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Career

Community Health Workers

Typical education: Bachelor's degreeLower pressure Bright Outlook

What they do

Promote health within a community by assisting individuals to adopt healthy behaviors. Serve as an advocate for the health needs of individuals by assisting community residents in effectively communicating with healthcare providers or social service agencies. Act as liaison or advocate and implement programs that promote, maintain, and improve individual and overall community health. May deliver health-related preventive services such as blood pressure, glaucoma, and hearing screenings. May collect data to help identify community health needs.

Kinds of work

  • Social: Helping, teaching, caring for and supporting other people.
  • Investigative: Science, research, figuring out how things work and solving complex problems.
  • Enterprising: Leading, persuading, selling and starting new projects or businesses.

Lower pressure: How much pressure workers in this job report: deadlines, conflict, dealing with upset people, the cost of mistakes, responsibility for others' safety, competition and long hours. It varies a lot from one employer to the next. Source: U.S. Department of Labor worker surveys.

Pay, tasks and more

Salary

United States $51,850 Median per year · $24.93/hr Most earn $38,810–$77,180

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025.

What you might do

  • Identify the particular health care needs of individuals in a community or target area.
  • Contact clients in person, by phone, or in writing to ensure they have completed required or recommended actions.
  • Attend community meetings or health fairs to understand community issues or build relationships with community members.
  • Advise clients or community groups on issues related to diagnostic screenings, such as breast cancer screening, pap smears, glaucoma tests, or diabetes screenings.
  • Teach classes or otherwise disseminate medical or dental health information to school groups, community groups, or targeted families or individuals, in a manner consistent with cultural norms.
  • Collect information from individuals to compile vital statistics about the general health of community members.

Job outlook

Bright Outlook Rapid Growth

United States
13% more jobs by 2035, much faster than average · about 7,000 openings a year

Openings include new jobs and jobs left by workers who retire or change careers. Projections: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Bright Outlook": U.S. Department of Labor.

Where they work

  • Local government, excluding education and hospitals18.3%
  • General medical and surgical hospitals10.2%
  • Offices of physicians7.1%
  • Outpatient mental health and substance abuse centers4.6%
  • Direct health and medical insurance carriers3.4%

Share of all workers in this career. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Employment Matrix.

Experience before this job: 2 to 4 years

Career path

How people usually get into this career, from school to their first job and beyond.

Typical education: Bachelor's degreeExperience before this job: 2 to 4 years

Community Health Worker is usually not a job you start straight out of school. Most people earn a bachelor's degree and then spend about 2 to 4 years in related community, health, or social service work before taking this role.

  1. Bachelor's degree in public health, health education, social work, or a related field

    4 years

    You build knowledge of community health, health behavior, and how social services work, which is the foundation for everything that comes next.

  2. Social and Human Service Assistant

    2-4 years

    You help clients find services, complete paperwork, and connect with agencies, which teaches you how to be a reliable link between people and the systems that serve them.

  3. Community Health Worker

    Ongoing

    You help residents adopt healthy habits, advocate for their needs, run outreach and screenings, and collect data on community health needs.

Where it can lead

  1. Health Education Specialist

    2-4 years as a Community Health Worker of experience first

    You move from helping individuals to designing and teaching health programs, which usually means more planning, writing, and evaluation work.

  2. Social and Community Service Manager

    4-6 years in community health or social service work of experience first

    You oversee programs, staff, and budgets rather than working directly with residents, so strong leadership, grant writing, and planning skills matter most.

What you can do now

Ideas for high school and college students.

In high school

  • Take biology and health classesThese give you a basic understanding of how the body works and how health problems affect communities.
  • Take a psychology or sociology class if offeredUnderstanding people and why they make health choices is a big part of helping others change habits.
  • Volunteer with a local health or community organizationVolunteering at a clinic, food bank, senior center, or health fair lets you see community health work up close and start building experience.
  • Join a club like HOSA (Future Health Professionals) or a debate or public speaking clubThese groups build teamwork, health knowledge, and the communication skills you will use every day in this job.
  • Get a starter job that involves helping peopleJobs like cashier, server, or camp counselor build customer service and people skills that employers value.

In college

  • Major in public health, health education, or social workThese majors cover community health, health behavior, and social services, which match the core of this career.
  • Do a public health or community health internshipHands-on work with a health department, nonprofit, or clinic gives you real experience and professional contacts.
  • Take a course in a second language or in health communicationMany community health workers serve people who speak different languages, and clear communication is a key skill.
  • Join a student public health or service organizationCampus groups let you plan events, run health campaigns, and practice working with community members.
  • Work a campus job in advising, student services, or health servicesThis builds experience helping people navigate systems, which is exactly what community health workers do.

Tips for getting started

  • Get hands-on experience early. Volunteering or working with community groups, clinics, or food banks counts toward the 2 to 4 years of experience employers often want.
  • Build strong communication skills, especially explaining health information clearly and in more than one language if you can. This is central to the job.
  • Look at job postings for Community Health Worker in your area to see which skills, certifications, and languages employers ask for, then plan your courses around them.

Related jobs that often lead here

Related jobs a step up

Education, experience and related careers: U.S. Department of Labor. The step-by-step path, where it can lead and what you can do now were written by AI as typical examples; many people take other ways.

College majors that lead here

Majors: U.S. Department of Education and BLS (CIP–SOC crosswalk). Earnings and debt: College Scorecard, typical across U.S. colleges.

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