2024 Best Public Administration Schools in the Southeast Region
86Colleges in the Southeast Region
3,800Public Admin Degrees Awarded
$46,779Avg Early-Career Salary
If you plan on majoring in public administration, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #60 in the country in terms of popularity. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
College Factual looked at 86 colleges and universities when compiling its 2024 Best Public Administration Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 3,800 degrees in public administration to qualified students.
Your choice of public administration school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. We derive our Best Overall Public Administration School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Public Administration Schools in the Southeast Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.
To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
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Best Schools for Public Administration in the Southeast Region
If you aren't interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the public admin degrees they offer, see the list below. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
Virginia Tech is a good option for students interested in a degree in public administration. Located in the city of Blacksburg, Virginia Tech is a public school with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #62 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Virginia Tech is a great school overall.
There were approximately 44 public administration students who graduated with this degree at Virginia Tech in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the public administration major at Virginia Tech get $12,591 above the typical college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Every student pursuing a degree in public administration has to look into George Mason University. GMU is a fairly large public university located in the large suburb of Fairfax. A Best Colleges rank of #117 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means GMU is a great university overall.
There were roughly 130 public administration students who graduated with this degree at GMU in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the public administration degree program at George Mason University make $6,139 above the typical college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Florida International University is a great decision for students interested in a degree in public administration. FIU is a fairly large public university located in the large suburb of Miami. A Best Colleges rank of #183 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means FIU is a great university overall.
There were approximately 266 public administration students who graduated with this degree at FIU in the most recent data year. Public Administration degree recipients from Florida International University earn a boost of approximately $4,496 above the typical income of public administration graduates.
Clemson University is a wonderful choice for students pursuing a degree in public administration. Located in the large suburb of Clemson, Clemson is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #107 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Clemson is a great university overall.
There were roughly 43 public administration students who graduated with this degree at Clemson in the most recent year we have data available. Public Administration degree recipients from Clemson University receive an earnings boost of around $22,269 over the average earnings of public administration graduates.
Located in the medium-sized city of Athens, UGA is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #72 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UGA is a great university overall.
There were about 82 public administration students who graduated with this degree at UGA in the most recent data year. Soon after graduation, public admin degree recipients usually earn around $47,593 in the first five years of their career.
Auburn is a fairly large public university located in the city of Auburn. A Best Colleges rank of #154 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Auburn is a great university overall.
There were approximately 76 public administration students who graduated with this degree at Auburn in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the public admin program make an average of $35,723 in their early career salary.
UNC Chapel Hill is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Chapel Hill. A Best Colleges rank of #43 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UNC Chapel Hill is a great university overall.
There were approximately 62 public administration students who graduated with this degree at UNC Chapel Hill in the most recent data year. Those public administration students who get their degree from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill make $10,226 more than the typical public admin graduate.
NC State is a fairly large public university located in the city of Raleigh. A Best Colleges rank of #92 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means NC State is a great university overall.
There were about 51 public administration students who graduated with this degree at NC State in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the public administration major at North Carolina State University make $5,831 more than the average graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Located in the town of Orange Beach, Columbia Southern University is a private for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #114 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Columbia Southern University is a great university overall.
There were approximately 154 public administration students who graduated with this degree at Columbia Southern University in the most recent data year. Public Administration degree recipients from Columbia Southern University get an earnings boost of about $10,521 over the typical earnings of public administration graduates.
UCF is a fairly large public university located in the large suburb of Orlando. A Best Colleges rank of #193 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UCF is a great university overall.
There were roughly 203 public administration students who graduated with this degree at UCF in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the public admin program state that they receive average early career income of $40,012.
Located in the midsize city of Tallahassee, Florida State is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #121 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Florida State is a great university overall.
There were roughly 72 public administration students who graduated with this degree at Florida State in the most recent data year. Public Administration degree recipients from Florida State University get an earnings boost of approximately $4,266 above the average income of public administration graduates.
WCU is a fairly large public university located in the distant town of Cullowhee. This university ranks 17th out of 93 colleges for overall quality in the state of North Carolina.
There were roughly 98 public administration students who graduated with this degree at WCU in the most recent year we have data available. Those public administration students who get their degree from Western Carolina University make $2,117 more than the average public admin student.
Here are some additional great schools for Public Administration students in the Southeast Region that almost earned our Best Public Administration Schools in the Southeast Region award.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).