When it comes to popularity, a master's degree in graphic communications sits in the middle of the road, ranking #162 out of 343 majors in the country. As such, the degree program isn't offered at every college in the United States, but there are schools that do have a program in the field that are top-notch when it comes to quality.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 4 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Graphic Communications Master's Degree Schools ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 424 master's degrees in graphic communications to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Graphic Communications School for Your Master's Degree
The graphic communication master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality graphic communication program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we include a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a host of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Average Earnings
To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on graphic communications students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other graphic communications students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
Student Debt - How much debt graphic communications students go into to obtain their master's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized graphic communications related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for graphic communications students working on their master's degree.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Graphic Communications Master's Degree Schools list, to help you choose the best school for you.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Graphic Communications in the United States
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in graphic communications.
Top Schools for a Master's in Graphic Communication
Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in graphic communications needs to look into Savannah College of Art and Design. Located in the city of Savannah, SCAD is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.
Those graphic communications students who get their master's degree from Savannah College of Art and Design receive $3,039 more than the standard graphic communication student.
It's difficult to beat DePaul University if you wish to pursue a master's degree in graphic communications. DePaul is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Chicago.
Students who graduate with their master's from the graphic communication program report average early career earnings of $35,334.
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 graphic communication master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality graphic communication program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
