Spring 2026
Public Health Job Market 2026: Trends, Shifts, and Career Opportunities
By Kelly Jordan
On This Page
Public health has been on a rollercoaster ride over the last six years. The once under-the-radar job field was catapulted into the public discourse during the early days of COVID-19, taking on Shonda Rhimes-level intrigue about the heroism of frontline workers and career epidemiologists. Then, rapidly, the field experienced opposition and direct harm from misinformation circulating on social media and in mainstream media.
This has left job seekers in a tenuous position. Large-scale federal job cuts and restructuring efforts have made navigating this landscape challenging.
The truth is that the job market is shifting. But public health professionals possess unique skillsets that empower them in a wide array of career fields.
Job Outlook Data for 2026 - Federal Level
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While there have been significant cuts to employment and programs at the federal level, government hiring is still occurring. There are still career scientists employed within these organizations who are doing good work.
The Office of Personnel Management reports 35 job openings in 2026 so far within the HHS. It’s minimal to be sure, but there are some other things to be hopeful about. Most notably, the return of ORISE fellowships—an educational and training fellowship program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) open to current students and recent graduates, which often leads to full-time employment. State and local health departments have been another consistent pathway for hiring and currently provide more opportunities than roles at the federal level.
An additional area of possibility for job growth is through the new Rural Health Transformation Program, a project that came out of the 2025 federal reconciliation bill, which will dedicate $50 billion to improve rural health infrastructure nationally over the next five years. Georgia alone is positioned to receive around $2 billion toward this effort, which brings with it new avenues for job seekers.
Federal Hiring
Workforce Changes at the Department of Health and Human Services 2015-2026
"Our people power, our creativity, and our resilience are the antidotes to burnout and uncertainty. How we do the work matters as much as the work itself." - Shannon Weber
Opportunities for Jobs in Health Care, Tech, and Beyond
Outside of government, hiring trends for people with MPH degrees or public health backgrounds tend to be in health care, the for-profit sector, and university employment.
“Something I’ve been advising students is to broaden where they are looking to larger organizations, even those that may not have a health focus,” says Srdjan Popovic, executive director of professional development and career planning at Rollins.
“Public health is all around. Organizations that may be seemingly unrelated to a student’s ideal position will still have their version of workplace wellness, worker safety, sustainability initiatives, or data analysis needs.” Public health skills are translatable into a range of settings and departments, including within human resources departments, worker safety programs, communications offices, data analysis fields, and environmental or green initiatives at large organizations.
Popovic notes that the public health job market is mirroring what occurs when an industry experiences volatility. Jobs shift from one area to another. So, for public health, since the federal level has been unsteady, workers are shifting more to hospital and health care settings—including in the caregiving space. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows health care as one of the fastest growing industries. As of March 2026, jobs are increasing at the state, local, and federal levels in government hospital settings.
Trending Public Health Titles
Popovic encourages job seekers to evaluate their personal strengths, skills, and connections—in addition to their degrees—and using those as an opportunity to uncover work arenas that may be less obvious.
For instance, in a hospital setting, this might look like serving as a health educator, patient navigator, health consultant, or community health worker.
Consulting is another area where public health graduates are in high demand. Consultants are typically employed by private, for-profit, or nonprofit employers in the non-governmental space. Consulting work is accessible to public health professionals at all experience levels, including those who are transitioning mid-career or those just starting out and range in pay from $50,000 to upwards of $300,000 based on experience, project scope, and company.
Matching Your Skills to the Workforce
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Artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly becoming ubiquitous in the workplace, and this extends to public health job settings, including in spaces like the growing field of GovTech, where public health job seekers can bring their data analysis skills to work to improve data integrity, monitor disease outbreaks and prevention efforts, and improve community health through health delivery systems.
According to feedback from the Rollins Community Advisory Board, AI utilization is capturing routine tasks, which amplifies the need for people with effective communication, synthesis, and interpretation skills. Other skills that the advisory board emphasized were grant writing, donor engagement, and cost effectiveness capabilities.
“I often see people disqualify themselves from applying to a position because they don’t possess all of the skills listed in job posting,” says Popovic. “The sweet spot for hiring managers to select a candidate for an interview is around 50%. So, if you are 50% eligible for the job and you meet the requirements, go for it.
Rollins Graduate Outcomes
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“2025 was a year to grieve,” says Joanne Williams, executive director for professional advancement & student affairs, as she sums up feedback from the Rollins School of Public Health’s Community Advisory Board. “It was a time for figuring out the lay of the land and assessing where and how field could (and should) pivot. But now this year it's really saying, okay, how can we get creative and think about ways to continue doing the public health work that we are doing?”
Being creative and understanding where funds and resources are moving is something that is top of mind for employers. “It’s important for us on the PASE team (Professional Advancement & Student Experience) to continue to engage in those conversations with our employers because then we get an idea of where the money is shifting and where our students are going to be shifting as well.”
The PASE Center recently launched a new Job Outcomes Dashboard that captures employment data from recent graduates. While the 2025 graduation survey is still open—and collecting data—the 2024 report reveals some insightful trends.
Among 511 total graduates, 87% either accepted a job or continued their education. Graduates found work in 111 cities across eight industries, with the biggest hiring pool divided by academia (24%), government (23%), health care (18%), and for-profit (18%). The bulk of Rollins alumni surveyed found jobs in the South (65%) but have secured jobs across the country and around the world.
