Career
Epidemiologists
Track diseases and find ways to stop them.
$87,220
Median pay
+18.7%
Job growth, 2025–35
800
Openings a year
Master's degree
Typical education
6 years
Typical time after high school
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Communicate research findings on various types of diseases to health practitioners, policy makers, and the public.
- Oversee public health programs, including statistical analysis, health care planning, surveillance systems, and public health improvement.
- Investigate diseases or parasites to determine cause and risk factors, progress, life cycle, or mode of transmission.
- Educate healthcare workers, patients, and the public about infectious and communicable diseases, including disease transmission and prevention.
- Monitor and report incidents of infectious diseases to local and state health agencies.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on ideas & analysis, then people & care?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Communicate research findings on various types of diseases to health practitioners, policy makers, and the public.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Reading Comprehension, Complex Problem Solving, Critical Thinking, Judgment and Decision Making.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
6 years of education after high school (master's degree), for a median of $87,220 a year and 800 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- Public HealthSee the degree →
- Cell/Cellular Biology and HistologyCIP 26.0401
- Infectious Disease and Global HealthCIP 26.0509
- EpidemiologyCIP 26.1309
- Epidemiology and BiostatisticsCIP 26.1311
- Medical Science/ScientistCIP 51.1401
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Preventive Medicine Physicians
- Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists$103,410 · +12.6%
- Clinical Nurse Specialists
- Geneticists
- Physicians, Pathologists$312,400 · +4.8%
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.