2025 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in Mississippi
7Colleges in Mississippi
1,137Parks & 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.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 7 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in Mississippi ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 1,137 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
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 Mississippi.
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 Mississippi
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.
Every student who is interested in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies needs to check out Mississippi State University. Located in the town of Mississippi State, Mississippi State is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #583 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Mississippi State is a great university overall.
There were roughly 283 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Mississippi State in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the parks & rec program make around $30,711 for their early career.
University of Mississippi is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. Ole Miss is a fairly large public university located in the remote town of University. A Best Colleges rank of #550 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Ole Miss is a great university overall.
There were about 199 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Ole Miss in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the parks & rec program earn around $22,796 in their early career salary.
University of Southern Mississippi is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. Located in the small city of Hattiesburg, Southern Miss is a public university with a large student population. This university ranks 8th out of 24 schools for overall quality in the state of Mississippi.
There were approximately 241 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Southern Miss in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the parks & rec program state that they receive average early career wages of $33,761.
It's hard to beat Mississippi College if you wish to pursue a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. MC is a small private not-for-profit college located in the large suburb of Clinton. A Best Colleges rank of #1006 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means MC is a great college overall.
There were roughly 75 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at MC in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the parks & rec program make around $30,193 in the first couple years of working.
Holmes Community College is a small public college located in the rural area of Goodman. This college ranks 9th out of 24 colleges for overall quality in the state of Mississippi.
There were about 20 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Holmes Community College in the most recent data year.
Located in the medium-sized city of Jackson, Belhaven is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population. This university ranks 11th out of 24 schools for overall quality in the state of Mississippi.
There were about 54 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Belhaven in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduation, parks & rec degree recipients usually make around $32,158 at the beginning of their careers.
Located in the small city of Hattiesburg, William Carey University is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population. This university ranks 7th out of 24 schools for overall quality in the state of Mississippi.
There were roughly 41 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at William Carey University in the most recent data year. After graduating, parks & rec degree recipients generally make about $24,182 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. 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.
