2025 Best Public Administration Master's Degree Schools in California
Ranked #19 in popularity,
public administration is one of the most sought-after master's degree programs in the nation. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 18 schools in California to determine which ones were the best for public administration students pursuing a master's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 1,278 master's degrees in public administration to qualified students.
What's on this page: * Our Methodology
Choosing a Great Public Administration School for Your Master's Degree
The public admin master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we include a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a combination of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Average Earnings
To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
- Major Focus - How much a school focuses on public administration students vs. other majors.
- Major Demand - The number of public administration students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
- 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 public administration students go into to obtain their master'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 public administration related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for public administration students working on their master's degree.
More Ways to Rank Public Administration 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 Public Administration Master's Degree Schools in California list to help you make the college decision.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Public Administration in California
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in public administration.
10 Top California Schools for a Master's in Public Admin
Any student who is interested in a master's degree in public administration needs to take a look at University of Southern California. Located in the city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Those public administration students who get their master's degree from University of Southern California receive $10,249 more than the typical public admin student.
More information about a master’s in public administration from University of Southern California
California State University - Northridge is a great decision for students pursuing a master's degree in public administration. CSUN is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Northridge.
Master's recipients from the public administration program at California State University - Northridge make $9,755 above the average graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
More information about a master’s in public administration from California State University - Northridge
It is difficult to beat California State University - Long Beach if you wish to pursue a master's degree in public administration. Located in the large city of Long Beach, CSULB is a public university with a very large student population.
Master's graduates who receive their degree from the public admin program earn about $64,423 for their early career.
More information about a master’s in public administration from California State University - Long Beach
California Baptist University is a good option for students interested in a master's degree in public administration. Cal Baptist is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Riverside.
Public Administration master's degree recipients from California Baptist University earn a boost of about $11,748 above the average income of public administration majors.
More information about a master’s in public administration from California Baptist University
National University is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of San Diego.
Master's recipients from the public administration major at National University make $5,001 above the typical college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
More information about a master’s in public administration from National University
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