2025 Best Public Policy Schools in the Southwest Region
7Colleges in the Southwest Region
556Public Policy Degrees Awarded
$56,036Avg Early-Career Salary
A degree in public policy is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #113 out of 395 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 7 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Public Policy Schools in the Southwest Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 556 degrees in public policy annually.
Your choice of public policy school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for public policy schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each 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.
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 Policy Schools in the Southwest Region list to help you make the college decision.
You can also filter this list by location to find schools closer to you.
In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
Best Schools for Public Policy in the Southwest Region
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 policy degrees they offer, see the list below.
It is difficult to beat The University of Texas at Austin if you want to pursue a degree in public policy. UT Austin is a fairly 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 136 public policy students who graduated with this degree at UT Austin in the most recent data year. Public Policy degree recipients from The University of Texas at Austin receive an earnings boost of about $15,687 over the average earnings of public policy majors.
Arizona State University - Tempe is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in public policy. Located in the midsize 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 colleges nationwide means ASU - Tempe is a great university overall.
There were roughly 82 public policy students who graduated with this degree at ASU - Tempe in the most recent year we have data available. After graduating, public policy degree recipients generally make about $49,753 in the first five years of their career.
BS in Business Administration - Public AdministrationProgram 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.
Southern Methodist University is a great option for students pursuing a degree in public policy. SMU is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Dallas. This university ranks 5th out of 115 colleges for overall quality in the state of Texas.
There were roughly 44 public policy students who graduated with this degree at SMU in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the public policy program report average early career income of $40,434.
Arizona State University - Skysong is a great option for students interested in a degree in public policy. ASU - Skysong is a fairly large public university located in the midsize city of Scottsdale. This university ranks 8th out of 26 schools for overall quality in the state of Arizona.
There were about 106 public policy students who graduated with this degree at ASU - Skysong in the most recent year we have data available. After graduation, public policy degree recipients generally make an average of $49,753 in the first five years of their career.
UT Dallas is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Richardson. This university ranks 9th out of 115 colleges for overall quality in the state of Texas.
There were approximately 48 public policy students who graduated with this degree at UT Dallas in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the public policy program state that they receive average early career earnings of $43,837.
University of Oklahoma is a very large public university located in the midsize suburb of Norman. This university ranks 1st out of 31 schools for overall quality in the state of Oklahoma.
There were approximately 24 public policy students who graduated with this degree at University of Oklahoma in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the public policy program report average early career wages of $53,731.
University of Arizona is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Tucson. A Best Colleges rank of #110 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means University of Arizona is a great university overall.
There were roughly 15 public policy students who graduated with this degree at University of Arizona in the most recent year we have data available.
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).
Your choice of public policy school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for public policy schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
.jpg){kind=link}