Start with the number that matters most here. BLS counts 50 emergency management
directors in the whole of New Hampshire, 0.4% of the national total, which is the
44th largest of the 46 state markets it publishes with only
2 smaller. That is not a market you can plan a career around from inside.
Anyone studying this subject in New Hampshire should assume they will work somewhere else, at
least to begin with, and choose a degree that travels.
The second thing to know is that the table below has 3 rows and
2 degrees behind them. Two rows are the same University of New Hampshire
homeland security program, recorded federally under separate Durham and Manchester
institutions. UNH states the program is administratively managed in Manchester and delivered
and academically supported in Durham, and the Manchester program page now redirects to the
Durham one. So the real choice in this state is between UNH and New England College, and the
profiles below say the same thing twice for UNH because the degree is the same degree.
The Ranked Emergency Management Programs In New Hampshire
Scored on graduation rate, cost, delivery, selectivity and how directly the degree targets
emergency management. Full weighting on the methodology page.
The two University of New Hampshire rows are one program; they are scored separately because
the federal data holds separate tuition and graduation rates for each campus.
Emergency management programs in New Hampshire ranked by score
#
School
City
In-state tuition
Graduation rate
Online
Score
1
University of New Hampshire-Main Campus
Durham
$15,520
76%
No
60
2
University of New Hampshire at Manchester
Manchester
$15,150
50%
No
52.1
3
New England College
Henniker
$25,714
35%
Yes
50
1
Homeland Security, B.S.
University of New Hampshire-Main Campus
Durham, New Hampshire
On campus
UNH holds a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education designation from the NSA and DHS, and requires either an internship or a senior thesis to finish.
The BS in Homeland Security is 128 credits, more than the 120 that is standard across this field, taught in the College of Liberal Arts. The 56-credit core runs fourteen courses: HLS 410 Introduction to Homeland Security, HLS 415 Fundamentals of Corporate Security, HLS 455 Introduction to Cybersecurity, HLS 480 Professional Skills, HLS 505 Political Violence and Terrorism, HLS 510 Fundamentals of Emergency Management, HLS 515 Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience, HLS 520 Homeland Security Law and Policy, HLS 580 Environmental and Human Security, a research methods course, HLS 650 Topics in National Security Intelligence, HLS 760 Strategic Planning and Decision Making, HLS 770 Internship or HLS 799 Senior Thesis, and HLS 790 Capstone. Emergency management is one course inside that, so read the balance carefully if disaster operations rather than security is your target.
The breadth requirement is the unusual part and it is substantial: 40 further credits taken as two minors, a minor plus a coherent concentration, a second major, a transferred associate degree, or a combination approved by the coordinator. That is a lot of structure to fill, and it makes this degree closer to a double major than to a single one. Around it sit the NSA and DHS cyber defense designation, an accelerated master's pathway in cybersecurity, global conflict or national security, a departmental honors program for students holding a 3.5 GPA, a study abroad option over spring break as HLS 656, and New England Regional Student Program tuition reduction for students from eligible states.
NSA and DHS cyber defense designation
128 credits, with a 56-credit core and a 40-credit breadth requirement
Internship or senior thesis required, plus a capstone
Accelerated master's pathway and regional tuition reduction
UNH holds a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education designation from the NSA and DHS, and requires either an internship or a senior thesis to finish.
The BS in Homeland Security is 128 credits, more than the 120 that is standard across this field, taught in the College of Liberal Arts. The 56-credit core runs fourteen courses: HLS 410 Introduction to Homeland Security, HLS 415 Fundamentals of Corporate Security, HLS 455 Introduction to Cybersecurity, HLS 480 Professional Skills, HLS 505 Political Violence and Terrorism, HLS 510 Fundamentals of Emergency Management, HLS 515 Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience, HLS 520 Homeland Security Law and Policy, HLS 580 Environmental and Human Security, a research methods course, HLS 650 Topics in National Security Intelligence, HLS 760 Strategic Planning and Decision Making, HLS 770 Internship or HLS 799 Senior Thesis, and HLS 790 Capstone. Emergency management is one course inside that, so read the balance carefully if disaster operations rather than security is your target.
The breadth requirement is the unusual part and it is substantial: 40 further credits taken as two minors, a minor plus a coherent concentration, a second major, a transferred associate degree, or a combination approved by the coordinator. That is a lot of structure to fill, and it makes this degree closer to a double major than to a single one. Around it sit the NSA and DHS cyber defense designation, an accelerated master's pathway in cybersecurity, global conflict or national security, a departmental honors program for students holding a 3.5 GPA, a study abroad option over spring break as HLS 656, and New England Regional Student Program tuition reduction for students from eligible states.
NSA and DHS cyber defense designation
128 credits, with a 56-credit core and a 40-credit breadth requirement
Internship or senior thesis required, plus a capstone
Accelerated master's pathway and regional tuition reduction
Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, BA Online
New England College
Henniker, New Hampshire
Online
New England College converts military training into credit from named sources, and lets qualified students take graduate courses that count twice.
