Best degree programs for Healthcare Social Workers, ranked by enrollment
7 college programs and 814 schools train Healthcare Social Workers. Compare graduates per year, cost and pay, $67,880 median wage, 187,630 U.S. jobs. Federal data.
7 college programs at 814 schools train healthcare social workers, graduating 60,907 people a year (IPEDS completions). The largest is Social Work. The job pays a median of $67,880 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
About healthcare social workers
Provide individuals, families, and groups with the psychosocial support needed to cope with chronic, acute, or terminal illnesses. Services include advising family caregivers. Provide patients with information and counseling, and make referrals for other services. May also provide case and care management or interventions designed to promote health, prevent disease, and address barriers to access to healthcare.
Fields of study that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level, the tier our program pages are built on. Numbers are graduates per year.
7 degree programs that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are College Scorecard figures for people who finished the program, reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. That is a different measurement from the occupation-wide wages further down this page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Social Workmain feeder CIP 44.0701 | 56,891 | 93.4% | 786 | $37,264 | $26,140 |
| 2 | CIP 51.1503 | 3,398 | 5.6% | 53 | $37,335 | $22,861 |
| 3 | Social Work, Othermain feeder CIP 44.0799 | 556 | 0.9% | 31 | $37,264 | $26,140 |
| 4 | Forensic Social Workmain feeder CIP 44.0703 | 31 | 0.1% | 2 | $37,264 | $26,140 |
| 5 | CIP 30.5301 | 19 | 0.0% | 2 | — | — |
| 6 | CIP 51.1511 | 7 | 0.0% | 2 | $37,335 | $22,861 |
| 7 | CIP 51.1512 | 5 | 0.0% | 2 | $37,335 | $22,861 |
Top 50 schools by graduates into this job
Counting every feeder program a school offers, not just its largest one.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Kentucky Lexington, KY Public · 2 feeder programs | 1,743 | Social Work | 71% | — | 93% |
| 2 | Walden University Minneapolis, MN Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 1,740 | Social Work | — | — | — |
| 3 | The University of Texas at Arlington Arlington, TX Public · 1 feeder programs | 895 | Social Work | 54% | — | 80% |
| 4 | Rutgers University - New Brunswick New Brunswick, NJ Public · 1 feeder programs | 765 | Social Work | 84% | — | 58% |
| 5 | Aurora University Aurora, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 745 | Social Work | 60% | $18,431 | 81% |
| 6 | Grand Canyon University Phoenix, AZ Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 731 | Social Work | 43% | $21,535 | 79% |
| 7 | CUNY Hunter College New York, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 643 | Social Work | 57% | — | 54% |
| 8 | Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 625 | Social Work | 96% | $15,315 | 4% |
| 9 | Ohio State University - Main Campus Columbus, OH Public · 1 feeder programs | 572 | Social Work | 88% | — | 61% |
| 10 | Indiana University - Indianapolis Indianapolis, IN Public · 1 feeder programs | 565 | Social Work | 54% | — | 76% |
| 11 | Fordham University Bronx, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 564 | Social Work | 82% | $38,931 | 59% |
| 12 | The University of Tennessee - Knoxville Knoxville, TN Public · 2 feeder programs | 563 | Social Work | 74% | — | 42% |
| 13 | University of Denver Denver, CO Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 556 | Social Work | 76% | $29,726 | 78% |
| 14 | Capella University Minneapolis, MN Private for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 522 | Clinical/Medical Social Work | 20% | $19,369 | — |
| 15 | Yeshiva University New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 516 | Social Work | 83% | $39,696 | 56% |
| 16 | University of Michigan - Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI Public · 1 feeder programs | 507 | Social Work | 93% | — | 16% |
| 17 | Simmons University Boston, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 490 | Social Work | 72% | $24,848 | 70% |
| 18 | University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 489 | Social Work | 92% | $26,873 | 10% |
| 19 | Florida State University Tallahassee, FL Public · 2 feeder programs | 472 | Clinical/Medical Social Work | 86% | — | 24% |
| 20 | Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Baton Rouge, LA Public · 1 feeder programs | 456 | Social Work | 69% | — | 73% |
| 21 | Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, VA Public · 1 feeder programs | 452 | Social Work | 63% | — | 93% |
| 22 | Portland State University Portland, OR Public · 1 feeder programs | 427 | Social Work | 53% | — | 91% |
| 23 | New York University New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 379 | Social Work | 88% | $29,023 | 9% |
| 24 | California State University - Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 365 | Social Work | 53% | — | 91% |
| 25 | University of Massachusetts Global Aliso Viejo, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 355 | Social Work | 43% | — | — |
| 26 | Wayne State University Detroit, MI Public · 1 feeder programs | 354 | Social Work | 58% | — | 81% |
