2025 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in Colorado
7Colleges in Colorado
1,128Parks & Rec Degrees Awarded
$34,494Avg Early-Career Salary
A degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #15 out of 38 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 7 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in Colorado ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 1,128 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. We derive our Best Overall Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
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 Colorado.
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.
Best Schools for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies in Colorado
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.
Any student pursuing a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies needs to take a look at Colorado State University - Fort Collins. Colorado State is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of Fort Collins. A Best Colleges rank of #178 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Colorado State is a great university overall.
There were approximately 316 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Colorado State in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the parks & rec program report average early career wages of $34,875.
It's hard to beat University of Northern Colorado if you want to pursue a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. Located in the midsize city of Greeley, University of Northern Colorado is a public university with a medium-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #707 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means University of Northern Colorado is a great university overall.
There were roughly 218 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at University of Northern Colorado in the most recent year we have data available. Those parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who get their degree from University of Northern Colorado earn $3,552 more than the standard parks & rec graduate.
Any student pursuing a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies has to check out Metropolitan State University of Denver. MSU Denver is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Denver. A Best Colleges rank of #1497 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means MSU Denver is a great university overall.
There were about 117 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at MSU Denver in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies degree program at Metropolitan State University of Denver get $6,966 more than the average college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Colorado Mesa University is a good decision for students pursuing a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. Located in the city of Grand Junction, Colorado Mesa is a public university with a medium-sized student population. This university ranks 26th out of 31 schools for overall quality in the state of Colorado.
There were roughly 139 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Colorado Mesa in the most recent data year. After graduation, parks & rec degree recipients generally make around $31,253 in the first five years of their career.
FLC is a small public college located in the distant town of Durango. This college ranks 28th out of 31 schools for overall quality in the state of Colorado.
There were approximately 70 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at FLC in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the parks & rec program earn an average of $24,705 in the first couple years of working.
Adams State is a small public university located in the town of Alamosa. This university ranks 25th out of 31 colleges for overall quality in the state of Colorado.
There were approximately 53 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Adams State in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the parks & rec program state that they receive average early career earnings of $30,045.
Western is a small public university located in the town of Gunnison. This university ranks 29th out of 31 colleges for overall quality in the state of Colorado.
There were roughly 57 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Western in the most recent data year. Soon after graduation, parks & rec degree recipients typically make an average of $22,359 in the first five years of their career.
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. We derive our Best Overall Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
