2025 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in Maryland
6Colleges in Maryland
929Parks & 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 reviewed 6 schools in Maryland to determine which ones were the best for degree seekers in the field of parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 929 degrees in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies annually.
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
The parks & rec 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 Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in Maryland.
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 Maryland
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.
Any student pursuing a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies has to take a look at University of Maryland - College Park. UMCP is a fairly large public university located in the large suburb of College Park. A Best Colleges rank of #37 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UMCP is a great university overall.
There were about 208 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at UMCP in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduation, parks & rec degree recipients usually make about $31,403 in their early careers.
Towson University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. Located in the small city of Towson, Towson is a public university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #188 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Towson is a great university overall.
There were roughly 294 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Towson in the most recent year we have data available. Students who receive their degree from the parks & rec program earn about $32,101 for their early career.
Salisbury University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. Located in the suburb of Salisbury, Salisbury is a public university with a medium-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #453 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Salisbury is a great university overall.
There were roughly 150 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Salisbury in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduating, parks & rec degree recipients typically make about $29,344 in the first five years of their career.
McDaniel College is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. McDaniel is a small private not-for-profit college located in the town of Westminster. This college ranks 23rd out of 35 colleges for overall quality in the state of Maryland.
There were approximately 37 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at McDaniel in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies program at McDaniel College get $3,628 above the average graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Frostburg State is a small public university located in the town of Frostburg. This university ranks 26th out of 35 schools for overall quality in the state of Maryland.
There were roughly 61 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Frostburg State in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the parks & rec program earn around $23,998 in their early career salary.
Located in the suburb of Bowie, Bowie State University is a public university with a medium-sized student population. This university ranks 31st out of 35 schools for overall quality in the state of Maryland.
There were roughly 24 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Bowie State University in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the parks & rec program make an average of $36,381 in the first couple years of working.
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.
