With its densely populated cities and highly-valued healthcare systems, New Jersey offers some of the nation's best bets for both healthcare education and employment. Expanding populations in Trenton, Montclair, and Jersey City forced a 50-percent growth in long-term hospitals in 2006. This has, in turn, increased demand for staff in those institutions, like nurse practitioners and billing specialists. Associate's degrees for these and other healthcare jobs can be found at almost any healthcare institute in New Jersey.

New Jersey Healthcare Jobs

A handful of schools offer more specialized healthcare degrees like pharmacy technician or surgical technologist. Pharmacy technician programs train students in both the administrative and clinical aspects of pharmacy work. Graduates usually begin in entry-level positions in retail and hospital pharmacies, starting at $11.00 an hour. Surgical technologists, who earn on average $34,400 a year, perform as members of the surgical team in a variety of healthcare facilities.