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

Best Occupational Health programs in Ohio, 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.

7 schools in Ohio run programs that feed this job, graduating 85 people a year. The job pays a median of $91,460 in Ohio across about 6,820 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledSafety ConsultantSafety SpecialistIndustrial HygienistIndustrial Hygiene ConsultantSanitarianRisk AnalystCause AnalystSafety Person
Graduates / yr
85
in Ohio
Median pay · Ohio
$91,460
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
6,820
people employed
Schools
7
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
55%
across those schools
Median net price
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Ohio that lead to this job

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

4 programs in Ohio that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Ohio (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 Ohio 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 Ohio
60
70.6%
5$36,762$25,076
2
CIP 51.2206In Ohio
13
15.3%
3$36,762$25,076
3
CIP 26.1006In Ohio
8
9.4%
1$39,202$18,000
4
CIP 15.0703In Ohio
4
4.7%
1$63,479$25,000

Top 7 schools in Ohio

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 3 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
1Ohio State University - Main Campus
Columbus, OH Public · 1 feeder programs
27Environmental Health$36,22688%61%
2Ohio University - Main Campus
Athens, OH Public · 2 feeder programs
19Occupational Health and Industrial Hygiene$37,88365%85%
3Columbus State Community College
Columbus, OH Public · 1 feeder programs
11Environmental Health28%
4University of Cincinnati - Main Campus
Cincinnati, OH Public · 2 feeder programs
8Environmental Health$32,68575%85%
5University of Toledo
Toledo, OH Public · 2 feeder programs
8Environmental Health57%92%
6Wright State University - Main Campus
Dayton, OH Public · 1 feeder programs
8Environmental Toxicology42%96%
7Lorain County Community College
Elyria, OH Public · 1 feeder programs
4Industrial Safety Technology/Technician31%

All 7 schools in Ohio

Every school in Ohio 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 Ohio that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Ohio State University - Main CampusColumbusPublic271
Ohio University - Main CampusAthensPublic192
Columbus State Community CollegeColumbusPublic111
University of Cincinnati - Main CampusCincinnatiPublic82
University of ToledoToledoPublic82
Wright State University - Main CampusDaytonPublic81
Lorain County Community CollegeElyriaPublic41

What occupational health and safety specialists earn in Ohio

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

Median annual in Ohio
$91,460
Mean annual
$96,350
Jobs in state
6,820
What the range looks like
10th pct$57,430Median$91,46090th pct$136,390
Versus the national median
+1.5%

U.S. median $90,150. Ohio pays above the national figure.

Job concentration
1.36×

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

Metro areas in Ohio

Columbus, OH
$98,920median
1,460 jobs
Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek, OH
$88,990median
400 jobs
Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN
$93,200median
1,260 jobs
Toledo, OH
$91,560median
330 jobs
Mansfield, OH
$92,020median
50 jobs
Sandusky, OH
$94,960median
50 jobs
Cleveland, OH
$88,070median
1,100 jobs
Akron, OH
$83,300median
370 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 Ohio

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 Ohio.

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 60 degrees in Ohio in 2024-25, 70.6% 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 4 programs to this occupation. The largest are Public Health, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Quality Control and Safety Technologies/Technicians. Together they graduate about 85 people a year in Ohio.

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

The median is $91,460 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 1.5% above 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 Ohio?+

7 institutions in Ohio reported graduates from at least one of the 4 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

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