Required Education

• According to Education-Portal.com, nursing home administrators most often hold master's degrees in health care administration. Some health care administrators have bachelor's degrees in business administration, public health or a related discipline, but these are the exception. Additional job requirements entail continuing education to stay abreast of current trends. Those with graduate degrees can expect to make the highest salaries.
  
  

Skills and Experience

• Expertise required of a nursing home administrator falls under two main categories known as specialist and generalist. A specialist handles particular areas of policy, finance, human resources and marketing, while a generalist manages the entire health care facility. Successful health care administrators must be organized, have great written and oral skills, and demonstrate good leadership, along with the ability to supervise, plan and coordinate operations of the facilities and staff. The nursing home administrator may advance her career by working into positions that require additional responsibility. For example, she may progress from being an assistant administrator or department head to becoming a full administrator or by moving to a larger facility. With these progressions usually come salary increases as well.
  
  

Salary

• The Bureau of Labor Statistics establishes $71,190 as the average salary a nursing home administrator can expect to earn as of May 2008. Nursing home administrators belong to a general category of workers known as health care administrators. The overall average salary for health care administrators is $80,240, making the salaries of nursing home administrators slightly lower than other professionals who hold similar jobs in the health care field. Generally, the variations in salary come as a result of where the administrator works.
  
  

Employment Prospects

• Nursing home administrators entering the job market can expect good job prospects. People gravitate to this line of work in part due to the promise of a good salary. The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects a 16 percent increase in the number of health care administrator jobs between the years 2008 and 2018. Further, 19 percent of people coming into new health care administrative jobs will work in nursing homes, compared to an expected 38 percent who will work in hospitals.