Healthcare Administrator Salary: What You'll Really Earn by Setting and Experience

BLS publishes these figures under the name medical and health services managers (SOC 11-9111). Its Handbook says these managers are also called healthcare executives or healthcare administrators, and this site uses "healthcare administrator" for the same group.^[5] The pay range is wide. At the 10th percentile a healthcare administrator earns $73,390; at the 90th, $224,340, a gap of $150,950.^[1] The title covers the person who runs a nursing home, the manager of a hospital's intensive care unit, the practice manager for a group of physicians, and the director of health information, and BLS notes that the work varies with the employer: managers of large facilities may focus on broad oversight, while those in small departments may be ordering supplies.^[5] Those jobs share an occupation code and differ in scope, which likely accounts for much of the spread.

The middle half of the field earns between $94,700 and $166,100. The average, $140,970, sits $17,110 above the median, which tells you the top of the range stretches further than the bottom: a minority of senior executives pull the mean up. For judging a single offer the median is the better reference point. For context, the median for all U.S. occupations is $50,980, so even the 10th percentile of this job sits above the typical American wage.^[2]

BLS does not publish pay by years of experience or by degree for this occupation, so the percentile ladder is the only federal view of progression. What the data does show is how much the median moves with the setting and the state, and the industry and state sections below carry that evidence.

The federal wage survey counts straight-time gross pay: base salary, cost-of-living allowances, guaranteed pay, and incentive pay such as commissions and production bonuses. It leaves out overtime, severance, nonproduction bonuses, and the employer's cost of benefits.^[6] Treat the figures here as a guide to base pay, and evaluate any bonus or incentive plan on an offer as a separate line.

The survey also excludes the self-employed.^[6] That leaves out few healthcare administrators: BLS estimates 4.5 percent of them are self-employed, against 5.8 percent across all occupations.^[2] Two job counts appear on this page for that reason. The wage survey counts 597,080 wage-and-salary jobs in May 2025; the projections count 640,400 jobs in 2025, from a broader set of sources.^[2] Use the first with the pay figures and the second with the growth figures.

Jobs are concentrated in the biggest states. California (75,090), Texas (58,420), Florida (42,700), New York (33,200), and Pennsylvania (30,480) together hold 40.2 percent of the 597,080 healthcare administrator jobs in the wage survey, and California alone has 12.6 percent of them.^[1]

The largest markets do not pay alike. New York has the highest median among states with at least 1,000 healthcare administrators, $164,120 on 33,200 jobs, and California's $141,480 is also well above the national median of $123,860. Texas is the clearest case of a big market that pays below the national figure: it has the second-most jobs, 58,420, at a median of $114,150. Florida follows the same pattern at $120,360 on 42,700 jobs. Pennsylvania ($103,670) and Ohio ($106,140) round out the six largest markets and both sit well under the national median.^[1]

At the other end, Arkansas ($94,340), Alabama ($97,790), and Mississippi ($98,160) have the lowest medians among states with at least 1,000 jobs.^[1] BLS does not publish this occupation's pay by state and industry together, so the table cannot separate how much of a state's premium comes from its employers and how much from its prices; the next section removes the price effect.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes Regional Price Parities, which measure what the same basket of goods and services costs in each state against a national average of 100.^[7] Dividing a state's median by its parity restates the pay in national-average dollars. Among places with at least 1,000 healthcare administrators, these come out on top:

• New York: $164,120 nominal, about $152,100 after adjusting for prices that run 7.9 percent above the national average.
• District of Columbia: $155,140 nominal, about $141,200 after adjusting for prices that run 9.9 percent above the national average.
• South Dakota: $122,050 nominal, about $137,800 after adjusting for prices that run 11.4 percent below the national average.
• Oregon: $141,690 nominal, about $137,100 after adjusting for prices that run 3.4 percent above the national average.
• Georgia: $131,910 nominal, about $137,000 after adjusting for prices that run 3.7 percent below the national average.

New York stays first, going from $164,120 to about $152,100, so its premium is not just a price effect. California does not hold up as well: its $141,480 median drops to about $127,800 because prices run 10.7 percent above average, which takes it out of the top five. South Dakota and Georgia enter the top five once prices are counted. South Dakota is the sharpest example: its nominal median of $122,050 is below the national median, yet it rises to about $137,800 after adjustment. Texas gains too, from $114,150 to about $117,600, so part of its gap with the coasts is a price difference rather than a pay difference.

The parities are statewide averages, and the large metros where most hospitals sit usually cost more than the state as a whole. Use the adjusted figures as a first comparison between locations, then check the metro-level parities BEA also publishes before weighing a specific move.

