2025 Best Communication & Journalism Schools in the Great Lakes Region
94Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
17,001Communication & Journalism Degrees Awarded
$37,306Avg Early-Career Salary
A degree in communication & journalism is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #11 out of 38 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.
College Factual looked at 94 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Communication & Journalism Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 17,001 degrees in communication & journalism to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Communication & Journalism School
Your choice of communication & journalism school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for communication & journalism schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
Communication & Journalism Rankings by Degree Level
The communication & journalism 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 Communication & Journalism Schools in the Great Lakes Region.
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 Communication & Journalism in the Great Lakes Region
The schools below may not offer all types of communication & journalism degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
18 Top Great Lakes Region Schools in Communication & Journalism
Northwestern University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in communication & journalism. Northwestern is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Evanston. A Best Colleges rank of #5 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Northwestern is a great university overall.
There were about 831 communication & journalism students who graduated with this degree at Northwestern in the most recent year we have data available. Those communication & journalism students who get their degree from Northwestern University make $24,571 more than the average communication & journalism graduate.
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a degree in communication & journalism. U-M is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor. A Best Colleges rank of #22 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means U-M is a great university overall.
There were roughly 260 communication & journalism students who graduated with this degree at U-M in the most recent data year. Communication & Journalism degree recipients from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor get an earnings boost of around $13,250 above the average earnings of communication & journalism majors.
With an online bachelor's degree in communication you'll have the opportunity to pursue a multitude of career options. From journalism and social media, to public relations, advertising and mass media, earning your BA in communication will allow you to strategize and communicate your ideas.
Michigan State University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in communication & journalism. Located in the city of East Lansing, Michigan State is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #54 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Michigan State is a great university overall.
There were about 1222 communication & journalism students who graduated with this degree at Michigan State in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the communication & journalism major at Michigan State University get $2,961 above the typical graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
University of Wisconsin - Madison is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a degree in communication & journalism. Located in the city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #40 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UW - Madison is a great university overall.
There were about 754 communication & journalism 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 communication & journalism program state that they receive average early career income of $38,668.
Located in the small city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #41 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UIUC is a great university overall.
There were approximately 615 communication & journalism students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the communication & journalism major at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign earn $4,684 more than the typical college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
IU Bloomington is a very large public university located in the city of Bloomington. A Best Colleges rank of #30 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means IU Bloomington is a great university overall.
There were approximately 584 communication & journalism students who graduated with this degree at IU Bloomington in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the communication & journalism program state that they receive average early career wages of $38,483.
Ohio State is a very large public university located in the city of Columbus. A Best Colleges rank of #70 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Ohio State is a great university overall.
There were about 555 communication & journalism students who graduated with this degree at Ohio State in the most recent data year. Communication & Journalism degree recipients from Ohio State University - Main Campus earn a boost of about $3,022 over the typical earnings of communication & journalism graduates.
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Purdue is a very large public university located in the small city of West Lafayette. A Best Colleges rank of #65 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Purdue is a great university overall.
There were approximately 445 communication & journalism students who graduated with this degree at Purdue in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the communication & journalism degree program at Purdue University - Main Campus make $19,220 above the average graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
OHIO Athens is a fairly large public university located in the distant town of Athens. This university ranks 7th out of 91 colleges for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were approximately 625 communication & journalism students who graduated with this degree at OHIO Athens in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the communication & journalism program report average early career earnings of $34,899.
Located in the large city of Chicago, DePaul is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #135 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means DePaul is a great university overall.
There were roughly 380 communication & journalism students who graduated with this degree at DePaul in the most recent year we have data available. Those communication & journalism students who get their degree from DePaul University receive $2,809 more than the average communication & journalism grad.
Located in the large city of Milwaukee, Marquette is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #114 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Marquette is a great university overall.
There were roughly 168 communication & journalism students who graduated with this degree at Marquette in the most recent year we have data available. Students who receive their degree from the communication & journalism program make about $38,874 for their early career.
Explore the digital frontier as it relates to today's communications strategies with this specialized online bachelor's from Southern New Hampshire University.
Miami University - Oxford is a large public university located in the fringe town of Oxford. A Best Colleges rank of #134 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Miami University - Oxford is a great university overall.
There were approximately 350 communication & journalism students who graduated with this degree at Miami University - Oxford in the most recent data year. Those communication & journalism students who get their degree from Miami University - Oxford receive $9,384 more than the standard communication & journalism graduate.
UDayton is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the midsize city of Dayton. This university ranks 8th out of 91 colleges for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were roughly 162 communication & journalism students who graduated with this degree at UDayton in the most recent year we have data available. Communication & Journalism degree recipients from University of Dayton receive an earnings boost of about $5,323 above the typical income of communication & journalism graduates.
UC is a very large public university located in the large city of Cincinnati. This university ranks 6th out of 91 schools for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were roughly 472 communication & journalism students who graduated with this degree at UC in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the communication & journalism program report average early career wages of $38,052.
Ball State is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Muncie. This university ranks 5th out of 41 colleges for overall quality in the state of Indiana.
There were about 501 communication & journalism students who graduated with this degree at Ball State in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the communication & journalism program report average early career earnings of $33,583.
Located in the large city of Milwaukee, UWM is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 23rd out of 46 colleges for overall quality in the state of Wisconsin.
There were about 225 communication & journalism students who graduated with this degree at UWM in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the communication & journalism program report average early career earnings of $38,040.
Butler is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of Indianapolis. This university ranks 10th out of 41 schools for overall quality in the state of Indiana.
There were approximately 147 communication & journalism students who graduated with this degree at Butler in the most recent year we have data available. Communication & Journalism degree recipients from Butler University receive an earnings boost of about $2,395 above the typical income of communication & journalism majors.
Kent State is a very large public university located in the suburb of Kent. This university ranks 9th out of 91 colleges for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were roughly 357 communication & journalism students who graduated with this degree at Kent State in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the communication & journalism program report average early career earnings of $36,451.
With an online bachelor's degree in communication you'll have the opportunity to pursue a multitude of career options. From journalism and social media, to public relations, advertising and mass media, earning your BA in communication will allow you to strategize and communicate your ideas.
Effective communicators are always in demand, no matter the industry. The Master's in Communication degree from Southern New Hampshire University is a cutting-edge program designed for forward-thinking professionals.
Explore the digital frontier as it relates to today's communications strategies with this specialized online bachelor's from Southern New Hampshire University.
Here are some additional great schools for Communication & Journalism students in the Great Lakes Region that almost earned our Best Communication & Journalism 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).
Credit for the banner image above goes to Josh Hallett.
Your choice of communication & journalism school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for communication & journalism schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
