2025 Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools in Illinois

A degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #218 out of 1506 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.

College Factual looked at 2 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools in Illinois ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 172 degrees in parks, recreation & leisure studies to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Degree-Level Rankings

• Best Overall Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools List

Parks, Recreation & Leisure 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 Studies Schools in Illinois list to help you make the college decision. You can also filter this list by location to find schools closer to you.

In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.

More information on how we come up with our rankings can be found here: College Factual's Data Methodology.

Best Schools for Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies in Illinois

Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the parks & rec degree levels they offer.

Top Illinois Schools in Parks & Rec

1

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

145 Parks & Rec Degrees Awarded

2.1% Growth in Graduates

It is hard to beat University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign if you want to pursue a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies. Located in the small city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

2

Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Carbondale, IL

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

Southern Illinois University Carbondale is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies. SIUC is a large public university located in the distant town of Carbondale.More information about a degree in parks, recreation & leisure studies from Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

Explore all the Best Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Ohio	939	101
Michigan	915	16
Indiana	737	161

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Rankings in Majors Related to Parks & Rec

Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies is one of 0 different types of Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies programs to choose from.

Notes and References

• 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).

More about our data sources and methodologies.