---
title: "Community Health Worker"
description: "Promote health within a community by assisting individuals to adopt healthy behaviors. Serve as an advocate for the health needs of individuals by…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/community-health-worker"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Community Health Worker

**Category:** Community and Social Service · **SOC code:** 21-1094 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 21-1094.00

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.

Also advertised as: Communicable Disease Liaison; Community Health Coordinator; Community Health Outreach Worker; Community Health Program Coordinator; Community Health Program Representative (Community Health Program Rep); Community Health Promoter; Community HIV Education Specialist (Community Human Immunodeficiency Virus Education Specialist); Community Navigator.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $51,850 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $24.93/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $38,810 to $77,180, with the middle half between $45,640 and $62,540
- **Total US employment:** 61,660
- **Typical entry education:** High school
- **Preparation required:** Medium preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +12.7% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 7,000 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 42/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 61,660 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $38,810 |
| 25th | $45,640 |
| 50th (median) | $51,850 |
| 75th | $62,540 |
| 90th | $77,180 |
| Mean (average) | $56,180 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| NH | $66,680 | $64,014 | 200 |
| DC | $62,510 | $56,878 | 280 |
| ND | $59,610 | $67,008 | 90 |
| CO | $59,260 | $57,505 | Not published by BLS |
| HI | $58,450 | $53,160 | 240 |
| NY | $58,130 | $53,863 | 5,800 |
| CA | $58,050 | $52,430 | 9,500 |
| NV | $57,730 | $57,742 | 670 |
| WA | $57,070 | $53,330 | 2,640 |
| DE | $55,850 | $55,957 | 280 |
| NJ | $55,790 | $51,275 | 1,330 |
| UT | $55,700 | $56,340 | 580 |
| MA | $55,560 | $52,536 | 2,970 |
| NM | $54,830 | $59,461 | 610 |
| WY | $54,020 | $58,280 | 140 |

37 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 52 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/community-health-worker/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/community-health-worker.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 64,700 in the 2025–2035 base year to 72,900 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 8,200 jobs, or +12.7%. Much faster than average: 12.7% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 7,000 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** High school diploma or equivalent (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Medium preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Short-term on-the-job training.

## What the work involves

- Refer community members to needed health services.
- 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 improving general health, such as diet or exercise.
- Advocate for individual or community health needs with government agencies or health service providers.
- Contact clients in person, by phone, or in writing to ensure they have completed required or recommended actions.
- Advise clients or community groups on issues related to self-care, such as diabetes management.
- Distribute flyers, brochures, or other informational or educational documents to inform members of a targeted community.
- Advise clients or community groups on issues related to risk or prevention of conditions, such as lead poisoning, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), prenatal substance abuse, or domestic violence.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Social Perceptiveness — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Customer and Personal Service — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Medicine and Dentistry — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Psychology — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Therapy and Counseling — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Computers and Electronics — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Recognition — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Clarity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Social (S), Enterprising (E), Investigative (I).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| S — Social | 6.58 |
| E — Enterprising | 3.53 |
| I — Investigative | 3.49 |
| C — Conventional | 3.38 |
| A — Artistic | 2.22 |
| R — Realistic | 2.00 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ESFJ | 77.0 |
| ENFJ | 76.3 |
| ESFP | 71.7 |
| ENFP | 63.5 |
| ISFJ | 60.6 |

Best-fitting types: ESFJ, ENFJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Health Education Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/health-education-specialist) — median $64,070
- [Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Worker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/mental-health-and-substance-abuse-social-worker) — median $60,280
- [School Social Worker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/school-social-worker) — median $59,550
- [Rehabilitation Counselor](https://nuecareer.com/careers/rehabilitation-counselor) — median $46,850
- [Healthcare Social Worker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/healthcare-social-worker) — median $67,880
- [Mental Health Counselor](https://nuecareer.com/careers/mental-health-counselor) — median $60,320
- [Social and Human Service Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/social-and-human-service-assistant) — median $45,930
- [Patient Representative](https://nuecareer.com/careers/patient-representative) — median $50,290
- [Social and Community Service Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/social-and-community-service-manager) — median $80,390
- [Fitness and Wellness Coordinator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/fitness-and-wellness-coordinator) — median $69,770

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025–2035 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/community-health-worker