The average base salary for Rollins graduates was $69,000.
“Thinking back to other historic times of adversity, I’m reminded how we’ve had to get creative to navigate systems,” says Williams, who mentions the leadership of public health giants such as Bill Foege and Jim Curran. “One thing that public health is really good at, is thinking on a systems level compared to other industries. That’s something that I would encourage alumni, students, faculty, and anyone else reading this to think about, too, especially when it comes down to working together in public health and really leveraging each other's resources [to find and share jobs].”
Skills, Titles, and Salaries
Top Public Health Skills Employers Are Looking for in 2026
- Technical writing
- Grant writing
- Data visualization
- Interpretation skills (policy, data, and research translation)
- Data analysis (R, Python, SQL)
- Program design
- Project management
- Evaluation methods
Common Public Health Job Titles + Salaries
- Clinical research coordinator
- Consultant
- Data analyst
- Epidemiologist
- Health scientist
- Program analyst
- Program coordinator
- Project coordinator
- Project manager
- Research assistant
- Research associate
- Surveillance officer
Among that fastest-growing roles* are:
Data scientists, $113,000 median wage, 34% job growth
Medical and health services managers, $118,000 median wage, 23% job growth
Operations research analysts, $91,000 median wage, 22% job growth
Epidemiologists, $84,000 median wage, 16% job growth
Salary Outlook –Based on May 2024 Data, *this content will be updated May 2026
Is it Still a Good Time to Work in Public Health?
The short answer is, yes. The job market has shifted in novel ways and a job at the federal level is more difficult to come by at the moment. At the same time, public health—and the skills a public health education provides—are needed and are translatable across a wide range of sectors, with the largest opportunities in tech and health care. To help improve their success at landing a job in today’s market, candidates should assess their skills (both hard and soft), remain flexible, and lean into connections.
Job Resources
Ways to Help Federal Workers
https://firedbutfighting.org/talent-marketplace
Job Searching Tools for Rollins Students and Alumni
https://sph.emory.edu/info/alumni/career-transition-resources
https://sph.emory.edu/community-culture/careers-in-public-health/career-services
For Anyone Working in Public Health
Public Health Employment Connection
https://apps.sph.emory.edu/PHEC/
American Public Health Association Career Center
https://careers.apha.org/jobs/
Georgia Department of Public Health
https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/georgiadph
ASPPH Jobs
https://publichealthjobs.aspph.org/
Public Health Careers
https://www.publichealthcareers.org/
Indeed Public Health Jobs
https://ca.indeed.com/jobs?q=public+health&l=&from=searchOnHP&vjk=0e309bfce55c7391
Public Health Hiring Help
Rollins alumna, Haley Cionfolo, runs the Substack, Public Health Hiring Help, where she lists current public health jobs on a regular basis. Jobs are targeted toward early-career professionals. Subscribe to get job listings directly to your inbox.
https://publichealthhiringhelp.substack.com/
LinkedIn Groups
Opportunities for Former CDC Staff
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13182602/
Public Health Connections Lounge
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14095749/
Global Public Health- Tuberculosis, Malaria, and Neglected Diseases
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/2060379/
Public Health Professionals
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/1620737/
Workplace Well-Being During Times of Uncertainty
During his tenure as U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy put out a Framework for Workplace Mental Health & Well-Being in response to survey results that found 84% of respondents said at least one aspect of their work environment negatively impacted their mental health. In the framework, he emphasized:
- Protection from Harm
- Connection and Community
- Work-Life Harmony
- Mattering at Work
- Opportunity for Growth
This framework speaks to the disconnection, loneliness, and the general rise in mental health issues that people experience at work. A lot of this can—and should—be addressed at the executive level of an organization. But there are also opportunities for improving overall well-being and increasing happiness.
Workplace well-being it not just suggested, it is necessary for organizational and personal health, says Juan Leon, PhD, associate professor of global health, who is co-teaching Your Best Public Health Life: Well-Being and Impact with Shannon Weber, executive coach and author.
Here, they share a few tips for boosting workplace well-ness and working toward better balance. Learn more in their course, offered to anyone interested in public health.
- Begin each day with a self-inventory. Before you turn on your devices or jump into the day, give yourself five minutes to assess how you are doing that day. What are your values? What matters to you at home and at work the most? How are you feeling emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually? What things are out of balance? What are the things that drain you or energize you, and how can you watch out for those in the day ahead?
- Pick one thing to focus on, then move on. After you do your self-inventory and notice ways, you are out of balance or where you want to place stronger focus, pick one thing to focus on for the week. Maybe it’s noticing your sleep is off-track, so focusing on that one area for the week.
- Examine your specific knowledge. Think about the things you are good at doing or that you enjoy doing so that you can exercise in some way during the day, if not at work, then at home.
- Choose how you show up. Well-being is often related to feeling a sense of connection. Look for ways to build connection at work, but also to nurture the boundaries you need for your emotional wellness. “Our people power, our creativity and our resilience are the antidotes to burnout and uncertainty. How we do the work matters as much as the work itself,” says Weber.
- Tend to your hope. This does not mean ignoring your rage, your grief, or your fear. You can still hold those in one hand while you open the other, but it is something that needs to be nurtured. “No one is going to come and give me hope,” says Weber. “I have to make it every day with myself and with other people.”
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Rollins Magazine is published twice a year by the Rollins School of Public Health, a component of the Woodruff Health Sciences Center of Emory University, for alumni and friends of the school.