Salary, Duties, and Career Growth in the Healthcare Industry Today

For a lot of people who want to work in healthcare, the only options seem to be clinical roles — nursing, patient care, or a specialized medical field that requires years of highly technical training.

But that’s only part of the picture.

Every hospital, clinic, and healthcare network depends on professionals working behind the scenes to keep things running. Someone has to make sure operations flow smoothly, that care teams have what they need, and that patients move through the system with a consistent, well-coordinated experience from the moment they walk in the door.

That’s where healthcare administrators come in. They’re not delivering care directly — but they shape the environment in which care is delivered, and that distinction matters more than most people realize.

For those drawn to healthcare but more energized by leadership, problem-solving, or organizational complexity than by clinical work, this path offers something genuinely different. And in a region like northern New Jersey — home to major systems like RWJBarnabas Health, Hackensack Meridian Health, and Atlantic Health System — the demand for people who can lead on the business side of healthcare has never been stronger.

What Is Healthcare Administration?

At its core, healthcare administration focuses on the operational and business side of healthcare organizations — the work that makes clinical care possible.

This includes managing departments and staff, overseeing budgets, ensuring regulatory compliance, and continuously improving how services are delivered. In practice, these roles sit at the intersection of healthcare and business, requiring fluency in both.

Rather than working directly with patients, healthcare administrators focus on everything happening around the care itself: fixing inefficiencies, implementing new systems, navigating policy changes, and helping their organizations adapt as the healthcare landscape shifts beneath them. It’s rarely simple work — and for the right person, that complexity is the appeal.

Why Healthcare Administration Is a Growing Career Field

Healthcare is expanding — not just in size, but in scope and sophistication.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment for medical and health services managers is projected to grow 23% from 2024 to 2034, a rate far above the national average for all occupations. Across the broader healthcare sector, millions of job openings are expected each year as demand for services continues to climb.

Several interconnected factors are driving this:

• An aging population that requires more complex, continuous care
• Advances in medical technology that require an administrative infrastructure to support
• Increasing focus on patient experience, efficiency, and outcomes
• Expanding healthcare systems, mergers, and networks that need operational leadership

In New Jersey and the greater New York metro area, this pressure is particularly acute. The region has one of the highest concentrations of healthcare employers in the country — large hospital systems, specialty providers, long-term care networks, and federally qualified health centers all creating sustained demand for professionals who can manage operations and lead through change.

What Can You Do with a Healthcare Administration Degree?

Healthcare administrators make it possible for doctors and nurses to focus on patients by handling everything else — the operational, financial, and regulatory demands that keep a healthcare organization functioning day to day.

Their impact tends to be invisible when things are going well. That’s often the point.

In practice, this means coordinating staff and departments, so care delivery stays organized and timely, helping facilities navigate the complex and constantly evolving regulatory environment, and identifying opportunities to improve quality and patient experience at a systems level. It also means managing the business side — budgets, resource allocation, and long-term planning — in an industry where the margin for error is narrow, and the stakes are high.

Where graduates often start: Many begin in roles like healthcare coordinator, department administrator, or practice manager. From there, career paths diverge in interesting ways. Some professionals move into executive leadership — department directors, COOs, or hospital administrators. Others find their footing in policy, compliance, healthcare information systems, or population health. The path is rarely linear, and that flexibility is part of what makes this field dynamic over a full career.

In a regional market as large and interconnected as northern New Jersey and New York, that flexibility translates into real opportunity across a wide range of organizations and specialties.

Healthcare Administration Salary and Career Growth

For many professionals, earning potential and long-term stability matter — and healthcare administration delivers on both.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual salary of over $110,000 for medical and health services managers, with higher earnings as professionals take on greater responsibility and more complex organizations. In the New Jersey and New York metro area, where healthcare systems tend to be larger and more complex, compensation often reflects that added scope.

Growth in this field tends to be experience-driven. Professionals who develop a track record of managing operations effectively — and who bring both business acumen and a real understanding of how care is delivered — tend to advance. Those who pursue additional education, such as an MBA with a healthcare focus, often open doors to senior and executive-level roles more quickly.

Is Healthcare Administration the Right Career Path for You?

Not everyone who wants to contribute to healthcare wants to be in the exam room — and for a growing number of people, that’s precisely what draws them to this field.

