Real demand, small occupation, and a documented staffing hole, with one honest caveat. BLS counted about 12,300 epidemiologist jobs in the US in 2024 and projects 16 percent growth from 2024 to 2034 against 3 percent for all occupations, with roughly 800 openings a year, many of them from people transferring out or retiring, and a projected employment change of about 2,000 jobs over the decade. On the shortage claim, the source is the de Beaumont Foundation and the Public Health National Center for Innovations: their analysis estimates that state and local health departments need to hire a minimum of 80,000 more full-time equivalent positions, an increase of nearly 80 percent, just to provide adequate infrastructure and a minimum package of public health services, and notes that state and local health departments lost 15 percent of their essential staff over the prior decade. That 80,000 figure covers the whole public health workforce, not epidemiologists alone. The caveat comes from BLS itself: because epidemiological and public health programs largely depend on public funding, government budgets may affect employment of these workers. Strong percentage growth on a base of 12,300 jobs is still a real but narrow door, not a mass-hiring field.
State health department
The biggest employer by far. BLS reports 34 percent of epidemiologist jobs are in state government, excluding education and hospitals (2024). In Ohio that means the Ohio Department of Health: statewide surveillance, outbreak response, and the reports that counties and CDC rely on.
County or city health department
22 percent are in local government, excluding education and hospitals (BLS, 2024). This is the closest-to-home version of the job, and the one Cleveland students can actually see: cluster calls, foodborne outbreaks, lead, overdose data, school reports. BLS describes applied epidemiologists at this level as often addressing problems through community education and survey work.
Hospital infection prevention
10 percent work in hospitals, state, local, and private (BLS, 2024). The work is tracking healthcare-associated infections and stopping spread inside the building. O*NET lists Infection Control Practitioner and Nurse Epidemiologist among reported job titles for this occupation.
University or federal research
BLS says research epidemiologists typically work for universities or in affiliation with federal agencies such as CDC and NIH. 5 percent are in scientific research and development services and another 5 percent in state colleges, universities, and professional schools (2024). Scientific research and development services also pays the most of any top industry, a $130,390 median in May 2024.
Industry: insurers and drug companies
BLS notes that epidemiologists in private industry may conduct research for health insurance providers or pharmaceutical companies. Different questions, different pressures, and a different definition of what counts as a good result.
Nonprofit and global health
BLS notes that epidemiologists in nonprofit organizations often focus on public health advocacy rather than research, and that infectious disease epidemiologists often travel to remote areas and developing nations to carry out studies. Specializations BLS lists include environmental health, maternal and child health, injury, mental health, emergency preparedness, and veterinary epidemiology.
