Occupational Health and Safety Specialist Salary (2026), outlook and how to become one

Occupational Health and Safety Specialists earn a median of $90,150 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025). That is 77% above the $50,980 median for all US occupations. That works out at $43.34/hr. The middle half earn between $69,560 and $111,690. The top 10% earn $134,950 or more.

The median hourly wage for occupational health and safety specialists is $43.34 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). On a full-year basis the $90,150 annual median works out to about $7,510 a month before tax.

BLS does not publish a starting salary. The nearest measure is the low end of the pay range: the lowest-paid 10% of occupational health and safety specialists earn less than $55,000 a year and the bottom quarter less than $69,560 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). New workers often start near that end, but where a particular job starts depends on the employer, the state and the credentials you bring, so read these as the bottom of the range rather than a guaranteed entry wage.

Some do. $100,000 sits between the median ($90,150) and the 75th percentile ($111,690), so roughly a quarter to a half of occupational health and safety specialists earn more than that (BLS OEWS, May 2025). In 7 states the median itself is above $100,000: District of Columbia ($111,530), Massachusetts ($103,970), Washington ($102,920), California ($102,840), and 3 more.

The highest state medians for Occupational Health and Safety Specialists are District of Columbia ($111,530), Massachusetts ($103,970), Washington ($102,920) (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Adjusted for local prices using BEA Regional Price Parities, North Dakota moves to the top at $104,824.

BLS does not split occupational health and safety specialists' pay by specialty or employer, but its range shows how far the top end runs: the highest-paid 10% earn more than $134,950, against a median of $90,150 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Location moves pay the most in the published data: the best-paying states are District of Columbia ($111,530), Massachusetts ($103,970), Washington ($102,920).

Yes. BLS reports a bachelor's degree as the typical entry-level education for Occupational Health and Safety Specialists, and O*NET rates the preparation needed as considerable preparation. In O*NET's survey of people already doing the job, 73.9% hold bachelor's degree.

BLS does not publish a fixed length; it depends on the route. What it does publish: the typical way in for occupational health and safety specialists is a bachelor's degree. O*NET classes the work as needing considerable preparation.

Yes, strongly. Employment is projected to grow 18.5% over 2025–2035, more than double the 3.5% projected for all occupations (BLS EP, 2025–2035). BLS still projects about 17,100 openings a year, mostly from workers retiring or moving to other work.

Occupational health and safety specialists and technicians collect data on, analyze, and design improvements to many types of work environments and procedures. A core O*NET task: recommend measures to help protect workers from potentially hazardous work methods, processes, or materials. Employers most often ask for Data base user interface and query software, Document management software, Electronic mail software.

Yes, for most. In O*NET's survey of people in the job, 48% of occupational health and safety specialists usually work more than 40 hours a week, 52% work exactly 40 and 0% work fewer. 39% say their schedule is regular and 61% irregular. Source: O*NET 31.0 Database, Work Context.

O*NET scores Occupational Health and Safety Specialists highest on the Investigative, Conventional and Realistic interest areas, so the work mixes investigating, analysing and solving problems with ideas and data with organising, following procedures and working precisely with data. On NueCareer's MBTI-to-interest mapping that lines up most closely with ISTJ personalities. Personality is a fit signal, not a gate. The free NueCareer quiz scores your own profile against all 1,731 careers in the bank.

Women make up 49.8% of occupational health and safety specialists, close to their 47.1% share of all employed people. 20.5% are 55 or older, close to the 23.2% across all jobs. The median worker is 39.7 years old (all workers: 42.1). Source: BLS Current Population Survey, 2025 annual averages, for the Census group "Occupational health and safety specialists and technicians".