If you pursue a master's degree in public health, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #14 most popular program in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
For its 2023 ranking, College Factual looked at 303 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for public health students pursuing a master's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 16,133 master's degrees in public health during the 2020-2021 academic year.
Choosing a Great Public Health School for Your Master's Degree
The public health master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality public health program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
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 college's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a collection of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Average Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to public health students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - How many other public health 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 easy is it for public health to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized public health related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for public health students working on their master's degree.
The public health 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 Public Health Master's Degree Schools.
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Featured Public Health Programs
Learn about start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.
The online MPH degree at SNHU gives you a solid grounding in the scientific basis of public health, preparing you to effect change for entire populations.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Public Health in the United States
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in public health. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
It is hard to beat Harvard University if you wish to pursue a master's degree in public health. Located in the midsize city of Cambridge, Harvard is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Those public health students who get their master's degree from Harvard University receive $71,643 more than the standard public health student.
Johns Hopkins University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in public health. Located in the city of Baltimore, Johns Hopkins is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Public Health master's degree recipients from Johns Hopkins University receive an earnings boost of about $11,906 over the typical income of public health graduates.
It is difficult to beat Columbia University in the City of New York if you wish to pursue a master's degree in public health. Columbia is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of New York.
Those public health students who get their master's degree from Columbia University in the City of New York earn $22,940 more than the standard public health student.
Emory University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in public health. Emory is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Atlanta.
After graduating, public health master's recipients generally make about $52,686 in their early careers.
Brown is a large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Providence.
Master's recipients from the public health program at Brown University get $7,446 more than the standard college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Located in the city of Nashville, Vanderbilt is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Master's recipients from the public health program at Vanderbilt University earn $72,311 above the average college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
UCLA is a fairly large public university located in the city of Los Angeles.
Public Health master's degree recipients from University of California - Los Angeles receive an earnings boost of around $13,546 over the average income of public health majors.
Located in the city of Boston, Boston U is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Master's recipients from the public health program at Boston University make $4,753 above the average college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Located in the small city of Chapel Hill, UNC Chapel Hill is a public university with a very large student population.
Master's recipients from the public health program at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill earn $4,971 more than the standard college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
UW Seattle is a fairly large public university located in the city of Seattle.
Public Health master's degree recipients from University of Washington - Seattle Campus earn a boost of approximately $8,783 above the typical income of public health graduates.
Located in the large suburb of Medford, Tufts is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.
Public Health master's degree recipients from Tufts University earn a boost of approximately $12,987 above the average earnings of public health graduates.
UMN Twin Cities is a very large public university located in the large city of Minneapolis.
Those public health students who get their master's degree from University of Minnesota - Twin Cities earn $7,387 more than the average public health student.
Located in the large suburb of College Park, UMCP is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Public Health master's degree recipients from University of Maryland - College Park get an earnings boost of about $11,555 above the average income of public health graduates.
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).
college factual
The public health master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality public health program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
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