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2024 Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools

64 Colleges in the United States
3,106 Parks & Rec Degrees Awarded
A degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #218 out of 1506 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.

College Factual looked at 64 colleges and universities when compiling its 2024 Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 3,106 degrees in parks, recreation & leisure studies during the 2020-2021 academic year.

What's on this page: * Degree-Level Rankings

Choosing a Great Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies School

Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools Your choice of parks, recreation & leisure studies school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. We derive our Best Overall Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.

In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.

Pick Your Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Degree Level

Bachelor's Degrees in Parks & Rec
Master's Degrees in Parks & Rec
Doctor's Degrees in Parks & Rec

When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools list to help you make the college decision. You can also filter this list by location to find schools closer to you.

In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.

More information on how we come up with our rankings can be found here: College Factual's Data Methodology.

Best Schools for Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies in the United States

Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the parks & rec degree levels they offer. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.

10 Top Schools in Parks & Rec

1
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In IL
142 Parks & Rec Degrees Awarded

Any student who is interested in parks, recreation & leisure studies has to take a look at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. UIUC is a very large public university located in the city of Champaign. A Best Colleges rank of #34 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UIUC is a great university overall.

There were approximately 142 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

2
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In IN
160 Parks & Rec Degrees Awarded

It's difficult to beat Indiana University - Bloomington if you want to pursue a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies. Located in the city of Bloomington, IU Bloomington is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #55 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means IU Bloomington is a great university overall.

There were approximately 160 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at IU Bloomington in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies from Indiana University - Bloomington

3
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
4th Most Popular In CA
91 Parks & Rec Degrees Awarded

Every student pursuing a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies needs to check out California State University - Long Beach. Located in the large city of Long Beach, CSULB is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #186 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means CSULB is a great university overall.

There were approximately 91 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at CSULB in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies from California State University - Long Beach

4
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In UT
110 Parks & Rec Degrees Awarded

It is difficult to beat Brigham Young University - Provo if you wish to pursue a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies. Located in the city of Provo, BYU is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #100 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means BYU is a great university overall.

There were about 110 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at BYU in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies from Brigham Young University - Provo

5
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In CA
119 Parks & Rec Degrees Awarded

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a very large public university located in the small suburb of San Luis Obispo. A Best Colleges rank of #95 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a great university overall.

There were roughly 119 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies from California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo

6
U of U crest
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
2nd Most Popular In UT
76 Parks & Rec Degrees Awarded

Located in the medium-sized city of Salt Lake City, U of U is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #151 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means U of U is a great university overall.

There were about 76 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at U of U in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies from University of Utah

7
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
3rd Most Popular In CA
99 Parks & Rec Degrees Awarded

Chico State is a large public university located in the midsize city of Chico. This university ranks 79th out of 168 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.

There were roughly 99 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at Chico State in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies from California State University - Chico

8
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
3rd Most Popular In AZ

Located in the midsize city of Tempe, ASU - Tempe is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #119 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means ASU - Tempe is a great university overall.

There were about 18 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at ASU - Tempe in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies from Arizona State University - Tempe

9
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In IA
60 Parks & Rec Degrees Awarded

UNI is a moderately-sized public university located in the small city of Cedar Falls. A Best Colleges rank of #199 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UNI is a great university overall.

There were approximately 60 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at UNI in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies from University of Northern Iowa

10
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
3rd Most Popular In MN

UMN Twin Cities is a very large public university located in the large city of Minneapolis. A Best Colleges rank of #51 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UMN Twin Cities is a great university overall.

There were approximately 11 parks, recreation & leisure studies students who graduated with this degree at UMN Twin Cities in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies from University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

Honorable Mentions

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools award.

Rank College Location
10 San Jose State University San Jose, CA
11 California State University - Sacramento Sacramento, CA
12 San Francisco State University San Francisco, CA
13 Ohio University - Athens Campus Athens, OH
14 Oklahoma State University - Main Campus Stillwater, OK
15 University of Missouri - Columbia Columbia, MO
16 University of Iowa Iowa City, IA

Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies by Region

View the Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

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One of 0 majors within the Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies area of study, Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies has other similar majors worth exploring.

Notes and References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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