| 27 | Boston University Boston, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 352 | Social Work | 89% | $21,956 | 11% |
| 28 | Indiana Wesleyan University - National & Global Marion, IN Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 346 | Social Work | 35% | $18,316 | — |
| 29 | University of Oklahoma - Norman Campus Norman, OK Public · 1 feeder programs | 338 | Social Work | 75% | — | 77% |
| 30 | Boise State University Boise, ID Public · 1 feeder programs | 329 | Social Work | 60% | — | 87% |
| 31 | University of Central Florida Orlando, FL Public · 1 feeder programs | 321 | Social Work | 78% | — | 40% |
| 32 | University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus Pittsburgh, PA Public · 1 feeder programs | 320 | Social Work | 85% | — | 58% |
| 33 | California State University - Long Beach Long Beach, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 317 | Social Work | 69% | — | 46% |
| 34 | Liberty University Lynchburg, VA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 317 | Social Work | 65% | $28,911 | 99% |
| 35 | University of Nevada - Reno Reno, NV Public · 1 feeder programs | 317 | Social Work | 61% | — | 74% |
| 36 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ Public · 3 feeder programs | 316 | Social Work | 68% | — | 90% |
| 37 | University of Maryland, Baltimore Baltimore, MD Public · 3 feeder programs | 304 | Social Work | — | — | — |
| 38 | University of Washington - Seattle Campus Seattle, WA Public · 3 feeder programs | 304 | Clinical/Medical Social Work | 85% | — | 39% |
| 39 | Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, FL Public · 2 feeder programs | 296 | Social Work | 63% | — | 66% |
| 40 | Stony Brook University Stony Brook, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 296 | Social Work | 76% | — | 49% |
| 41 | Loyola University Chicago Chicago, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 294 | Social Work | 73% | $33,454 | 82% |
| 42 | Metropolitan State University of Denver Denver, CO Public · 1 feeder programs | 293 | Social Work | 32% | — | 99% |
| 43 | San Jose State University San Jose, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 287 | Social Work | 69% | — | 85% |
| 44 | Arizona State University Digital Immersion Scottsdale, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs | 283 | Social Work | 0% | — | 67% |
| 45 | University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT Public · 1 feeder programs | 283 | Social Work | 65% | — | 86% |
| 46 | The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Edinburg, TX Public · 1 feeder programs | 269 | Social Work | 51% | — | 94% |
| 47 | Western New Mexico University Silver City, NM Public · 1 feeder programs | 263 | Social Work | 32% | — | — |
| 48 | University of Houston Houston, TX Public · 1 feeder programs | 261 | Social Work | 65% | — | 74% |
| 49 | University of South Florida Tampa, FL Public · 1 feeder programs | 261 | Social Work | 77% | — | 43% |
| 50 | University of Illinois Urbana - Champaign Champaign, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 257 | Social Work | 85% | — | 42% |
What healthcare social workers earn
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
Top-paying states
Top-paying metro areas
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Where the jobs are, state by state
Pick a state for in-state pay, the schools there, and the programs they run.
| State | Median pay | Jobs | Concentration | Schools | Graduates / yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | $73,070 | 20,440 | 1.75× | 36 | 5,326 |
| California | $89,660 | 17,690 | 0.80× | 39 | 4,664 |
| Texas | $69,990 | 10,880 | 0.64× | 49 | 3,626 |
| Minnesota | $73,970 | 2,430 | 0.68× | 29 | 3,444 |
| Kentucky | $64,080 | 1,980 | 0.82× | 15 | 2,833 |
| Michigan | $67,600 | 4,860 | 0.91× | 31 | 2,655 |
| Illinois | $64,270 | 4,910 | 0.67× | 37 | 2,628 |
| Ohio | $63,610 | 8,930 | 1.33× | 60 | 2,473 |
| Pennsylvania | $61,900 | 9,630 | 1.32× | 46 | 2,261 |
| Florida | $64,820 | 10,520 | 0.88× | 15 | 2,234 |
| Massachusetts | $76,440 | 7,220 | 1.64× | 19 | 1,967 |
| New Jersey | $82,690 | 4,310 | 0.83× | 24 | 1,745 |
| Arizona | $64,030 | 3,100 | 0.79× | 17 | 1,722 |
| North Carolina | $63,280 | 5,120 | 0.86× | 25 | 1,627 |
| Indiana | $64,580 | 3,890 | 1.01× | 23 | 1,483 |
| Virginia | $66,550 | 3,070 | 0.62× | 14 | 1,299 |
| Colorado | $63,480 | 3,670 | 1.06× | 8 | 1,276 |
| Tennessee | $61,240 | 5,970 | 1.51× | 19 | 1,237 |
| Wisconsin | $66,910 | 3,770 | 1.06× | 19 | 1,025 |
| Louisiana | $61,080 | 1,970 | 0.84× | 10 | 923 |
| Connecticut | $79,900 | 1,650 | 0.80× | 11 | 905 |
| Alabama | $60,000 | 2,850 | 1.12× | 17 | 901 |
| Maryland | $76,440 | 4,750 | 1.42× | 10 | 832 |
| Georgia | $62,420 | 6,970 | 1.18× | 17 | 814 |
| Missouri | $59,870 | 4,430 | 1.25× | 21 | 800 |
| Utah | $78,150 | 1,750 | 0.84× | 8 | 789 |
| Washington | $78,570 | 5,180 | 1.21× | 10 | 758 |
| Kansas | $64,440 | 1,360 | 0.78× | 13 | 685 |
| New Mexico | $65,930 | 1,200 | 1.14× | 11 | 621 |
| Idaho | $74,500 | 750 | 0.72× | 8 | 607 |
| Iowa | $63,050 | 1,550 | 0.82× | 21 | 590 |
| Mississippi | $62,250 | 1,890 | 1.34× | 17 | 570 |
| Oregon | $84,350 | 2,320 | 0.98× | 8 | 551 |
