2025 Best Public Administration Schools in Illinois
8
Colleges in Illinois
395
Public Admin Degrees Awarded
$59,458
Avg Early-Career Salary
If you plan on majoring in
public administration, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #60 in the country in terms of popularity. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 8 schools in Illinois to determine which ones were the best for public administration students pursuing a degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 395 degrees in public administration annually.
Jump to one of the following sections: * Degree-Level Rankings
Choosing a Great Public Administration School
Your choice of public administration school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. We derive our Best Overall Public Administration 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 Public Administration 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 Public Administration Schools in Illinois list to help you make the college decision.
More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.
To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
Read more about College Factual's methodology.
Best Schools for Public Administration in Illinois
If you aren't interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the public admin degrees they offer, see the list below.
Top Illinois Schools in Public Admin
Northwestern University is a good decision for students interested in a degree in public administration. Northwestern is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Evanston. A Best Colleges rank of #5 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Northwestern is a great university overall.
There were approximately 90 public administration students who graduated with this degree at Northwestern in the most recent data year. Those public administration students who get their degree from Northwestern University earn $13,802 more than the typical public admin graduate.
More information about a degree in public administration from Northwestern University
It's difficult to beat University of Illinois at Chicago if you want to pursue a degree in public administration. UIC is a very large public university located in the city of Chicago. A Best Colleges rank of #254 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UIC is a great university overall.
There were approximately 27 public administration students who graduated with this degree at UIC in the most recent year we have data available. After graduation, public admin degree recipients typically make about $59,815 at the beginning of their careers.
More information about a degree in public administration from University of Illinois at Chicago
Bachelors
Degree Type
BS in Business Administration - Public Administration
Program Name
Prepare yourself to make the decisions that best serve a community, its constituents and its economic growth with this specialized business degree from Southern New Hampshire University.
More information about a degree in BS in Business Administration - Public Administration from Southern New Hampshire UniversityRelated Programs
It is hard to beat University of Illinois at Springfield if you want to pursue a degree in public administration. Located in the medium-sized city of Springfield, UIS is a public university with a small student population. This university ranks 78th out of 85 colleges for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were about 68 public administration students who graduated with this degree at UIS in the most recent year we have data available. Students who receive their degree from the public admin program earn about $61,014 in the first couple years of their career.
More information about a degree in public administration from University of Illinois at Springfield
Every student who is interested in public administration has to check out Aurora University. Located in the suburb of Aurora, Aurora is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #348 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Aurora is a great university overall.
There were about 20 public administration students who graduated with this degree at Aurora in the most recent data year. Soon after graduation, public admin degree recipients typically earn around $42,605 at the beginning of their careers.
More information about a degree in public administration from Aurora University
NIU is a large public university located in the suburb of Dekalb. This university ranks 20th out of 85 colleges for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were approximately 33 public administration students who graduated with this degree at NIU in the most recent year we have data available. Public Administration degree recipients from Northern Illinois University earn a boost of around $3,391 over the average earnings of public administration majors.
More information about a degree in public administration from Northern Illinois University
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