2025 Best Child Development & Psychology Doctor's Degree Schools in Missouri

a doctor's degree in child development & psychology is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #38 out of 306 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 2 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Child Development & Psychology Doctor's Degree Schools in Missouri ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 26 doctor's degrees in child development & psychology to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their doctor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. That is, everyone wants their doctor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to child development & psychology students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other child development & psychology students want to attend this school to pursue a doctor's degree.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Student Debt - How much debt child development & psychology students go into to obtain their doctor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized child development & psychology related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for child development & psychology students working on their doctor's degree.

More Ways to Rank Child Development & Psychology Schools

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 Child Development & Psychology Doctor's Degree Schools in Missouri list to help you make the college decision.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Child Development & Psychology in Missouri

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in child development & psychology.

Top Missouri Schools for a Doctorate in Child Development

1

Washington University in St Louis
Saint Louis, MO

16 Annual Graduates

It's hard to beat Washington University in St Louis if you want to pursue a doctor's degree in child development & psychology. WUSTL is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Saint Louis.More information about a doctorate in child development & psychology from Washington University in St Louis

2

University of Missouri - Columbia
Columbia, MO

8 Annual Graduates

It's hard to beat University of Missouri - Columbia if you wish to pursue a doctor's degree in child development & psychology. Located in the city of Columbia, Mizzou is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in child development & psychology from University of Missouri - Columbia

Best Child Development & Psychology Colleges in the Plains States Region

Explore all the Best Child Development & Psychology Colleges in the Plains States Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Minnesota	120	32
Kansas	97	21
North Dakota	68	0

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Child Development & Psychology Related Rankings by Major

One of 24 majors within the Psychology area of study, Child Development & Psychology has other similar majors worth exploring.

Child Development Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Other Research & Experimental Psychology	24
Experimental Psychology	2

Most Popular Related Majors

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology	14
General Psychology	8

Notes and References

• 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). More about our data sources and methodologies.