Epidemiologists
Health ScienceO*NET 19-1041.00United States
Investigate and describe the determinants and distribution of disease, disability, or health outcomes. May develop the means for prevention and control.
- Median annual earnings
- $87,208
- Projected change
- +18.6%
- Typical education
- Master's or Professional degree
- Employment
- 14.18K jobs
50th percentile, United States
2025 to 2035
66.7% of the workforce
Growing to 16.82K by 2035
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These courses and certificates are connected through catalog career relationships and Lightcast skill tags.
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The work
What epidemiologists do
Tasks reported for this occupation, ordered by how often they come up in the role.
- 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.
- Monitor and report incidents of infectious diseases to local and state health agencies.
- Educate healthcare workers, patients, and the public about infectious and communicable diseases, including disease transmission and prevention.
- Plan and direct studies to investigate human or animal disease, preventive methods, and treatments for disease.
- Provide expertise in the design, management and evaluation of study protocols and health status questionnaires, sample selection, and analysis.
- Write articles for publication in professional journals.
- Identify and analyze public health issues related to foodborne parasitic diseases and their impact on public policies, scientific studies, or surveys.
- Plan, administer and evaluate health safety standards and programs to improve public health, conferring with health department, industry personnel, physicians, and others.
- Write grant applications to fund epidemiologic research.
- Conduct research to develop methodologies, instrumentation, and procedures for medical application, analyzing data and presenting findings.
- Consult with and advise physicians, educators, researchers, government health officials and others regarding medical applications of sciences, such as physics, biology, and chemistry.
- Supervise professional, technical, and clerical personnel.
Pay and outlook
What the job pays and where it is heading
Annual earnings range
Reported earnings by percentile, United States
- 10th percentile
- $61,019
- 25th percentile
- $70,927
- 50th percentile
- $87,208
- 75th percentile
- $113,497
- 90th percentile
- $139,982
The gold marker shows the median. Half earn more than $87,208 and half earn less.
Employment outlook
2025 to 2035 projection
+18.6%much faster than average
202514,178 jobs
2035 projected16,819 jobs
2,641 more positions over the decade, before replacement hiring.
Preparation
Education levels
What people currently working in the career hold. These are not entry requirements.
- Master's or Professional degree
- 66.7%
- Doctoral degree or more
- 33.3%
Skills
Skills employers ask for
Technical skills appearing most often in job postings for this occupation.
How the work gets done
Core competencies
Broad capabilities associated with strong performance in this occupation.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Science
- Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Mathematics
- Using mathematics to solve problems.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
In the market
Job titles and employers
Recent job postings in United StatesCommon job titles
- 01Infection Preventionists1,995 postings
- 02Epidemiologists572 postings
- 03Infection Prevention Coordinators310 postings
- 04Infection Prevention Managers290 postings
- 05Infection Prevention Specialists276 postings
- 06Medical Epidemiologists247 postings
- 07Infection Control Managers231 postings
- 08Nurse Epidemiologists188 postings
- 09Directors of Infection Prevention181 postings
- 10Infection Control Preventionists149 postings
- 11Infection Control Coordinators148 postings
- 12Infection Control Nurses141 postings
- 13Public Health Epidemiologists111 postings
- 14Endoscopy Registered Nurses106 postings
- 15Infection Control Specialists82 postings
- 16Infection Control-Employee Health Nurses61 postings
- 17Directors of Infection Control58 postings
- 18Infection Control Practitioners44 postings
- 19Infection Prevention and Control Managers41 postings
- 20Directors of Infection Prevention and Control33 postings
Top employers
- 01St George Tanaq Corporation129 postings
- 02Fujifilm112 postings
- 03Cytel110 postings
- 04MedStar78 postings
- 05HCA Healthcare75 postings
- 06Good Samaritan Society67 postings
- 07University Health52 postings
- 08Navitas Partners47 postings
- 09Encompass Health46 postings
- 10Stryker46 postings
- 11AdventHealth45 postings
- 12Providence45 postings
- 13IQVIA43 postings
- 14Genesis Administrative Services38 postings
- 15Lord Chamberlain Nursing And Rehabilitation Center30 postings
- 16Aya Healthcare29 postings
- 17Community Health Systems Professional Services Corporation23 postings
- 18LifePoint Health22 postings
- 19University of Pittsburgh Medical Center22 postings
- 20Emory University21 postings
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