2024 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in the Southwest Region
60Colleges in the Southwest Region
10,064Parks & Rec Degrees Awarded
$32,390Avg Early-Career Salary
If you plan on majoring in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #15 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 60 schools in the Southwest Region to determine which ones were the best for parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students pursuing a degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 10,064 degrees in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies during the 2021-2022 academic year.
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. For our Best Overall Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that 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
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in the Southwest Region list to help you make the college decision.
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.
Best Schools for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in the Southwest Region
The schools below may not offer all types of parks & rec degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer.
Rice University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. Located in the city of Houston, Rice is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #16 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Rice is a great university overall.
There were roughly 104 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Rice in the most recent year we have data available. Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies degree recipients from Rice University receive an earnings boost of approximately $5,842 over the average income of parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies majors.
Every student pursuing a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies needs to look into The University of Texas at Austin. UT Austin is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Austin. A Best Colleges rank of #36 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UT Austin is a great university overall.
There were approximately 307 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at UT Austin in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies major at The University of Texas at Austin earn $3,608 above the average graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Every student who is interested in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies needs to look into Texas A&M University - College Station. Texas A&M College Station is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of College Station. A Best Colleges rank of #44 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Texas A&M College Station is a great university overall.
There were about 607 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Texas A&M College Station in the most recent year we have data available. Those parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who get their degree from Texas A&M University - College Station earn $5,449 more than the typical parks & rec graduate.
It is hard to beat Arizona State University - Tempe if you wish to pursue a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. Located in the city of Tempe, ASU - Tempe is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #119 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means ASU - Tempe is a great university overall.
There were approximately 379 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at ASU - Tempe in the most recent data year. Soon after graduating, parks & rec degree recipients generally make an average of $31,674 in their early careers.
SMU is a large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Dallas. A Best Colleges rank of #73 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means SMU is a great university overall.
There were roughly 133 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at SMU in the most recent data year. Those parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who get their degree from Southern Methodist University make $14,506 more than the standard parks & rec grad.
UH is a very large public university located in the large city of Houston. A Best Colleges rank of #211 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UH is a great university overall.
There were about 417 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at UH in the most recent year we have data available. Graduates who receive their degree from the parks & rec program earn an average of $34,314 in the first couple years of working.
Located in the midsize city of Waco, Baylor is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #123 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Baylor is a great university overall.
There were approximately 124 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Baylor in the most recent data year. Those parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who get their degree from Baylor University make $5,544 more than the typical parks & rec grad.
SNU is a small private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Bethany. This university ranks 5th out of 32 colleges for overall quality in the state of Oklahoma.
There were approximately 56 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at SNU in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies program at Southern Nazarene University earn $13,019 more than the average college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Texas State is a very large public university located in the city of San Marcos. This university ranks 20th out of 115 colleges for overall quality in the state of Texas.
There were roughly 512 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Texas State in the most recent data year. Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies degree recipients from Texas State University earn a boost of about $2,432 over the typical income of parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies graduates.
Located in the distant town of Stillwater, OSU is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #227 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means OSU is a great university overall.
There were approximately 142 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at OSU in the most recent year we have data available. Students who receive their degree from the parks & rec program make about $30,592 in the first couple years of working.
Here are some additional great schools for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies students in the Southwest Region that almost earned our Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in the Southwest 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).
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. For our Best Overall Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