Hospitals are the center of this occupation. General medical and surgical hospitals employ 158,730 healthcare administrators at a median of $134,050, 26.6 percent of the occupation in the wage survey.^[1] The Handbook's broader grouping, which counts all hospitals, puts the share at 28 percent, followed by offices of physicians at 13 percent, nursing and residential care facilities at 9 percent, and outpatient care centers and government each at 7 percent.^[5]

The ordering by pay is not the ordering by size. The federal executive branch has the highest median on the list, $154,380, on 22,820 jobs, followed by management of companies and enterprises at $149,460.^[1] Hospitals come next at $134,050, $10,190 above the national median. Outpatient care centers pay $116,060, nursing care facilities $105,550, physicians' offices $105,770, home health care $101,830, and offices of other health practitioners $98,960, the lowest on the list.^[1]

The $55,420 spread between the highest and lowest of these industries is larger than the gap between many states. Physicians' offices are the second-largest employer, with 80,410 jobs, yet they pay $28,280 less at the median than hospitals do. The data does not say why, so treat the gap as a fact about the setting rather than an explanation. Nursing care facilities pay $105,550, $18,310 below the national median, and are the setting where a state license is required to hold the top job, a point the licensure section below covers. For pay, the kind of organization matters as much as the city.

BLS projects employment of healthcare administrators to grow from 640,400 in 2025 to 795,500 in 2035, 24.2 percent, against 3.5 percent for all occupations, with about 62,300 openings a year once replacements for people who retire or change careers are counted.^[2] The Handbook gives two reasons. An aging population means more demand for healthcare services, which means more facilities and more managers to organize workflows and staff. And advances in technology, shifting policies and regulations, and evolving models of care are making healthcare delivery more complex, which calls for more managers to handle it.^[5]

That is faster than the nearby management roles compared below: general and operations managers are projected to grow 5 percent and human resources managers 5.5 percent over the same decade.^[2]

BLS does not say whether openings will be concentrated in any one setting, so this page makes no claim about which employers will hire fastest. The practical signal is simpler: the projection is for the occupation as a whole, and the license and experience requirements described on the career guide still apply wherever the opening is.

Five nearby occupations put the pay in context. Human resources managers are the only one on the list that earns more: a median of $149,280, $25,420 above healthcare administrators, with 5 years or more of related experience typical for entry, against less than 5 years for healthcare administrators.^[1][2] General and operations managers are the broadest comparison, 3,503,020 jobs at a median of $105,770, $18,090 below this job, and BLS lists 5 years or more of related experience as typical for them.^[1][2] The federal data does not say why healthcare administrators out-earn that broader group.

Social and community service managers are the closest match on experience, less than 5 years, and entry education, a bachelor's degree, but their median is $80,390, $43,470 lower.^[1][2] The two records roles sit lower. Medical records specialists, with 194,720 jobs at a median of $51,140, appear in the Handbook as an early job for managers, and health information technologists and medical registrars earn $68,020.^[1][5] The $72,720 gap between a medical records specialist and a healthcare administrator is the pay for moving from handling the records to being responsible for the department and its people. Our healthcare administrator career guide walks through that path step by step.

Check an offer against three figures at once. Start with the state median, not the national one: $123,860 nationally, but $164,120 in New York and $114,150 in Texas. Then find the employer's setting in the industry list above, since hospitals, outpatient centers, and physicians' offices pay medians that differ by $28,280 or more. Finally, place the offer on the percentile ladder: $94,700 is the 25th percentile and $166,100 the 75th.^[1]

A title is a weak guide on its own. O*NET's list of reported titles for this occupation runs from nurse manager and clinical director to health information management director and healthcare system director, so the scope behind the title is what to compare: how many people report to you, what budget you hold, and whether you answer to a board.^[8] Compare base pay with base pay, because the survey leaves out nonproduction bonuses and benefits,^[6] and for a job in another state use the cost-of-living figures above to compare in the same dollars.

One setting in this field has a legal gate. The Handbook says some medical and health services managers need a state-issued license and that all states require licensure for nursing home administrators, with requirements that vary by state.^[5] The national exam body, NAB, says each state sets its own requirements for the license, for becoming an administrator-in-training, and for continuing education.^[9] Nursing care facilities employ 30,930 healthcare administrators in the wage survey at a median of $105,550.^[1]

BLS does not publish pay for licensed administrators separately, so the federal data cannot say what the license adds. What it shows is the setting's median against the others above. If you want the top job in a nursing home, the license is not optional, and our career guide lays out the exam steps.

The largest lever in the federal data is the employer, covered in the industry section above. The second is scope. BLS notes that managers of large facilities focus on broad oversight, and O*NET's most important tasks for the occupation include directing and evaluating the work of medical, nursing, technical, and clerical staff and conducting fiscal operations such as planning budgets and authorizing expenditures.^[5][8] Owning a budget and a headcount is what separates the upper part of the range from the middle.

On education, BLS says some employers hire candidates with an associate's degree and others prefer a master's, and that advancement to top executive positions may require a master's degree.^[5] BLS does not publish this occupation's pay by degree, so no federal figure shows what a master's in healthcare administration or an MBA adds; weigh one on cost and on the roles it opens, and see our MHA vs MBA comparison.

The main professional credential is the Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, FACHE. ACHE requires a master's or other post-baccalaureate degree, a current healthcare management position with five years of healthcare management experience, and one year of ACHE membership, among other items. The application fee is $250 and the exam fee $225.^[4] It is a credential for people already in management, which is why it appears after the pay discussion rather than before it, and BLS does not publish pay by credential.