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The differences between support specialists and community health workers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a support specialist, becoming a community health worker takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a support specialist has an average salary of $40,782, which is higher than the $37,079 average annual salary of a community health worker.
The top three skills for a support specialist include customer service, patients and mental health. The most important skills for a community health worker are patients, community health, and social work.
| Support Specialist | Community Health Worker | |
| Yearly salary | $40,782 | $37,079 |
| Hourly rate | $19.61 | $17.83 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 12% |
| Number of jobs | 125,740 | 82,445 |
| Job satisfaction | 3 | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 60% |
| Average age | 42 | 43 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 4 |
A support specialist is responsible for assisting technical and administrative support, depending on the business need. Support specialists must have extensive knowledge of the services of the organization they work for to assist customers with their inquiries and resolve complaints efficiently. A support specialist maintains documents of issue resolution, providing recommendations to improve business strategies and procedures. Support specialists must be well-versed on technology systems, perform basic troubleshooting, and secure databases. They should also have impeccable customer service and communication skills to attend with customers' needs and requests.
A community health worker is a health professional who is a lay member of the community that provides health care in both urban and rural environments. Community health workers offer the health needs of the community they serve and provide some direct services such as first aid and blood pressure screening. They help people understand their health conditions and deliver health information by using appropriate cultural terms and concepts. Community health workers also make home visits to patients who are clinically ill, pregnant women, and individuals at high risk of health problems.
Support specialists and community health workers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Support Specialist | Community Health Worker | |
| Average salary | $40,782 | $37,079 |
| Salary range | Between $25,000 And $64,000 | Between $27,000 And $49,000 |
| Highest paying City | New York, NY | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | New York | Connecticut |
| Best paying company | Microsoft | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Insurance |
There are a few differences between a support specialist and a community health worker in terms of educational background:
| Support Specialist | Community Health Worker | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 60% |
| Most common major | Business | Psychology |
| Most common college | Stanford University | University of Southern California |
Here are the differences between support specialists' and community health workers' demographics:
| Support Specialist | Community Health Worker | |
| Average age | 42 | 43 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 38.4% Female, 61.6% | Male, 23.5% Female, 76.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.5% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 15.9% Asian, 10.4% White, 56.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 9.4% Unknown, 6.4% Hispanic or Latino, 22.8% Asian, 5.8% White, 54.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 21% |