2025 Best Public Policy Doctor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region

If you plan on getting your doctor's degree in public policy, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #77 in the country in terms of popularity. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.

College Factual looked at 2 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Public Policy Doctor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 44 doctor's degrees in public policy during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

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 doctor's degree from the school. After all, your doctor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to public policy students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of public policy students who choose to seek a doctor's degree at the school.
• Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for public policy to pay back their student loans after receiving their doctor's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized public policy related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for public policy students working on their doctor's degree.

More Ways to Rank Public Policy 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 Policy Doctor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region list to help you make the college decision.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Public Policy in the Far Western US Region

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in public policy.

Top Far Western US Region Schools for a Doctorate in Public Policy

1

University of California - Berkeley
Berkeley, CA

11 Annual Graduates

University of California - Berkeley is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a doctor's degree in public policy. UC Berkeley is a fairly large public university located in the city of Berkeley.More information about a doctorate in public policy from University of California - Berkeley

2

University of Nevada - Las Vegas
Las Vegas, NV

17 Annual Graduates

It's difficult to beat University of Nevada - Las Vegas if you want to pursue a doctor's degree in public policy. UNLV is a fairly large public university located in the midsize city of Las Vegas.More information about a doctorate in public policy from University of Nevada - Las Vegas

Best Public Policy Colleges by State

Explore the best public policy schools for a specific state in the Far Western US Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
California	180	13
Oregon	107	9
Nevada	84	12

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Rankings in Majors Related to Public Policy

One of 4 majors within the Public Administration & Social Service area of study, Public Policy has other similar majors worth exploring.

Public Policy Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
General Public Policy Analysis	38
Health Policy Analysis	6

Most Popular Related Majors

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Public Administration	32
Human Services	1

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).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to The Official CTBTO Photostream. More about our data sources and methodologies.