Massachusetts·Architecture and Engineering Occupations·SOC 17-2111

Best Health programs in Massachusetts, ranked by enrollment

Promote worksite or product safety by applying knowledge of industrial processes, mechanics, chemistry, psychology, and industrial health and safety laws.

7 schools in Massachusetts run programs that feed this job, graduating 784 people a year. The job pays a median of $131,210 in Massachusetts across about 750 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledEngineerSafety EngineerSystem Safety EngineerProduct Safety EngineerFire Protection ConsultantSafety and Health ConsultantFire Protection Engineer (FPE)Professional Fire Protection Engineer
Graduates / yr
784
in Massachusetts
Median pay · Massachusetts
$131,210
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
750
people employed
Schools
7
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
88%
across those schools
Median net price
$18,925
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Massachusetts that lead to this job

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

2 programs in Massachusetts that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Massachusetts (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 Massachusetts page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1703
89.7%
4$73,678$22,938
281
10.3%
6$64,608$23,250

Top 7 schools in Massachusetts

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 1 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
1Northeastern University
Boston, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
662Engineering, Other$75,25391%$18,9255%
2Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Worcester, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
41Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering90%$32,92660%
3University of Massachusetts - Lowell
Lowell, MA Public · 2 feeder programs
24Engineering, Other65%83%
4Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
23Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering96%$11,6665%
5Tufts University
Medford, MA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
17Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering94%$23,57011%
6University of Massachusetts - Amherst
Amherst, MA Public · 1 feeder programs
11Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering83%60%
7Harvard University
Cambridge, MA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
6Engineering, Other98%$15,0134%

All 7 schools in Massachusetts

Every school in Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Northeastern UniversityBostonPrivate not-for-profit6622
Worcester Polytechnic InstituteWorcesterPrivate not-for-profit412
University of Massachusetts - LowellLowellPublic242
Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridgePrivate not-for-profit231
Tufts UniversityMedfordPrivate not-for-profit171
University of Massachusetts - AmherstAmherstPublic111
Harvard UniversityCambridgePrivate not-for-profit61

What health and safety engineers earn in Massachusetts

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

Median annual in Massachusetts
$131,210
Mean annual
$143,720
Jobs in state
750
What the range looks like
10th pct$94,340Median$131,21090th pct$215,430
Versus the national median
+13.9%

U.S. median $115,160. Massachusetts pays above the national figure.

Job concentration
1.50×

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

Metro areas in Massachusetts

Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
$128,600median
490 jobs
Worcester, MA
avg
140 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+4.4%
About as fast as average
Openings per year
1,500
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
1,100
23,800 → 24,900
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 and Safety Engineers page.

How to become a 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 ComprehensionCritical ThinkingActive ListeningWritingSpeakingActive Learning

The same job in other states

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

Related careers in Massachusetts

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 2 majors mapped to Health and Safety Engineers2 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 14.1401Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering
  • 14.9999Engineering, Other

Common questions

Answers for people weighing health and safety engineers programs in Massachusetts.

What degree do you need to become a Health?+

Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Engineering, Other, which awarded 703 degrees in Massachusetts in 2024-25, 89.7% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Health?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 2 programs to this occupation. The largest are Engineering, Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering. Together they graduate about 784 people a year in Massachusetts.

How much do health and safety engineers earn in Massachusetts?+

The median is $131,210 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 13.9% above the U.S. median of $115,160. 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 and safety engineers growing?+

BLS projects a +4.4% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 1,500 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

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

7 institutions in Massachusetts reported graduates from at least one of the 2 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 and safety engineers work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Engineer, Safety Engineer, System Safety Engineer, Product Safety Engineer, Fire Protection Consultant, Safety and Health Consultant among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 17-2111.

Health and Safety Engineers in other statesCaliforniaPennsylvaniaOhioNew YorkMichiganIndianaFloridaVirginia

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

All Clema data sources and release dates →

Explore every U.S. college in one conversation

Clema turns plain-language questions into sourced answers across every U.S. institution — earnings, aid, acceptance, graduation, safety, and athletics from IPEDS, College Scorecard, and 10+ federal datasets, built in.

Free for teams up to 3 · No credit card