Sacramento State Health Sciences (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Health Services/Allied Health/Health Sciences, General
- Public university
- Sacramento, CA
- About 416 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Sacramento State health sciences graduates earn more than graduates of most health sciences programs nationally, $44,162 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $14,449 in federal loans, less than at 98% of health sciences programs in the country. It is one of the higher-paying health sciences degrees in California.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The California and national columns are the medians across all health sciences bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Sacramento State graduates earn more than the national figure and about $3,530 more than the California median.
Debt and first-year pay at every California health sciences program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the California medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
What graduates earn over time
Pay rises about 50% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Does family income change the outcome?
Graduates who received Pell Grants, which go to students from lower-income families, earned $10,810 less in their first year than other graduates. Students who expect to rely on grants should weigh this gap.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $153 a month, or 4.2% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
The government publishes these as ranges to protect privacy. They were measured in 2018 to 2020, partly during the pandemic pause on federal loan payments, so the forbearance share may be higher than usual. Separately, 25 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $15,922.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
97% of graduates (169 of 175) were working in California one year after graduating. Prices in the Sacramento area are about 7% above the national average, so a $44,162 salary here buys what about $41,401 buys in a typical US city.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to health sciences, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Health Education Specialists
$63,610Median pay in California. 12,520 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 6,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Community Health Workers
$58,050Median pay in California. 9,500 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 13% from 2025 to 2035, with about 7,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
About Sacramento State
Health Sciences ranks 13th of 45 bachelor's programs at Sacramento State by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($116,001), Construction Engineering ($90,836), and Electrical Engineering ($74,450).
Common questions
The median graduate earns $44,162 one year after graduating and $66,096 five years after. The median across health sciences bachelor's programs in California is $40,057.
The median federal loan balance is $14,449, which ranks the lowest of 12 health sciences bachelor's programs in California. That works out to about $153 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 33% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 75%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 10% or less.
Most do. 97% (169 of 175) were working in California one year after graduating.
About this data
- Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid (grants or loans).
- Earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school. Graduates who went straight to further study are not included.
- Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
- Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of California comparisons when their main campus is in another state.
- Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.
- School-level numbers like tuition, admission rate, and graduation rate are for the whole school, not the health sciences program.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024
- NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024