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Healthcare and life sciences: jobs, pay and hiring
72,835 open postings from 1,011 employers. Median listed pay $155,000; 13% fully remote; 12.8% entry level.
This hub covers hospital systems, health insurers' care operations, medical-device, pharmaceutical and life-sciences employers. Our postings count every role at those employers, clinical and non-clinical alike, and the job-family table below shows only the business and technical families we can compare. Licensed clinical roles are not broken out.
What the data shows
- 72,835 open postings from 1,011 employers in the October 2026 snapshot, 21.7% of all postings we track.
- The median listed pay is $155,000 (middle half: $105,000 to $197,500), against $162,500 across all industries. 34.3% of postings list a pay range, against 37.8% overall.
- 13% of postings are fully remote (23.6% overall) and 12.8% are entry level (10.2% overall); 27.9% are senior or above.
- A typical posting has been open 22 days (29 overall), and 13.5% have been open more than 60 days.
As of the October 2026 snapshot of 335,906 open postings from 7,678 employers.
How healthcare and life sciences compares with all industries
| Measure | Healthcare and life sciences | All industries |
|---|---|---|
| Open postings | 72,835 | 335,906 |
| Employers hiring | 1,011 | 7,678 |
| Postings that list pay | 34.3% | 37.8% |
| Median listed pay | $155,000 | $162,500 |
| Fully remote | 13% | 23.6% |
| Entry level | 12.8% | 10.2% |
| Senior or above | 27.9% | 40.1% |
| Median days a posting has been open | 22 | 29 |
| Open more than 60 days | 13.5% | 23.5% |
Pay by job family
Where a job family has at least 25 postings with a listed range in this industry and across all industries, the table compares the median listed salary.
| Job family | Healthcare and life sciences | All industries | Postings with pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nursing and clinical care | $150,000 | $142,500 | 1,384 |
| Sales | $140,000 | $141,500 | 897 |
| Software developers | $190,000 | $202,500 | 499 |
| Operations and logistics | $141,500 | $143,500 | 339 |
| Marketing | $157,500 | $162,500 | 318 |
| Product and design | $182,500 | $185,000 | 276 |
| Software engineering | $175,000 | $187,000 | 240 |
| Finance and accounting | $147,000 | $155,000 | 202 |
| Security and IT | $165,000 | $188,500 | 198 |
| Legal and compliance | $175,000 | $185,000 | 171 |
| People and recruiting | $152,500 | $146,500 | 134 |
| Customer support and success | $111,500 | $122,500 | 134 |
| Registered nurses | $92,500 | $92,000 | 131 |
| Data and analytics | $157,500 | $152,500 | 123 |
Largest employers posting jobs
| Employer | Open postings | Share of the industry's postings |
|---|---|---|
| CVS Health | 3,997 | 5.5% |
| Amgen USA Inc. | 3,376 | 4.6% |
| DaVita | 3,372 | 4.6% |
| Mass General Brigham | 2,010 | 2.8% |
| Trinity Health | 2,002 | 2.7% |
| Abbott | 2,001 | 2.7% |
| AdventHealth | 2,000 | 2.7% |
| Highmark Health | 1,927 | 2.6% |
Counts are open postings on each employer's own career page. Job marketplaces, staffing firms and recruiters are left out of this list. One large employer can shape a local market.
Where the postings are
| Metro area | Postings in this industry | Share of the industry's postings |
|---|---|---|
| Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | 2,432 | 3.3% |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | 1,449 | 2% |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | 1,430 | 2% |
| Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | 1,201 | 1.6% |
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN | 1,034 | 1.4% |
| Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC | 850 | 1.2% |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | 645 | 0.9% |
| Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA | 630 | 0.9% |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | 607 | 0.8% |
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | 567 | 0.8% |
A posting that lists several locations counts in each metro area, so shares can add to more than 100%.
What to check next
- Fewer postings here list pay (34.3% against 37.8%). Ask for the range in the first conversation, and see where employers must list it.
- Compared with the same job family across all industries, listed pay is highest relative to the all-industries median for Nursing and clinical care ($150,000 against $142,500, $7,500 more) and furthest below it for Security and IT ($165,000 against $188,500, $23,500 less). Check which family your experience fits before comparing.
- Read the pay and requirements in the posting itself. Our figures describe listed postings, not offers and not every vacancy.
Next steps
- How to read a posted pay range
- What employers ask on application forms
- Paycheck calculator: what a salary is worth in another city
- Compare metro areas
- Find jobs that fit your resume in Second Summit (free during beta)
Other industries
Technology and softwareFinancial services and insuranceProfessional services
Source: Second Summit, October 2026, from the open postings on employers' own career pages. Pay is the listed salary range, counted at its midpoint. Methodology