2025 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in Oregon
7Colleges in Oregon
601Parks & Rec Degrees Awarded
$34,494Avg Early-Career Salary
If you plan on majoring in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #15 in the country in terms of popularity. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.
College Factual looked at 7 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in Oregon ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 601 degrees in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies School
Your choice of parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. For our Best Overall Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
Pick Your Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Degree Level
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in Oregon 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 Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in Oregon
The schools below may not offer all types of parks & rec degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer.
Oregon State University is a great option for students pursuing a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. Oregon State is a very large public university located in the city of Corvallis. A Best Colleges rank of #238 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Oregon State is a great university overall.
There were roughly 230 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Oregon State in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the parks & rec program make around $30,224 in the first couple years of working.
Pacific University is a wonderful option for students pursuing a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. Located in the large suburb of Forest Grove, Pacific is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population. A Best Colleges rank of #411 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Pacific is a great university overall.
There were about 42 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Pacific in the most recent data year. Soon after graduation, parks & rec degree recipients generally make an average of $26,219 in the first five years of their career.
Every student who is interested in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies has to take a look at Western Oregon University. Western Oregon State College is a small public university located in the town of Monmouth. A Best Colleges rank of #448 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Western Oregon State College is a great university overall.
There were about 40 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Western Oregon State College in the most recent year we have data available. After graduating, parks & rec degree recipients generally make around $32,249 in their early careers.
George Fox University is a great option for students pursuing a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. Located in the town of Newberg, GFU is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population. This university ranks 9th out of 29 schools for overall quality in the state of Oregon.
There were about 35 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at GFU in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the parks & rec program report average early career wages of $29,842.
Southern Oregon University is a medium-sized public university located in the medium-sized suburb of Ashland. This university ranks 22nd out of 29 schools for overall quality in the state of Oregon.
There were about 39 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Southern Oregon University in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the parks & rec program report average early career wages of $28,462.
Located in the medium-sized city of Salem, Willamette is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population. This university ranks 18th out of 29 colleges for overall quality in the state of Oregon.
There were about 23 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Willamette in the most recent year we have data available.
EOU is a small public university located in the remote town of La Grande. This university ranks 23rd out of 29 schools for overall quality in the state of Oregon.
There were about 56 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at EOU in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduation, parks & rec degree recipients generally earn about $32,584 in their early careers.
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).
Your choice of parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. For our Best Overall Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
