2025 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in the Southwest Region
63Colleges in the Southwest Region
10,064Parks & 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 63 schools in the Southwest Region to determine which ones were the best for degree seekers in the field of parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. Combined, these schools handed out 10,064 degrees in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies School
The parks & rec program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies rankings. 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.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness 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, & Fitness Studies Schools in the Southwest Region list to help you make the college decision.
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 the Southwest Region
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. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
Every student who is interested in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies needs to take a look at Texas A&M University - College Station. Texas A&M College Station is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of College Station. A Best Colleges rank of #42 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Texas A&M College Station is a great university overall.
There were approximately 607 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Texas A&M College Station in the most recent year we have data available. Those parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who get their degree from Texas A&M University - College Station receive $4,652 more than the average parks & rec grad.
Any student pursuing a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies has to check out The University of Texas at Austin. UT Austin is a very large public university located in the large city of Austin. A Best Colleges rank of #46 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UT Austin is a great university overall.
There were about 307 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at UT Austin 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 $35,583.
It is hard to beat Arizona State University - Tempe if you want to pursue a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. Located in the medium-sized city of Tempe, ASU - Tempe is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #108 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means ASU - Tempe is a great university overall.
There were approximately 379 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at ASU - Tempe in the most recent year we have data available. Students who receive their degree from the parks & rec program make an average of $33,256 for their early career.
Rice University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a degree in parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies. Located in the city of Houston, Rice is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #48 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Rice is a great university overall.
There were about 104 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Rice in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies program at Rice University earn $16,616 above the standard graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
UH is a fairly large public university located in the city of Houston. This university ranks 14th out of 115 schools for overall quality in the state of Texas.
There were about 417 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at UH in the most recent year we have data available. Graduates who receive their degree from the parks & rec program earn an average of $30,759 in their early career salary.
Texas State is a very large public university located in the small city of San Marcos. This university ranks 16th out of 115 schools for overall quality in the state of Texas.
There were approximately 512 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Texas State in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the parks & rec program earn an average of $33,333 in their early career salary.
SMU is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Dallas. A Best Colleges rank of #142 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means SMU is a great university overall.
There were roughly 133 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at SMU in the most recent year we have data available. Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies degree recipients from Southern Methodist University earn a boost of around $8,451 above the typical earnings of parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies majors.
Located in the midsize city of Waco, Baylor is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #150 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Baylor is a great university overall.
There were roughly 124 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at Baylor in the most recent year we have data available. Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies degree recipients from Baylor University receive an earnings boost of about $2,180 over the typical income of parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies graduates.
UNT is a very large public university located in the midsize city of Denton. A Best Colleges rank of #310 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UNT is a great university overall.
There were roughly 420 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at UNT in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the parks & rec program make about $35,960 for their early career.
SHSU is a fairly large public university located in the town of Huntsville. This university ranks 18th out of 115 colleges for overall quality in the state of Texas.
There were about 151 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at SHSU in the most recent year we have data available. Those parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who get their degree from Sam Houston State University make $2,511 more than the average parks & rec graduate.
Located in the midsize city of McAllen, South Texas College is a public college with a fairly large student population. This college ranks 19th out of 115 schools for overall quality in the state of Texas.
There were about 50 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at South Texas College in the most recent year we have data available. Graduates who receive their degree from the parks & rec program make about $22,699 in their early career salary.
NAU is a very large public university located in the small city of Flagstaff. A Best Colleges rank of #221 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means NAU is a great university overall.
There were roughly 273 parks, recreation, leisure, & fitness studies students who graduated with this degree at NAU in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the parks & rec program make about $29,731 in their early career salary.
Here are some additional great schools for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies students in the Southwest Region that almost earned our Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in the Southwest Region award.
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).
The parks & rec program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies rankings. 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.
