Is it worth it? · Health
Is a Health Services degree worth it?
It depends
53% land jobs that need a degree, but the typical grad keeps only $73 a month after bills. Cheaper school, smaller loans or a cheaper city change the answer. Those numbers assume 2026 taxes, average living costs for a single person and the typical student debt of Health Services grads who borrowed ($29,888). Change any of them below to see your own answer.
Student loan payment
Typical federal student debt of Health Services grads who borrowed, at public and nonprofit colleges.
Income after taxes
After 2026 federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare. State tax is 0 unless you add yours.
Cost of living
What single-person households spend on essentials (food, housing, transportation, healthcare, clothing, personal care), US average.
What's left each month
It depends
53% land jobs that need a degree, but the typical grad keeps only $73 a month after bills. Cheaper school, smaller loans or a cheaper city change the answer.
Health Services by the numbers
| Health Services | All majors | |
|---|---|---|
| Early-career salary (ages 22–27, median) | $50,000 | $58,000 |
| Mid-career salary (ages 35–45, median) | $67,000 | $87,000 |
| Unemployed (recent grads) | 3.8% | 4.2% |
| In jobs that don't need a degree | 45.1% | 39.4% |
| Working jobs that need a degree | 53% | 58% |
| Typical student debt (grads who borrowed) | $29,888 | $25,170 |
| Went on to a graduate degree | 53% | 39% |
| Take-home pay per month | $3,530 | $4,065 |
| Left each month after bills and loans | +$73 | +$662 |
Ranks #49 of 73 majors by money left each month. NY Fed category: “Health Services”. We also use it for Public Health, which the NY Fed doesn't track separately, so those numbers describe this broader group, not exactly that degree.
Where the money goes
| Salary per month | $4,167 |
| − Federal income tax | $318 |
| − Social Security and Medicare | $319 |
| = Take-home pay | $3,530 |
| − Cost of living (US average, single person) | $3,117 |
| − Student loan payment | $340 |
| = Left over | +$73 |
Common questions
Is a Health Services degree worth it?
It depends, financially, for the typical graduate. 53% land jobs that need a degree, but the typical grad keeps only $73 a month after bills. Cheaper school, smaller loans or a cheaper city change the answer. This assumes the US-average cost of living for a single person, 2026 federal taxes, and the typical Health Services graduate's student debt of $29,888.
How much do Health Services majors make?
Recent Health Services graduates (ages 22–27) working full-time earn a median of $50,000 a year. By mid-career (ages 35–45) the median is $67,000.
How much student debt do Health Services majors have?
Health Services graduates who took out federal student loans owe a typical $29,888 when they finish (public and nonprofit colleges, College Scorecard), versus $25,170 across all majors. On a standard 10-year plan at 6.52%, that's about $340 a month. Private loans aren't included.
Is it hard to find a job with a Health Services degree?
3.8% of recent Health Services graduates are unemployed and 45.1% work in jobs that don't typically require a degree, so about 53% of those in the labor force have college-level jobs, versus 58% across all majors.
How is this calculated?
Money left each month = take-home pay − cost of living − student loan payment.
Salary: the median early-career salary (ages 22–27, full-time, bachelor's degree only) for the major, from the New York Fed (2024 data).
Take-home pay: salary minus 2026 federal income tax for a single filer (standard deduction $16,100, actual brackets), Social Security (6.2%) and Medicare (1.45%). State income tax isn't included unless you enter a rate, because it varies a lot by state.
Cost of living: $3,117 a month, what one-person households spend on essentials in the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey (2024): Food $470, Housing (rent, utilities, phone) $1,588, Transportation $579, Healthcare $336, Clothing $93, Personal care $52. Picking a state scales it by that state's price level (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024). It's an average, not a bare-minimum budget.
Student loans: each major starts at the typical federal student debt of its graduates who borrowed, from the Education Department's College Scorecard: the median for every bachelor's program at every public and nonprofit college, averaged across schools weighted by how many graduates borrowed ($25,170 across all majors). It counts federal loans from every school the graduate attended, but not private loans, Parent PLUS loans or interest that built up during school. For-profit colleges are left out because a few large online programs would swamp some majors. Tuition is mostly set by the school, not the major, so where you go matters more than what you study here. Majors with fewer than 500 borrowers in the data use the all-majors figure. Repaid at 6.52% (Federal Direct Loans for undergraduates first disbursed July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027) over 10 years. Plenty of grads don't borrow at all, and many borrow more or less, so change it to yours.
Jobs that need a degree = (100% − unemployment) × (100% − underemployment), using the New York Fed's rates for recent grads (ages 22–27) in the same year. It's the share of recent grads in the labor force working a job that typically requires a bachelor's degree. It is not the share working in their field, and people not looking for work aren't counted.
The verdict: Worth it if at least $500 is left each month and at least 50% of recent grads work jobs that need a degree. It depends if one of those fails, Not worth it if both do. These are our screening rules, not laws of economics, and they only cover money, not whether a degree is worth it to you in every other way.
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Sources
- Federal Reserve Bank of New York, The Labor Market for Recent College Graduates: outcomes by major, released February 4, 2026, 2024 data. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (IPUMS).
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Survey: one-person households, 2024.
- U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities by state (all items), 2024.
- IRS 2026 inflation adjustments (single filers); Social Security Administration 2026 wage base.
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard: Most Recent Data by Field of Study, file of 2025-04-17 (student debt by major).
- Federal Student Aid (interest rate).
Data last checked 2026-10-18. Figures describe typical graduates nationally, not any one school or person.