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How Much Will You Earn With a Master’s in Health Informatics?

According to ZipRecruiter, the average salary for a health informatics professional is slightly over $103,000 per year. Image from Unsplash

Lucien Formichella February 16, 2021

Earning a master's in health informatics can qualify you for well-paying, essential jobs, but it's not the only salary determinant you need to consider.

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Health informatics—an interdisciplinary medical field that relies heavily on information technology (IT), information systems, and data science—is continuously improving the way healthcare organizations approach patient care. Advances like electronic health records (EHR) and medical data analytics allow healthcare professionals to provide faster, more accurate services. Informatics applications exist for:

Government agencies
Individual healthcare professionals
Insurance companies
Private companies
Public health organizations

As aging baby boomers strain the current healthcare system, the need for effective health informatics grows. From 2021 to 2031, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects the number of medical health and service managers to grow by 28 percent. That's more than five times the rate at which the overall job market will expand for the same period.

Informatics management positions can deliver large salaries, but they require a high level of experience and education. A Master of Science in Health Informatics can provide both.

So, how much will you earn with a master's in health informatics? To address that question, this guide discusses:

How much do health informatics professionals make?
How much will you make with a health informatics degree?
What are the highest-paying health informatics jobs?
Top states for health informatics jobs (and salaries)
Does health informatics pay well?
Top master's in health informatics programs
Top online master's in health informatics programs

How much do health informatics professionals make?

Health informatics salaries can vary significantly—from under $20 per hour to more than six figures annually, plus benefits. What you'll earn can depend heavily on your level of education, location, and experience.

What's the average salary for health informatics careers?

According to ZipRecruiter, the average salary for a health informatics professional is slightly over $103,000 per year. But that only tells part of the story.

What's the highest/lowest average salary for health informatics professionals?

Salaries for top health informatics jobs comfortably reach the six-figure range. PayScale reports that the top ten percent of health IT project managers earn nearly $142,000 per year. According to Salary.com, the highest health informatics director salaries exceed $185,000. Add in bonus and incentive pay and you clear $200,000 by a comfortable margin.

The best salaries usually come with executive-level positions. In 2019, the average New York hospital CEO earned over a million dollars per year. This job may require multiple graduate degrees, such as an MBA in healthcare or a doctorate.

Low-level health informatics salaries are eye-catching in a different way. The bottom ten percent of medical records and health information technicians earn a median annual wage of under $30,000, according to the BLS. Qualifying for these jobs requires far less education and experience.

What to expect in a health informatics starting salary

Entry-level informatics jobs typically require a bachelor's degree at minimum. Your chosen major can have a large impact on your starting salary. According to a 2019 human resources survey, new health and science graduates earned around $52,000—among the highest in the class.

Business and computer science students also qualify for informatics jobs. Those with a business degree earned roughly the same as health and science graduates in 2019, but computer science students earned even more: $71,411. Predictably, those without a degree earned much less.

A health informatics degree may prepare you for an IT position such as:

What's the average entry-level salary for health informatics professionals?

According to the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), the average salary for healthcare information management professionals with a year or less of experience was $44,530 in 2019.

The field of health informatics offers many entry points. You may decide to build experience in a related job before making the jump. Registered nurses (RN) frequently transition to informatics (either through a graduate or certificate program) after spending a few years in general practice. In 2020, almost half of all nurse informaticists reported salaries exceeding $100,000.

What are entry-level health informatics jobs?

Entry-level jobs typically require a bachelor's degree or proper certification, which can be completed as part of a bachelor's program. According to AHIMA, entry-level jobs include:

Collections specialist
Insurance claims specialist
Medical biller
Patient care coordinator
Patient registrar
Release of information specialist

How much will you make with a health informatics degree?

As a rule, more education corresponds to a better health informatics salary. Master's degree-holders can expect better salaries than bachelor's degree-holders, and those with a PhD earn more than either.

How much do health informatics professionals with a bachelor's make?

According to PayScale, the average salary for those with a bachelor's in health informatics is around $75,000 per year.

Jobs in health informatics with a bachelor's degree

According to University of Central Florida, graduates of the school's Bachelor of Science in Health Informatics and Information Management qualify for roles like:

Database administrator
Data integrity specialist
Health information specialist
Information management coordinator
Medical records technician

How much do you make with a master's in health informatics?

According to PayScale, a clinical informatics specialist earns an average annual income of just over $80,000, with opportunities for significant incentive bonuses. A senior business analyst earns an average base salary of $88,400 plus incentives.

Jobs with a master's in health informatics

Positions include:

Clinical informatics specialist
Director of health informatics
Health data scientist
Health informatics consultant
Health IT project manager

How much do health informatics PhDs make?

Those with a PhD in health informatics earn an average of over $119,000 per year, according to PayScale.

Jobs with a health informatics PhD

Most health informatics PhD programs are academics-focused. Popular careers include:

Consulting
Government advising
Public health administration
Research
Teaching (as a professor)

What's the average salary for all health informatics degrees?

According to University of Wisconsin Extension, the average salary for all Registered Health Information Administrator RHIA professionals was $91,450 in 2019.

Earning informatics credentials is another way to increase your salary. Those with four certifications earned nearly $1145,000 on average, while those with none earned around $66,000, according to AHIMA. University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus offers health informatics master's students four credential opportunities.

What are the highest-paying health informatics jobs?

Chief medical information officer (CMIO) is the top-paying health informatics position. According to a 2019 Association of Medical Directors (AMDIS) study, 47 percent of responding CMIOs earned between $251,000 and $350,000 base salary—and 33 percent had salaries between $351,000 and $450,000. Reaching this position without experience as a medical doctor is unlikely.

Experienced informatics nurses earn a lot as well. According to HIMSS, 24 percent with 11 or more years of experience earned over $150,000, similar to IT managers.

How do salaries vary across health informatics fields?

Because health informatics is such a broad designation, it's important to understand how salaries differ within each sector. According to AHIMA, salaries (in ascending order) are:

Home health: $56,070
Long-term care, hospice, or nursing facility: $56,850
Clinic or physician practice: $63,500
Behavioral/mental health: $64,010
Ambulatory care: $66,100
Public health: $74,020
Hospital, multi-hospital system, integrated delivery: $77,800
Government: $78,680
Educational institution: $79,000
Health insurance, payor, managed care: $83,940
Consulting firm: $88,820
Laboratory or research: $95,00
Vendor company: $95,660
Association or professional society: $100,250
Life sciences: $106,000

What are the most in-demand health informatics jobs?

The demand for quality healthcare professionals is high. The healthcare job market should grow by 13 percent between 2021 and 2031. During the same period, the number of medical records and health information technology professionals is set to grow by 17 percent.

An in-depth study of healthcare jobs conducted by Burning Glass Technology in 2014 found that employers struggled to find talent for high-level positions that include: