2024 Best Health & Physical Education Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

Health & Physical Education is of the hottest master's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #23 most popular major in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.

For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 43 schools in the Great Lakes Region to determine which ones were the best for health & physical education students pursuing a master's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 1,544 master's degrees in health & physical education during the 2020-2021 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Health & Physical Education School for Your Master's Degree

The phys ed master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality phys ed program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Early-Career Earnings

One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of master's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their master's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to health & physical education students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other health & physical education students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
• Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
• Student Debt - How much debt health & physical education students go into to obtain their master's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized health & physical education related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for health & physical education students working on their master's degree.

More Ways to Rank Health & Physical Education Schools

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Health & Physical Education Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Health & Physical Education in the Great Lakes Region

Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for health & physical education students seeking a a master's degree.

10 Top Great Lakes Region Schools for a Master's in Phys Ed

1

Northwestern University
Evanston, IL

62 Annual Graduates

$48,897 Median Starting Salary

Northwestern University is a wonderful choice for students pursuing a master's degree in health & physical education. Northwestern is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Evanston.

Master's recipients from the health & physical education program at Northwestern University make $8,076 more than the typical college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.

More information about a master’s in health & physical education from Northwestern University

2

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI

48 Annual Graduates

$41,624 Median Starting Salary

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor is one of the best schools in the country for getting a master's degree in health & physical education. U-M is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor.

Students who graduate with their master's from the phys ed program state that they receive average early career wages of $41,624.

More information about a master’s in health & physical education from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

3

Ohio University - Athens Campus
Athens, OH

162 Annual Graduates

$51,871 Median Starting Salary

Every student who is interested in a master's degree in health & physical education needs to check out Ohio University - Athens Campus. OHIO Athens is a very large public university located in the distant town of Athens.

Those health & physical education students who get their master's degree from Ohio University - Athens Campus receive $11,050 more than the standard phys ed grad.

More information about a master’s in health & physical education from Ohio University - Athens Campus

4

University of Wisconsin - Madison
Madison, WI

7 Annual Graduates

Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in health & physical education needs to check out University of Wisconsin - Madison. Located in the city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in health & physical education from University of Wisconsin - Madison

5

Ohio State University - Main Campus
Columbus, OH

45 Annual Graduates

$42,512 Median Starting Salary

Ohio State is a fairly large public university located in the city of Columbus.

Students who graduate with their master's from the phys ed program state that they receive average early career wages of $42,512.

More information about a master’s in health & physical education from Ohio State University - Main Campus

6

Concordia University, Chicago
River Forest, IL

300 Annual Graduates

$46,413 Median Starting Salary

Concordia University, Chicago is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of River Forest.

Those health & physical education students who get their master's degree from Concordia University, Chicago make $5,592 more than the standard phys ed student.

More information about a master’s in health & physical education from Concordia University, Chicago

7

Miami University - Oxford
Oxford, OH

39 Annual Graduates

$38,133 Median Starting Salary

Miami University - Oxford is a large public university located in the fringe town of Oxford.

Students who graduate with their master's from the phys ed program report average early career income of $38,133.

More information about a master’s in health & physical education from Miami University - Oxford

7

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL

12 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in health & physical education from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

8

Indiana University - Bloomington
Bloomington, IN

25 Annual Graduates

$43,147 Median Starting Salary

IU Bloomington is a fairly large public university located in the city of Bloomington.

Master's recipients from the health & physical education program at Indiana University - Bloomington earn $2,326 more than the standard graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

More information about a master’s in health & physical education from Indiana University - Bloomington

9

University of Cincinnati - Main Campus
Cincinnati, OH

55 Annual Graduates

UC is a very large public university located in the city of Cincinnati.More information about a master’s in health & physical education from University of Cincinnati - Main Campus

Best Health & Physical Education Colleges by State

Explore the best health & physical education schools for a specific state in the Great Lakes Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Illinois	221	660
Michigan	211	196
Ohio	207	436
Indiana	191	154
Wisconsin	173	98

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Phys Ed

Health & Physical Education is one of 4 different types of Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies programs to choose from.

Phys Ed Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Sports Management	698
Exercise Science and Kinesiology	586
Sports Kinesiology and Physical Education/Fitness General	175
Outdoor Health & Physical Education/Fitness	64
Sports Studies	21

Majors Similar to Phys Ed

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies	114
Recreation Administration	35
Other Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies	11

Notes and References

• 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). More about our data sources and methodologies.