What Can You Do With a Master’s in Kinesiology?

BLS does not split pay by degree, so these are medians for the occupations a kinesiology master’s feeds, not a master’s premium. Exercise physiologists earn $59,460, recreational therapists $61,960, coaches and scouts $47,320, and exercise trainers and group fitness instructors $47,160 (BLS, May 2025).

Spread matters more than the median in coaching. The bottom tenth of coaches and scouts earn under $28,790 and the top tenth more than $98,860. O*NET respondents name a master’s as their entry education in 19% of cases, so it helps but is rarely required.

Check the specific job against our exercise physiologist salary page for state-by-state medians before you decide a degree is worth the tuition.

Three popular goals need a different, accredited degree, and a general kinesiology master’s will not stand in for any of them.

• Athletic trainer (median $62,520). Needs a CAATE-accredited athletic training master’s to sit the certifying exam. See athletic trainer master’s degree: do you really need one.
• Occupational therapist (median $100,330). Needs an occupational therapy master’s or doctorate, and kinesiology majors often have prerequisite gaps. See the occupational therapist profile.
• Physical therapist (median $102,760). Needs a doctor of physical therapy. See the physical therapist profile.

If one of these is your goal, a kinesiology master’s is the wrong middle step. Go straight to the accredited program, and use your bachelor’s to cover its prerequisites.

Employers hire against credentials, and the master’s helps you earn them. The ACSM Certified Clinical Exercise Physiologist credential asks for 600 hours of hands-on clinical experience with a master’s in clinical exercise physiology, against 1,200 hours with a bachelor’s. Cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation employers commonly look for it. The ACSM-CEP page has current requirements and fees.

College strength and conditioning jobs expect the CSCS credential, covered on the CSCS page. Choose a master’s that builds in practicum hours, because the hours are what employers weigh most.

A thesis master’s is the usual stepping stone to a doctorate in kinesiology and to lab or instructor roles. If you want to teach at a university, plan on the doctoral level and compare programs in our doctoral rankings. A non-thesis master’s fits people headed straight to practice.

Ask each program how many graduates go on to doctoral study and which faculty labs accept master’s students. Those two answers tell you more than a program’s name does.

It is worth it when a specific job or credential depends on it. Our rankings score 114 master’s programs across 39 states. Public programs charge a median of $8,319 a year in state and $20,416 out of state.

Pick the job first, confirm the credential it needs, then shortlist from the master’s rankings. The methodology page explains how programs are scored. BLS counts 8,560 exercise physiologists employed nationally.

Every figure in this guide is computed at build time from the same federal IPEDS data behind the program rankings, so it moves when the data moves rather than being typed in once. Wage figures come from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics release. Certification rules come from the issuing body’s own page, with the date each was checked on the certification pages.