Which North Carolina public health program has the lowest debt?

Duke University reports the lowest median federal debt, $12,500, with first-year pay of $45,921.

How much do public health graduates earn in North Carolina?

The median across 10 North Carolina public health bachelor's programs is $37,328 in the first year after graduating and $53,971 five years after.

How many public health bachelor's programs are in North Carolina?

10 North Carolina programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 9 of them also report federal debt.

Public Health (Bachelor's) Programs in North Carolina, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

10 programs report first-year pay
9 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Public Health

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median North Carolina public health bachelor's program pays its graduates $37,328 in their first year, $188 less than the national median. NC A&T reports the highest first-year pay ($58,660), and Duke University the lowest median debt ($12,500).

Median first-year pay$37,328National $37,516

Median pay after 5 years$53,971National $56,608

Median federal debt$25,500National $25,000

Debt-to-earnings64%National 63%

All 10 programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	School	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Debt to pay
1	NC A&TGreensboro · public	$58,660	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
2	Duke UniversityDurham · private nonprofit	$45,921	Not reported	$12,500	27%
3	UNC GreensboroGreensboro · public	$42,239	$49,076	$25,500	60%
4	Elon UniversityElon · private nonprofit	$42,088	$66,896	$20,500	49%
5	North Carolina Central UniversityDurham · public	$38,198	Not reported	$31,000	81%
6	UNC WilmingtonWilmington · public	$36,458	$53,609	$23,500	64%
7	UNC CharlotteCharlotte · public	$36,307	$63,365	$27,000	74%
8	East Carolina UniversityGreenville · public	$35,628	$54,333	$25,750	72%
9	Appalachian StateBoone · public	$34,148	$48,531	$20,361	60%
10	UNC AshevilleAsheville · public	$27,913	$40,255	$23,141	83%

NC A&T reports pay but not debt, so it is ranked only by pay. 2 more programs report debt but not pay, so they aren't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every North Carolina public health program

Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the North Carolina medians.

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 9 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

NC A&T$58,660
Duke University$45,921
UNC Greensboro$42,239
Elon University$42,088
North Carolina Central University$38,198

Lowest median debt

Lowest debt for the pay

"Debt for the pay" is median debt divided by first-year pay. Only programs that report both figures are included.

Careers this field leads to

These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to public health, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Medical and Health Services Managers

$114,410

Median pay in North Carolina. 14,820 people work in this job in North Carolina. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 24% from 2025 to 2035, with about 62,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $70,680Top 10%: $217,420

Compliance Officers

$78,500

Median pay in North Carolina. 11,320 people work in this job in North Carolina. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 32,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $45,690Top 10%: $131,180

Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists

$102,980

Median pay in North Carolina. 5,730 people work in this job in North Carolina. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 13% from 2025 to 2035, with about 10,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: doctoral or professional degree.

Bottom 10%: $63,800Top 10%: $171,170

Occupational Health and Safety Specialists

$86,650

Median pay in North Carolina. 4,670 people work in this job in North Carolina. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 19% from 2025 to 2035, with about 17,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $59,550Top 10%: $129,710

Common questions

NC A&T in Greensboro reports the highest median first-year pay, $58,660.

Public Health (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked186 programs by pay and debt

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
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 North Carolina rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the public health bachelor's programs that report each figure, so the counts differ by figure. Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.

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
NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024