Arkansas·Community and Social Service Occupations·SOC 21-1091

Best Health Education Specialist programs in Arkansas, ranked by enrollment

Provide and manage health education programs that help individuals, families, and their communities maximize and maintain healthy lifestyles.

7 schools in Arkansas run programs that feed this job, graduating 398 people a year. The job pays a median of $62,270 in Arkansas across about 200 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledHealth EducatorClinical InstructorPublic Health EducatorHealth Education SpecialistEducatorInstructorHealth CoachFitness Coach
Graduates / yr
398
in Arkansas
Median pay · Arkansas
$62,270
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
200
people employed
Schools
7
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
56%
across those schools
Median net price
$13,608
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Arkansas that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

5 programs in Arkansas that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Arkansas (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Arkansas page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 51.2201In Arkansas
214
53.8%
4$36,762$25,076
2
CIP 51.1504In Arkansas
109
27.4%
2$37,335$22,861
3
CIP 51.0001In Arkansas
51
12.8%
2$34,545$25,000
4
CIP 51.2207In Arkansas
23
5.8%
1$36,762$25,076
5
CIP 51.2209In Arkansas
1
0.3%
1$36,762$25,076

Top 7 schools in Arkansas

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 4 of the 7 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, AR Public · 2 feeder programs
162Public Health, General$35,79771%74%
2University of Central Arkansas
Conway, AR Public · 1 feeder programs
55Community Health Services/Liaison/Counseling$32,61854%89%
3University of Arkansas Hope - Texarkana
Hope, AR Public · 1 feeder programs
54Community Health Services/Liaison/Counseling57%
4Arkansas State University
Jonesboro, AR Public · 2 feeder programs
48Health and Wellness, General$30,58655%82%
5University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Little Rock, AR Public · 2 feeder programs
48Public Health, General
6University of the Ozarks
Clarksville, AR Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
23Public Health Education and Promotion$32,56451%$13,60860%
7Southern Arkansas University Main Campus
Magnolia, AR Public · 1 feeder programs
8Public Health, General49%75%

All 7 schools in Arkansas

Every school in Arkansas with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in Arkansas that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
University of ArkansasFayettevillePublic1622
University of Central ArkansasConwayPublic551
University of Arkansas Hope - TexarkanaHopePublic541
Arkansas State UniversityJonesboroPublic482
University of Arkansas for Medical SciencesLittle RockPublic482
University of the OzarksClarksvillePrivate not-for-profit231
Southern Arkansas University Main CampusMagnoliaPublic81

What health education specialists earn in Arkansas

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Arkansas
$62,270
Mean annual
$64,600
Jobs in state
200
What the range looks like
10th pct$38,230Median$62,27090th pct$96,780
Versus the national median
-2.8%

U.S. median $64,070. Arkansas pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
0.36×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Metro areas in Arkansas

Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR
$73,540median
50 jobs
Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR
$50,170median
80 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+4.5%
About as fast as average
Openings per year
7,900
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
3,200
71,800 → 75,000
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Health Education Specialists page.

How to become a Health Education Specialist

Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Top skills

SpeakingActive ListeningWritingLearning StrategiesActive LearningReading Comprehension

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Arkansas

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 9 majors mapped to Health Education Specialists9 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 09.0905Health Communication
  • 51.0001Health and Wellness, General
  • 51.0504Dental Public Health and Education
  • 51.1504Community Health Services/Liaison/Counseling
  • 51.2201Public Health, General
  • 51.2207Public Health Education and Promotion
  • 51.2209Maternal and Child Health
  • 51.2210International Public Health/International Health
  • 51.2212Behavioral Aspects of Health

Common questions

Answers for people weighing health education specialists programs in Arkansas.

What degree do you need to become a Health Education Specialist?+

Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Public Health, General, which awarded 214 degrees in Arkansas in 2024-25, 53.8% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Health Education Specialist?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 5 programs to this occupation. The largest are Public Health, Mental and Social Health Services and Allied Professions, Health Services/Allied Health/Health Sciences. Together they graduate about 398 people a year in Arkansas.

How much do health education specialists earn in Arkansas?+

The median is $62,270 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 2.8% below the U.S. median of $64,070. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for health education specialists growing?+

BLS projects a +4.5% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 7,900 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Arkansas?+

7 institutions in Arkansas reported graduates from at least one of the 5 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do health education specialists work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Health Educator, Clinical Instructor, Public Health Educator, Health Education Specialist among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 21-1091.

Health Education Specialists in other statesCaliforniaTexasNew YorkUtahIndianaNorth CarolinaFloridaArizona

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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