| Nevadamoderate | $78,470 | 1,160 | 0.62× | 3 | 504 |
| Oklahoma | $56,120 | 2,310 | 1.12× | 7 | 477 |
| Arkansas | $55,640 | 1,250 | 0.80× | 11 | 461 |
| Nebraska | $62,420 | 980 | 0.80× | 10 | 387 |
| West Virginia | $60,140 | 1,100 | 1.30× | 8 | 344 |
| South Carolina | $60,840 | 3,100 | 1.12× | 5 | 299 |
| District of Columbiamoderate | $94,100 | 420 | 0.50× | 4 | 296 |
| Maine | $71,610 | 790 | 1.02× | 6 | 276 |
| Montana | $57,090 | 840 | 1.35× | 6 | 211 |
| Hawaiimoderate | $85,420 | 660 | 0.87× | 3 | 205 |
| Rhode Islandmoderate | $75,390 | 630 | 1.04× | 4 | 201 |
| North Dakota | $62,860 | 330 | 0.63× | 5 | 189 |
| New Hampshiremoderate | $78,260 | 590 | 0.71× | 3 | 139 |
| South Dakotamoderate | $57,510 | 790 | 1.42× | 4 | 121 |
| Delawarelimited | $64,620 | 780 | 1.34× | 1 | 105 |
| Vermontmoderate | $81,140 | 250 | 0.70× | 3 | 96 |
| Alaskalimited | $62,000 | 480 | 1.22× | 2 | 78 |
| Wyomingmoderate | $62,260 | 180 | 0.53× | 3 | 74 |
Skills and tools
From O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupational database. Importance is a 1 to 5 scale.
What they do day to day
- Advocate for clients or patients to resolve crises.
- Educate clients about end-of-life symptoms and options to assist them in making informed decisions.
- Collaborate with other professionals to evaluate patients' medical or physical condition and to assess client needs.
- Refer patient, client, or family to community resources to assist in recovery from mental or physical illness and to provide access to services such as financial assistance, legal aid, housing, job placement or education.
- Utilize consultation data and social work experience to plan and coordinate client or patient care and rehabilitation, following through to ensure service efficacy.
- Monitor, evaluate, and record client progress according to measurable goals described in treatment and care plan.
- Identify environmental impediments to client or patient progress through interviews and review of patient records.
- Counsel clients and patients in individual and group sessions to help them overcome dependencies, recover from illness, and adjust to life.
Skills
- Speaking4.1
- Reading Comprehension4.0
- Active Listening4.0
- Critical Thinking4.0
- Writing3.9
- Active Learning3.8
- Monitoring3.3
- Learning Strategies3.1
Knowledge areas
- Psychology4.9
- Therapy and Counseling4.7
- Sociology and Anthropology4.4
- English Language4.4
- Customer and Personal Service3.9
- Education and Training3.5
Abilities
- Oral Expression4.1
- Oral Comprehension4.0
- Problem Sensitivity4.0
- Deductive Reasoning4.0
- Speech Clarity4.0
- Speech Recognition4.0
Core activities
- Assisting and Caring for Others4.7
- Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships4.5
- Getting Information4.5
- Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates4.4
- Documenting/Recording Information4.3
- Communicating with People Outside the Organization4.3
Tools and technology
hotmarks an O*NET hot technologyHow to get in
How to become a Healthcare Social Worker
Job zone 5 of 5 · SVP 8.0 and above- Typical entry education
- Master's degree
- On-the-job training
- Internship/residency
Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 7 majors mapped to Healthcare Social Workers7 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 30.5301Thanatology
- 44.0701Social Work
- 44.0703Forensic Social Work
- 44.0799Social Work, Other
- 51.1503Clinical/Medical Social Work
- 51.1511Medical Family Therapy/Therapist
- 51.1512Hospice and Palliative Care
Related careers
Jobs O*NET identifies as close to this one, with their own pay and outlook.
Common questions
What degree do you need to become a Healthcare Social Worker?+
Master's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Social Work, which awarded 56,891 degrees in 2024-25, 93.4% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Healthcare Social Worker?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 7 programs to this occupation. The largest are Social Work, Mental and Social Health Services and Allied Professions, Thanatology. Together they graduate about 60,907 people a year.
How much do healthcare social workers earn?+
The median is $67,880 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $46,220 at the 10th percentile to $100,360 at the 90th. 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 healthcare social workers growing?+
BLS projects a +7.7% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, faster than average, with roughly 18,400 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career?+
814 institutions reported graduates from at least one of the 7 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 healthcare social workers work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Social Worker, Hospice Social Worker, Medical Social Worker, Clinical Social Worker among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 21-1022.
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 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected 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 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, 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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