If you pursue a master's degree in public health, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #14 most popular program in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 236 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for public health students pursuing a master's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 17,864 master's degrees in public health to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Public Health School for Your Master's Degree
The public health master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality public health program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we include a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a collection of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Average Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to public health students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - How many other public health students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
Student Debt - How easy is it for public health to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized public health related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for public health students working on their master's degree.
The public health school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Public Health Master's Degree Schools.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Public Health in the United States
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in public health. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
Johns Hopkins University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in public health. Located in the large city of Baltimore, Johns Hopkins is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Master's recipients from the public health major at Johns Hopkins University get $9,830 more than the average graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
University of California - Los Angeles is a wonderful choice for individuals interested in a master's degree in public health. UCLA is a very large public university located in the city of Los Angeles.
Public Health master's degree recipients from University of California - Los Angeles receive an earnings boost of approximately $14,351 above the typical income of public health majors.
Boston University is a good option for individuals interested in a master's degree in public health. Located in the city of Boston, Boston U is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Public Health master's degree recipients from Boston University earn a boost of approximately $7,463 over the typical earnings of public health graduates.
George Washington University is a good option for individuals interested in a master's degree in public health. Located in the city of Washington, GWU is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Master's recipients from the public health program at George Washington University earn $8,469 above the typical graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Emory is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Atlanta.
Public Health master's degree recipients from Emory University receive an earnings boost of approximately $2,862 over the average income of public health graduates.
UW Seattle is a fairly large public university located in the city of Seattle.
Master's recipients from the public health degree program at University of Washington - Seattle Campus earn $9,165 above the average graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Located in the city of New Brunswick, Rutgers New Brunswick is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Master's recipients from the public health major at Rutgers University - New Brunswick get $6,611 more than the standard college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
UMN Twin Cities is a very large public university located in the large city of Minneapolis.
Those public health students who get their master's degree from University of Minnesota - Twin Cities receive $9,427 more than the average public health grad.
Located in the city of Iowa City, Iowa is a public university with a very large student population.
Master's recipients from the public health program at University of Iowa earn $8,194 above the typical graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Located in the large suburb of College Park, UMCP is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Public Health master's degree recipients from University of Maryland - College Park earn a boost of about $11,647 above the average earnings of public health graduates.
NYU is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of New York.
Master's recipients from the public health program at New York University make $5,692 above the typical college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
Texas A&M College Station is a fairly large public university located in the city of College Station.
Those public health students who get their master's degree from Texas A&M University - College Station receive $8,449 more than the typical public health student.
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).
The public health master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality public health program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
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