2024 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region
89Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
10,384Parks & Rec Degrees Awarded
$32,191Avg Early-Career Salary
Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #15 most popular degree program in the country. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
College Factual looked at 89 colleges and universities when compiling its 2024 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 10,384 degrees in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies School
The parks & rec program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
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.
Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Rankings by Degree Level
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in the Great Lakes 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.
Best Schools for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in the Great Lakes 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 parks & rec 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.
Every student who is interested in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies needs to check out University of Michigan - Ann Arbor. Located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #29 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means U-M is a great university overall.
There were roughly 326 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at U-M in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies program at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor earn $6,901 above the typical college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
University of Wisconsin - Madison is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. UW - Madison is a fairly large public university located in the city of Madison. A Best Colleges rank of #30 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UW - Madison is a great university overall.
There were roughly 148 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at UW - Madison in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the parks & rec program state that they receive average early career wages of $27,879.
Any student who is interested in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies needs to check out Northwestern University. Located in the city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #5 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Northwestern is a great university overall.
There were approximately 62 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Northwestern in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies major at Northwestern University make $16,706 above the standard graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Indiana University - Bloomington is a good decision for students pursuing a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. Located in the small city of Bloomington, IU Bloomington is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #55 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means IU Bloomington is a great university overall.
There were roughly 643 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at IU Bloomington in the most recent year we have data available. Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies degree recipients from Indiana University - Bloomington get an earnings boost of about $4,772 above the typical income of parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies majors.
UIUC is a very large public university located in the small city of Champaign. A Best Colleges rank of #34 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UIUC is a great university overall.
There were approximately 317 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies degree program at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign get $3,493 above the typical college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Located in the town of Oxford, Miami University - Oxford is a public university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #116 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Miami University - Oxford is a great university overall.
There were about 348 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Miami University - Oxford in the most recent year we have data available. Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies degree recipients from Miami University - Oxford earn a boost of approximately $2,975 over the typical income of parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies majors.
Located in the large city of Columbus, Ohio State is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #69 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Ohio State is a great university overall.
There were approximately 248 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Ohio State in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies major at Ohio State University - Main Campus make $5,287 above the typical college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Michigan State is a fairly large public university located in the city of East Lansing. A Best Colleges rank of #74 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Michigan State is a great university overall.
There were about 442 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Michigan State in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the parks & rec program earn around $30,429 in their early career salary.
Located in the town of Athens, OHIO Athens is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 9th out of 96 schools for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were roughly 317 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at OHIO Athens in the most recent data year. Those parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who get their degree from Ohio University - Athens Campus receive $11,014 more than the standard parks & rec graduate.
Located in the large suburb of River Forest, Concordia University, Chicago is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #170 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Concordia University, Chicago is a great university overall.
There were approximately 429 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Concordia University, Chicago in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies major at Concordia University, Chicago earn $7,855 more than the typical college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
UW - La Crosse is a large public university located in the city of La Crosse. This university ranks 3rd out of 46 colleges for overall quality in the state of Wisconsin.
There were approximately 252 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at UW - La Crosse in the most recent data year. Soon after graduating, parks & rec degree recipients generally earn around $31,779 in their early careers.
Located in the city of Dayton, UDayton is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #184 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UDayton is a great university overall.
There were approximately 34 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at UDayton in the most recent data year. Soon after graduation, parks & rec degree recipients generally earn about $31,458 in the first five years of their career.
Ball State is a large public university located in the small city of Muncie. This university ranks 6th out of 42 schools for overall quality in the state of Indiana.
There were roughly 152 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Ball State in the most recent year we have data available. Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies degree recipients from Ball State University earn a boost of approximately $2,710 above the typical income of parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies graduates.
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, & Fitness Studies Schools in the Great Lakes 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).
college factual
The parks & rec program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