The BA in Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness is 120 credits, fully online in seven-week terms, run through the School of Graduate and Professional Studies under the Humanities Division. The structure is built from four-unit courses: ten of them, 40 credits, form the major, nine plus four liberal arts and sciences elective credits form the core, and the remaining 40 credits are electives of the student's choosing. That leaves a third of the degree genuinely open, which is more freedom than most programs on this site allow and more responsibility to use it well.
The military provisions are the substance here. The college names the organizations whose training it will consider for academic credit, including JSOU, MARSOC and NAVSE, alongside CSC and EWS trainings and transfer credit from AWS and EPME, and states that active-duty students may need fewer credits based on their experience and training. Naming specific programs rather than promising a vague evaluation is what makes that usable: a servicemember can check their own record against the list before applying. On top of that, students holding a 3.0 GPA may take up to three graduate courses from the master's in homeland security and emergency preparedness that count toward both degrees. No standardized test scores are required and the application fee is waived.
JSOU, MARSOC and NAVSE training considered for credit
Up to three graduate courses counting toward both degrees
Studying Emergency Management In A State With Fifty Jobs
This is not an argument against either degree. It is an argument for choosing one with the
expectation of leaving, and the two here differ sharply on how well they support that.
UNH's degree is built for someone doing an ordinary residential undergraduate degree and
willing to move afterward. Its 128 credits, 56-credit core and 40-credit breadth requirement
make it a large, structured program, and the NSA and DHS cyber defense designation plus the
accelerated master's pathway point at federal and security careers that are national by
nature. New England College's degree is fully online in seven-week terms, which means your
location during the degree is irrelevant and you can already be working elsewhere while you
take it. For a servicemember, its named credit policies for JSOU, MARSOC, NAVSE, CSC, EWS,
AWS and EPME are the more practical proposition.
One shared caveat worth stating before either. Both are homeland security degrees with
emergency management as a component, not emergency management degrees. At UNH, Fundamentals of
Emergency Management is one course of fourteen in the core, sitting beside cybersecurity,
terrorism, critical infrastructure and national security intelligence. If you want to run
county disaster operations rather than work security or intelligence, that balance is the
thing to weigh, and the
national ranking holds programs built the
other way round.
What An Emergency Management Director Earns In New Hampshire
Emergency management is the field and the degree, not a job title. The occupation the federal
government tracks against it is
emergency management director,
SOC 11-9161, and that is the code behind every wage figure in this section.
The median is $77,420. The bottom 10% earn $57,470 and the top 10% reach
$117,560, with the middle half between $69,470 and $103,880.
Against the national $54,210 and $166,430, the floor holds up and the
ceiling is a long way down. Combined with 50 posts in the state, the practical
reading is that a New Hampshire emergency management career is stable and capped, and the
upside lives elsewhere.
Compare every state.
Accreditation For Emergency Management Degrees In New Hampshire
CAEMHSE accredits degrees in this field, but it is thinly held and not CHEA-recognized, so it will not narrow this list. UNH's designation from the NSA and DHS is the closest thing on this page to a subject-specific mark of quality, and it covers cyber defense education rather than this field. What applies instead.
Common Questions About Emergency Management Programs In New Hampshire
How many emergency management programs are there in New Hampshire?
3 ranked rows, but 2 actual degrees. Two of the rows are the same University of New Hampshire homeland security program, held under separate federal records for the Durham and Manchester campuses: UNH states the program is administratively managed in Manchester and delivered and academically supported in Durham. The third is New England College's online BA in Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.
Are there emergency management jobs in New Hampshire?
Very few. BLS counts 50 emergency management directors in the entire state, 0.4% of the national total, which makes it the 44th largest of the 46 state markets with a published count, with only 2 smaller. Anyone studying here should plan on the likelihood of working somewhere else, at least at first.
Do emergency management directors earn well in New Hampshire?
Below the national figure. The state median is $77,420 against $93,330 nationally, $15,910 below, 33th of the 47 BLS publishes. The bottom 10% earn $57,470, above the national bottom decile, and the top 10% reach $117,560, well below the national top decile.
Is the UNH homeland security degree at Durham or Manchester?
Both, in a sense, which is why it appears twice in the table. UNH states the program is administratively managed in Manchester and delivered and academically supported in Durham. It is 128 credits in the College of Liberal Arts, with a 56-credit core, a 40-credit breadth requirement, and either an internship or a senior thesis before the capstone.
Which New Hampshire program suits a servicemember?
New England College, on its published policies rather than on marketing. It names JSOU, MARSOC and NAVSE among organizations whose training it will consider for academic credit, alongside CSC and EWS trainings and transfer credit from AWS and EPME, and states that active-duty students may need fewer credits. It is fully online in seven-week terms, requires no standardized test scores and waives the application fee.
Does either New Hampshire program teach emergency management specifically?
Both are homeland security degrees with emergency management inside them rather than emergency management degrees. At UNH, HLS 510 Fundamentals of Emergency Management is one course of the fourteen-course core, alongside cybersecurity, terrorism, critical infrastructure and national security intelligence. If disaster operations rather than security is your target, weigh that balance before applying.
Emergency Management Programs In Other States
62 of the 91 programs we hold are online, so for most of this
list the state you study in and the state you work in need not match. These are the other
states we rank, with what each one holds.
