Massachusetts·Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations·SOC 19-5012

Best Occupational Health programs in Massachusetts, ranked by enrollment

Collect data on work environments for analysis by occupational health and safety specialists.

4 schools in Massachusetts run programs that feed this job, graduating 51 people a year. The job pays a median of $68,730 in Massachusetts across about 290 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledSafety SpecialistIndustrial HygienistConstruction Safety ConsultantCertified Industrial Hygienist (CIH)Safety OfficerSafety TrainerRadiation MonitorSafety Instructor
Graduates / yr
51
in Massachusetts
Median pay · Massachusetts
$68,730
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
290
people employed
Schools
4
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
81%
across those schools
Median net price
$21,956
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.

1 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
151
100.0%
4$36,762$25,076

Top 4 schools in Massachusetts

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
1Boston University
Boston, MA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
31Environmental Health89%$21,95611%
2Harvard University
Cambridge, MA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
11Environmental Health98%$15,0134%
3University of Massachusetts - Amherst
Amherst, MA Public · 1 feeder programs
8Environmental Health$37,36483%60%
4Fitchburg State University
Fitchburg, MA Public · 1 feeder programs
1Environmental Health55%87%

All 4 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
Boston UniversityBostonPrivate not-for-profit311
Harvard UniversityCambridgePrivate not-for-profit111
University of Massachusetts - AmherstAmherstPublic81
Fitchburg State UniversityFitchburgPublic11

What occupational health and safety technicians earn in Massachusetts

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

Median annual in Massachusetts
$68,730
Mean annual
$73,150
Jobs in state
290
What the range looks like
10th pct$51,840Median$68,73090th pct$99,270
Versus the national median
+11.6%

U.S. median $61,560. Massachusetts pays above the national figure.

Job concentration
0.41×

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

Metro areas in Massachusetts

Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
$76,820median
220 jobs
Worcester, MA
$58,220median
60 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+8.5%
Much faster than average
Openings per year
3,400
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
2,700
31,900 → 34,600
Typical entry education
High school diploma or equivalent
Plus moderate-term on-the-job training

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 Technicians page.

How to become a Occupational Health

Job zone 3 of 5 · SVP 6.0 to < 7.0
Typical entry education
High school diploma or equivalent
On-the-job training
Moderate-term on-the-job training

Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Top skills

Active ListeningReading ComprehensionCritical ThinkingSpeakingWritingMonitoring

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 6 majors mapped to Occupational Health and Safety Technicians5 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 15.0705Process Safety Technology/Technician(no graduates reported)
  • 26.1006Environmental Toxicology
  • 51.0916Radiation Protection/Health Physics Technician
  • 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 technicians programs in Massachusetts.

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

High school diploma or equivalent is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Environmental Health, which awarded 51 degrees in Massachusetts in 2024-25, 100.0% 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 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Public Health. Together they graduate about 51 people a year in Massachusetts.

How much do occupational health and safety technicians earn in Massachusetts?+

The median is $68,730 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 11.6% above the U.S. median of $61,560. 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 technicians growing?+

BLS projects a +8.5% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, much faster than average, with roughly 3,400 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

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

4 institutions in Massachusetts reported graduates from at least one of the 1 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 technicians work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Safety Specialist, Industrial Hygienist, Construction Safety Consultant, Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 19-5012.

Occupational Health and Safety Technicians in other statesNew YorkMarylandCaliforniaIdahoAlabamaMissouriWashingtonOhio
Programs in MassachusettsEnvironmental Health

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