Louisiana·Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations·SOC 19-5011

Best Occupational Health programs in Louisiana, ranked by enrollment

Review, evaluate, and analyze work environments and design programs and procedures to control, eliminate, and prevent disease or injury caused by chemical, physical, and biological agents or ergonomic factors.

4 schools in Louisiana run programs that feed this job, graduating 71 people a year. The job pays a median of $89,560 in Louisiana across about 2,380 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledSafety ConsultantSafety SpecialistIndustrial HygienistIndustrial Hygiene ConsultantSanitarianRisk AnalystCause AnalystSafety Person
Graduates / yr
71
in Louisiana
Median pay · Louisiana
$89,560
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
2,380
people employed
Schools
4
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
53%
across those schools
Median net price
$33,106
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Louisiana that lead to this job

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

3 programs in Louisiana that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Louisiana (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 Louisiana page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 51.2202In Louisiana
37
52.1%
1$36,762$25,076
2
CIP 15.0701In Louisiana
31
43.7%
2$63,479$25,000
3
CIP 26.1006In Louisiana
3
4.2%
1$39,202$18,000

Top 4 schools in Louisiana

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 1 of the 4 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Tulane University of Louisiana
New Orleans, LA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
37Environmental Health86%$33,10614%
2Nicholls State University
Thibodaux, LA Public · 1 feeder programs
19Occupational Safety and Health Technology/Technician54%91%
3Southeastern Louisiana University
Hammond, LA Public · 1 feeder programs
12Occupational Safety and Health Technology/Technician$55,51445%99%
4Southern University and A & M College
Baton Rouge, LA Public · 1 feeder programs
3Environmental Toxicology27%35%

All 4 schools in Louisiana

Every school in Louisiana 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 Louisiana that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Tulane University of LouisianaNew OrleansPrivate not-for-profit371
Nicholls State UniversityThibodauxPublic191
Southeastern Louisiana UniversityHammondPublic121
Southern University and A & M CollegeBaton RougePublic31

What occupational health and safety specialists earn in Louisiana

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

Median annual in Louisiana
$89,560
Mean annual
$93,390
Jobs in state
2,380
What the range looks like
10th pct$60,260Median$89,56090th pct$132,410
Versus the national median
-0.7%

U.S. median $90,150. Louisiana pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
1.36×

Concentrated here: Louisiana employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.

Metro areas in Louisiana

Lafayette, LA
$104,470median
200 jobs
Shreveport-Bossier City, LA
$93,260median
150 jobs
Baton Rouge, LA
$94,520median
760 jobs
New Orleans-Metairie, LA
$92,610median
430 jobs
Lake Charles, LA
$82,710median
280 jobs
Slidell-Mandeville-Covington, LA
$83,130median
60 jobs
Monroe, LA
$78,800median
50 jobs
Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA
$85,550median
130 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+12.5%
Much faster than average
Openings per year
14,900
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
16,500
131,900 → 148,400
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 Occupational Health and Safety Specialists page.

How to become a Occupational Health

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

Reading ComprehensionActive ListeningWritingSpeakingCritical ThinkingMonitoring

The same job in other states

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

Related careers in Louisiana

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 6 majors mapped to Occupational Health and Safety Specialists6 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 15.0701Occupational Safety and Health Technology/Technician
  • 15.0703Industrial Safety Technology/Technician
  • 26.1006Environmental Toxicology
  • 51.2202Environmental Health
  • 51.2206Occupational Health and Industrial Hygiene
  • 51.2213Patient Safety and Healthcare Quality

Common questions

Answers for people weighing occupational health and safety specialists programs in Louisiana.

What degree do you need to become an Occupational Health?+

Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Environmental Health, which awarded 37 degrees in Louisiana in 2024-25, 52.1% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming an Occupational Health?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 3 programs to this occupation. The largest are Public Health, Quality Control and Safety Technologies/Technicians, Pharmacology and Toxicology. Together they graduate about 71 people a year in Louisiana.

How much do occupational health and safety specialists earn in Louisiana?+

The median is $89,560 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 0.7% below the U.S. median of $90,150. 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 occupational health and safety specialists growing?+

BLS projects a +12.5% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, much faster than average, with roughly 14,900 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

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

4 institutions in Louisiana reported graduates from at least one of the 3 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 occupational health and safety specialists work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Safety Consultant, Safety Specialist, Industrial Hygienist, Industrial Hygiene Consultant among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 19-5011.

Occupational Health and Safety Specialists in other statesAlabamaTexasKentuckyPennsylvaniaCaliforniaMissouriNew YorkIowa

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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