The Health-Care Degree Machine
Bachelor's degrees in health professions and related programs, annual since 1971 — a ten-fold expansion that made health care the second-largest degree field in the country. The climb steepens after 2000, as hospital systems raised credential requirements and nursing shifted decisively toward the bachelor's degree.
What does it show?
Health professions passed education in 2008 and now trail only business as America's largest bachelor's degree — a ten-fold rise since 1971 that tracks the economy's rotation toward care work.
Methodology
Bachelor's degrees conferred in health professions and related programs, from Digest 2019 table 325.60 extended with table 322.10, annual since 1970-71. Nursing dominates the category; the surge steepened after 2000 as hospital credential requirements rose.