Quick answer: There are three routes into health care from an allied health job, and they differ more in entry level than in subject. Associate-entry clinical credentials (nursing, imaging, respiratory therapy) have the shortest training path. Graduate-entry clinical credentials (physician assistant, pharmacy, physical and occupational therapy) take years longer and assume a completed bachelor’s. Non-clinical degrees (health information, administration, public health) carry the fewest in-person requirements, so they are the ones that commonly run fully online. This page routes to all of them. Programs, the careers this degree opens, and what they pay are covered below.
The Three Routes, and Which One You Are Actually On
Most people arrive here searching for “online health care degrees” as though it were one decision. It is three, and the one that fits is decided almost entirely by where you are starting from and how long you can afford to be in school.
All wage and employment figures BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Whichever route fits, confirm the named programmatic accreditor on the specific degree page and ask who arranges any required clinical placement before you apply. With that filter set, compare online health care degree programs enrolling now:
Colleges Offering Health Care Degrees
Every school listed is verified in federal IPEDS data both to award this degree and to offer programs that can be completed entirely by distance education at this level. Whether this exact degree is delivered fully online varies by school, so confirm the format before you apply.
How we rank schools – graduation rate, graduate earnings, cost and retention.
Advertising plays no part.
This page lists 10 schools, closest group first, then ordered by
BOC Score with the highest at the top.
10 of them carry a score.
LOCAL RANK
Location / proximity to this page
Defines the local group
Graduation rate how often students finish
30%
Median earnings, 10 years after entry whether it paid off
25%
Average net price what students actually pay after aid; lower ranks higher
20%
Retention rate how many come back for year two
15%
Fully online availability whether you can study while working
10%
Scores come from IPEDS (2024) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.
Earnings are for all graduates of a school, not one program, so treat them as a signal
about the institution rather than about this subject.
Sponsored listings are paid placements and are labelled as such; they are separate from
this ranking and never change it. Read the full methodology.
Programmatic accreditation, not just institutional. Every licensed clinical credential here has a named programmatic accreditor, and graduating from an unaccredited program can leave you ineligible to sit the licensing examination. The accreditor is named on each degree page.
Where the clinical placement comes from. Some programs place you; others expect you to find your own site and supervisor. In a thin local market that difference decides whether you finish.
What your current credential is worth. Bridge programs exist precisely because a CNA, LPN, paramedic or medical assistant credential should shorten the path. Credit transfer is decided by the receiving institution and genuinely varies, so request a written transfer evaluation before you enroll.
Whether the wage gap survives your local market. The medians on this page are national. State pages under each degree carry the state figure, which is frequently a long way from it.
Before you shortlist schools, it also helps to be precise about which of the three routes you are actually on.
Route 1: Associate-Entry Clinical
This is the shortest path from an allied health job to a licensed clinical role, and for most readers of this site it is the right one to look at first.
Nursing is the largest by a wide margin - 3,379,720 registered nurses at a median $97,550, with about 189,100 openings a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). Entry is at associate or bachelor’s level, and the bridge routes from CNA, LPN, medical assistant and paramedic are well established.
These pay the most and cost the most, in time as much as money. All four assume a completed bachelor’s before you start.
Physician assistant is the strongest on the numbers: a median $135,880 and a projected 20.4 percent change through 2034, the fastest growth of any path here (BLS OEWS, May 2025; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). It is also the one that most directly rewards allied health experience, because programs require documented patient-care hours.
Very few people go from a support role to a graduate clinical credential in one move, and the pages on this site are organised around the steps rather than the leap.
The common sequence starts at a short credential earned in the trade-school silo - certified nursing assistant, medical assistant, phlebotomy, EKG or patient care technician - and those roles pay a median $45,690 for medical assistants against $97,550 for a registered nurse (BLS OEWS, May 2025). That gap is the whole argument for the first step.
From there the associate-entry clinical credentials are one move: CNA or medical assistant into nursing, imaging technician into radiologic technology. Licensed practical nurses sit between at a median $64,400 across 648,410 jobs, and the LPN-to-RN bridge exists precisely because that step is so well trodden.
