2025 Best Public Administration Master's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region
If you pursue a master's degree in
public administration, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #19 most popular program in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 19 schools in the Southwest Region to determine which ones were the best for public administration students pursuing a master's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 1,233 master's degrees in public administration during the 2022-2023 academic year.
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. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we consider a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a combination of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Early-Career Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of master's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their master'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 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 full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for public administration students working on their master's degree.
More Ways to Rank Public Administration Schools
The public admin 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 Public Administration Master's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Public Administration in the Southwest Region
Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for public administration students seeking a a master's degree.
10 Top Southwest Region Schools for a Master's in Public Admin
Arizona State University - Tempe is a great option for students pursuing a master's degree in public administration. Located in the city of Tempe, ASU - Tempe is a public university with a very large student population.
Master's graduates who receive their degree from the public admin program earn about $55,985 in the first couple years of working.
More information about a master’s in public administration from Arizona State University - Tempe
It is hard to beat University of Arizona if you want to pursue a master's degree in public administration. University of Arizona is a fairly large public university located in the city of Tucson.
Master's graduates who receive their degree from the public admin program make around $49,900 in their early career salary.
More information about a master’s in public administration from University of Arizona
Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in public administration needs to look into The University of Texas at Arlington. UT Arlington is a very large public university located in the city of Arlington.
Those public administration students who get their master's degree from The University of Texas at Arlington receive $7,457 more than the average public admin grad.
More information about a master’s in public administration from The University of Texas at Arlington
It is hard to beat Grand Canyon University if you want to pursue a master's degree in public administration. Grand Canyon University is a very large private for-profit university located in the city of Phoenix.
Public Administration master's degree recipients from Grand Canyon University earn a boost of approximately $5,525 above the typical income of public administration majors.
More information about a master’s in public administration from Grand Canyon University
Located in the city of Phoenix, UOPX - Arizona is a private for-profit university with a very large student population.
Master's students who receive their degree from the public admin program make around $58,617 in their early career salary.
More information about a master’s in public administration from University of Phoenix - Arizona
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