2025 Best Communication & Journalism Schools in the Plains States Region
52Colleges in the Plains States Region
6,260Communication & 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.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 52 schools in the Plains States Region to determine which ones were the best for communication & journalism students pursuing a degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 6,260 degrees in communication & journalism annually.
Choosing a Great Communication & Journalism School
The communication & journalism program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Communication & Journalism rankings. 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.
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.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Communication & Journalism Schools in the Plains States Region 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.
Best Schools for Communication & Journalism in the Plains States 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.
10 Top Plains States Region Schools in Communication & Journalism
It's hard to beat University of Minnesota - Twin Cities if you wish to pursue a degree in communication & journalism. UMN Twin Cities is a fairly large public university located in the city of Minneapolis. A Best Colleges rank of #45 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UMN Twin Cities is a great university overall.
There were roughly 362 communication & journalism students who graduated with this degree at UMN Twin Cities in the most recent data year. Those communication & journalism students who get their degree from University of Minnesota - Twin Cities make $5,273 more than the standard communication & journalism student.
University of Missouri - Columbia is a wonderful decision for students pursuing a degree in communication & journalism. Located in the city of Columbia, Mizzou is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #131 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Mizzou is a great university overall.
There were approximately 651 communication & journalism students who graduated with this degree at Mizzou in the most recent year we have data available. Communication & Journalism degree recipients from University of Missouri - Columbia earn a boost of approximately $7,572 over the typical income 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.
University of Iowa is a wonderful decision for students pursuing a degree in communication & journalism. Located in the small city of Iowa City, Iowa is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #80 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Iowa is a great university overall.
There were about 327 communication & journalism students who graduated with this degree at Iowa in the most recent data year. After graduating, communication & journalism degree recipients usually make around $38,574 in their early careers.
University of Kansas is a good choice for students interested in a degree in communication & journalism. Located in the city of Lawrence, KU is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #192 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means KU is a great university overall.
There were about 425 communication & journalism students who graduated with this degree at KU in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the communication & journalism degree program at University of Kansas earn $4,993 more than the average college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Located in the city of Lincoln, UNL is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #207 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UNL is a great university overall.
There were roughly 399 communication & journalism students who graduated with this degree at UNL in the most recent data year. Those communication & journalism students who get their degree from University of Nebraska - Lincoln receive $2,872 more than the standard communication & journalism student.
Located in the city of Saint Cloud, St. Cloud State University is a public university with a large student population. This university ranks 33rd out of 52 colleges for overall quality in the state of Minnesota.
There were approximately 94 communication & journalism students who graduated with this degree at St. Cloud State University in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the communication & journalism degree program at Saint Cloud State University make $2,973 above the typical graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Iowa State is a very large public university located in the city of Ames. A Best Colleges rank of #88 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Iowa State is a great university overall.
There were approximately 211 communication & journalism students who graduated with this degree at Iowa State in the most recent year we have data available. Communication & Journalism degree recipients from Iowa State University get an earnings boost of about $3,950 over the typical income of communication & journalism majors.
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.
Minnesota State Mankato is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Mankato. This university ranks 11th out of 52 schools for overall quality in the state of Minnesota.
There were roughly 123.00000000000001 communication & journalism students who graduated with this degree at Minnesota State Mankato in the most recent year we have data available. Communication & Journalism degree recipients from Minnesota State University - Mankato receive an earnings boost of around $2,492 over the typical income of communication & journalism graduates.
Drake is a small private not-for-profit university located in the city of Des Moines. This university ranks 5th out of 37 schools for overall quality in the state of Iowa.
There were about 118 communication & journalism students who graduated with this degree at Drake in the most recent data year. Those communication & journalism students who get their degree from Drake University make $5,965 more than the typical communication & journalism student.
UNI is a moderately-sized public university located in the city of Cedar Falls. A Best Colleges rank of #270 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UNI is a great university overall.
There were about 119 communication & journalism students who graduated with this degree at UNI in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the communication & journalism degree program at University of Northern Iowa earn $2,848 above the standard college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
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.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Communication & Journalism Schools in the Plains States 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.
The communication & journalism program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Communication & Journalism rankings. 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.
