What is the best healthcare administration program in Maryland?
Towson University scores highest, and it is also the cheapest program in the state at $7,530 a year in state. It graduates 69% of its first-time students and can be completed fully online. That combination is unusual: on most state pages the strongest program carries a premium.
Do Maryland's public programs perform similarly?
No, and the gap is the main thing to notice in the table. The 2 public programs are within $246 of each other on tuition, and they report 69% and 33% completion. Price is not what distinguishes them.
Which Maryland university has a CAHME-accredited masters?
Johns Hopkins University. It does not appear in the ranking below because it offers no bachelor's in this field, which is common at research universities: the accredited healthcare management program is a graduate one. For a reader in Maryland that makes the undergraduate and graduate steps separate decisions at separate institutions.
Healthcare Administration Programs in Other States