The graduate-entry credentials are usually a second move made years later, once a bachelor’s is finished and, in the case of physician assistant, once the patient-care hours have accumulated. Treating them as a first step is a common planning error in this family - not because they are unreachable, but because the prerequisites take longer to satisfy than the program itself does.
The non-clinical route breaks that pattern entirely. Health information management and health care administration do not require the clinical hours at all, which is why they are the realistic option for someone already working full time with a family, and why they are the paths on this page that can run fully online.
What These Careers Pay
A Note on Wage Figures in This Family
Health care medians hide more variation than most fields, and it is worth knowing where before you plan around a number.
Setting moves pay more than title does. The same credential earns differently in a hospital, a skilled nursing facility, a physician group and a school district. Registered nurses span 3,379,720 jobs across all of those, which is why a single median describes any individual job poorly.
Shift and specialty premiums are real and are not in the median. Nights, weekends and critical care carry differentials that the OEWS figure averages away.
Geography moves it further. Every degree page in this family carries state pages with the state figure, and the spread between the highest and lowest states is frequently larger than the gap between two adjacent credentials nationally. Checking your own state before comparing two career paths is worth more than comparing two national medians.
Graduate-entry pay reflects graduate-entry cost. Pharmacists at $140,910 and physician assistants at $135,880 sit above the rest of this page, and they also sit behind several more years of full-time study that the wage figure says nothing about. Individual outcomes may vary.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which online health care degree pays the most?
Of the paths covered here, pharmacists have the highest median at $140,910 and physician assistants $135,880, followed by physical therapists at $102,760 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). All three are graduate-entry credentials, so the pay reflects a longer and more expensive route than the associate and bachelor's paths.
Can you actually earn a health care degree online?
The classroom half, largely yes. The clinical half, no. Every licensed clinical credential on this page requires supervised hours with real patients, completed in person at an approved site. Programs described as online are hybrid, and a program claiming otherwise for a licensed clinical role is telling you something important about itself.
I am a medical assistant. What is the shortest step up?
Nursing is a common step: medical assistants earn a median $45,690 against $64,400 for LPNs and $97,550 for registered nurses (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Physician assistant is the higher jump, and the patient-care hours you are accruing now are exactly what PA programs require.
Which of these fields is growing fastest?
Physician assistant, at a projected 20.4 percent change from 2024 to 2034, followed by medical assistants at 12.5 percent and physical therapists at 10.9 percent (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34).
Do I need a bachelor's before any of these?
It depends on the credential. Nursing, radiologic technology and respiratory therapy all have associate-level entry points. Physician assistant, pharmacy, physical therapy and occupational therapy are graduate-entry and assume a completed bachelor's first.
What if I want to stay out of direct patient care?
Health information management, health care administration and public health are the routes that use clinical knowledge without a bedside role. They are also the ones with the fewest in-person requirements, which is why they can run fully online.
Does my allied health experience count toward admission?
For some programs materially, for others not at all. Physician assistant programs require documented direct patient-care hours and treat them as central. Nursing bridge programs are built around an existing license. Credit transfer is decided by the receiving institution and genuinely varies, so request a written transfer evaluation before you enroll. Individual outcomes may vary.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 - Registered Nurses (SOC 29-1141), Physician Assistants (SOC 29-1071), Pharmacists (SOC 29-1051), Physical Therapists (SOC 29-1123), Radiologic Technologists and Technicians (SOC 29-2034), Dental Hygienists (SOC 29-1292), Medical Assistants (SOC 31-9092), Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses (SOC 29-2061)
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2024-34
About this guide: Researched and written by the TradeCareerPath Editorial Team. Our editorial team researches and sources every trade school and career guide using federal labor and education data, including BLS OEWS and Employment Projections, DOL apprenticeship records, IPEDS, College Scorecard, and state licensing boards. We follow the editorial standards documented at /editorial-policy/.
