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2024 Best Public Policy Schools in Illinois

5 Colleges in Illinois
536 Public Policy Degrees Awarded
$49,931 Avg Early-Career Salary
If you plan on majoring in public policy, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #113 in the country in terms of popularity. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.

For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 5 schools in Illinois to determine which ones were the best for public policy students pursuing a degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 536 degrees in public policy during the 2020-2021 academic year.

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

Choosing a Great Public Policy School

Best Public Policy Schools in Illinois Your choice of public policy school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. We derive our Best Overall Public Policy 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 Public Policy Degree Level

Bachelor's Degrees in Public Policy
Master's Degrees in Public Policy

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Public Policy Schools in Illinois list, to help you choose the best school for you. If you'd like to restrict your choices to just one part of the country, you can filter this list by location.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.

If you want to learn more about how we derive our rankings, see College Factual's Methodology.

Best Schools for Public Policy in Illinois

Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the public policy degree levels they offer.

Top Illinois Schools in Public Policy

1
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
411 Public Policy Degrees Awarded
$61,143 Median Starting Salary

Any student pursuing a degree in public policy has to look into University of Chicago. UChicago is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Chicago. A Best Colleges rank of #2 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UChicago is a great university overall.

There were approximately 411 public policy students who graduated with this degree at UChicago in the most recent data year. Public Policy degree recipients from University of Chicago get an earnings boost of approximately $11,212 over the typical earnings of public policy majors.

More information about a degree in public policy from University of Chicago

2
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
45 Public Policy Degrees Awarded
$40,701 Median Starting Salary

It is hard to beat Northwestern University if you want to pursue a degree in public policy. 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 about 45 public policy students who graduated with this degree at Northwestern in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the public policy program make an average of $40,701 for their early career.

More information about a degree in public policy from Northwestern University

3
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
3rd Most Popular In IL

It's hard to beat University of Illinois at Chicago if you wish to pursue a degree in public policy. Located in the city of Chicago, UIC is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 6th out of 85 schools for overall quality in the state of Illinois.

There were roughly 27 public policy students who graduated with this degree at UIC in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in public policy from University of Illinois at Chicago

4
DePaul crest
DePaul University
Chicago, IL
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
$39,789 Median Starting Salary
$27,000 Median Student Debt

Every student who is interested in public policy needs to look into DePaul University. DePaul is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Chicago. This university ranks 7th out of 85 colleges for overall quality in the state of Illinois.

There were about 26 public policy students who graduated with this degree at DePaul in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the public policy program earn an average of $39,789 in their early career salary.

More information about a degree in public policy from DePaul University

5
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
6th Most Popular In IL

Loyola Chicago is a large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Chicago. This university ranks 4th out of 85 schools for overall quality in the state of Illinois.

There were roughly 8 public policy students who graduated with this degree at Loyola Chicago in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in public policy from Loyola University Chicago

Best Public Policy Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

Explore all the Best Public Policy Colleges in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.

State Colleges Degrees Awarded
Michigan 322 251
Ohio 314 33
Indiana 294 7
Wisconsin 273 29

View All Rankings >

Public Policy is one of 4 different types of Public Administration & Social Service programs to choose from.

Public Policy Concentrations

Major Annual Graduates
General Public Policy Analysis 516
International Policy Analysis 20

View All Public Policy Concentrations >

Related Major Annual Graduates
Public Administration 446
Community Organization & Advocacy 122
Human Services 96
Other Public Administration 39

View All Public Policy Related Majors >

Notes and References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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