Table 3.

Number and percentage of local, state, and federal public health workers, by occupational category

	Worker job setting
Occupational category	Locala	Stateb	Federalc	Total	%
Administrative or clerical personnel	35,000	14,559	6,085	55,644	19
Behavioral health professional	4,000	1,839	895	6,734	2
Emergency preparedness staff	2,900	810	-	3,710	1
Environmental health worker	13,300	4,618	5,920	23,838	8
Epidemiologist	1,800	2,476	-	4,276	2
Health educator	5,100	1,572	43	6,715	2
Laboratory worker	2,000	5,699	5,685	13,384	5
Nutritionist	5,000	1,276	223	6,499	2
Public health dental worker	2,600	356	443	3,399	1
Public health informatics specialist	2,100	729	-	2,829	1
Public health manager	10,100	3,296	4,998	18,394	6
Public health nurse	29,191	12,286	5,793	47,270	16
Public health physician	2,100	791	6,700	9,591	3
Public information specialist	2,100	174	-	2,274	1
Other public health professional or uncategorized worker	30,200	35,960	20,271	86,431	30
Total	147,491	86,411	57,056	290,988
Range	125,367–169,615	61,070–105,335	45,027–66,103	231,464–341,053
%	50	30	20		100

Source: Table adapted from Public Health Workforce Enumeration, 2012¹⁰

Note: Column % is % of total workers. Percentages shown do not total 100% due to rounding.

^aLocal, NACCHO and UM CEPHS PHN.

^bState, ASTHO, CSTE, APHL, and UM CEPHS PHN.

^cFederal, OPM.

APHL, Association of Public Health Laboratories; ASTHO, Association of State and Territorial Health Officials; CSTE, Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists; NACCHO, National Association of County and City Health Officials; OPM, U.S. Office of Personnel Management; UM CEPHS PHN, University of Michigan Center of Excellence in Public Health Workforce Studies Public Health Nurse Workforce Survey.