Healthcare administration may be the right fit if you find yourself more drawn to the systems behind healthcare than to the clinical work itself. If you think in terms of process, if you’re energized by leadership and organizational challenges, if you want your work to have real impact without it always being visible — this path offers that.

It’s also worth being honest about what the work demands. Healthcare organizations are in constant motion, and administrators regularly need to respond to shifting priorities, new regulations, unexpected operational challenges, and pressure from multiple directions at once. For people who are comfortable navigating that kind of environment — and even energized by it — the field offers both purpose and opportunity.

Starting with an Undergraduate Degree — and What Comes Next

For most professionals, a bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration is the entry point into the field. It builds foundational knowledge across healthcare systems and policy, business and management principles, and organizational leadership — giving graduates the context to understand not just how healthcare works, but why it works the way it does, and where the opportunities to improve it lie.

From there, paths diverge based on experience, interest, and ambition. Some professionals spend years building expertise within specific organizations and grow into leadership roles organically. Others pursue an MBA in Healthcare Administration to accelerate their trajectory toward senior management or executive positions.

The choice depends on where you want to go — and how quickly.

Leading with Purpose in a Complex Environment

Like many programs in this space, Felician’s healthcare administration program is designed to prepare students for real-world healthcare environments—but it does so with a distinct emphasis on how professionals lead, not just what they learn.

Faculty mentorship at Felician is hands-on enough that Nakayla Matthews, a 2020 graduate of the program, describes leaving with “Felician values that I can take with me for the rest of my life”—the kind of formation that shapes how administrators lead, not just what they know.

Students benefit from small class sizes and close interaction with faculty who bring real-world healthcare experience into the classroom, helping bridge theory and practice. Located just outside New York City, the program also offers access to one of the most dynamic healthcare markets in the country.

For those looking to build both practical skills and a meaningful approach to leadership, that combination can make a lasting difference.

Frequently Asked Questions About Healthcare Administration Careers

Is healthcare administration a good career in New Jersey or the NY metro area? Yes — and the region makes it especially strong. New Jersey and the greater New York area are home to some of the largest and most complex healthcare systems in the country, including RWJBarnabas Health, Hackensack Meridian Health, and Atlantic Health System, among many others. That density of employers creates consistent demand for administrative and leadership talent at every level, from entry-level coordinators to senior executives.

Do you need a degree to work in healthcare administration? For most management and leadership roles, yes. A bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration or a closely related field is typically the baseline requirement. Some entry-level administrative positions may not require a degree, but advancement into management almost always does. For executive-level roles, an MBA or graduate degree is increasingly common.

What does a healthcare administrator actually do day to day? It varies by organization and role, but in general, managing department operations, overseeing staff, handling budgets, ensuring regulatory compliance, and working on process improvement initiatives. In smaller practices, one administrator may handle all of this. In large hospital systems, responsibilities are more specialized — some administrators focus entirely on compliance, others on finance, others on a specific service line or department.

What is the job outlook for healthcare administration? Strong and sustained. The BLS projects 23% growth for medical and health services managers from 2024 to 2034 — well above the average for all occupations. The aging U.S. population, expanding healthcare infrastructure, and increasing complexity of healthcare delivery are all contributing factors that aren’t expected to slow down.

What’s the difference between a bachelor’s in healthcare administration and an MBA? A bachelor’s degree builds the foundational knowledge and skills needed to enter the field — healthcare systems, policy, business principles, and operational management. An MBA in Healthcare Administration builds on that foundation with more advanced business and leadership preparation, typically positioning graduates for senior management or executive roles. Many professionals earn their bachelor’s first, gain experience, and then pursue an MBA when they’re ready to move into higher-level leadership.

Can you advance into executive roles from healthcare administration? Yes. Many hospital administrators, COOs, and healthcare executives started in administrative or coordinator roles and built their way up. The combination of field experience and continued education — particularly an MBA — tends to be the most reliable path to senior leadership.

A Path Worth Taking Seriously

Healthcare is one of the fastest-growing and most essential industries in the economy — and the professionals who keep it running aren’t just clinicians.

Behind every well-run hospital, smoothly operating clinic, and efficiently coordinated care team are administrators who made that possible. It’s not visible work. But it’s consequential work, and the people who do it well build careers that are both stable and meaningful.

If this sounds like the kind of contribution you want to make, the next step is understanding what a program built for that purpose actually looks like.

Explore the B.S. in Healthcare Administration at Felician University