2025 Best Public Administration & Social Service Master's Degree Schools in Iowa

If you plan on getting your master's degree in public administration & social service, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #5 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 2 schools in Iowa to determine which ones were the best for public administration & social service students pursuing a master's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 330 master's degrees in public administration & social service during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master'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 administration & social service students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of public administration & social service students who choose to seek a master'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 much debt public administration & social service 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 & social service related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for public administration & social service students working on their master's degree.

More Ways to Rank Public Administration & Social Service Schools

The public administration & social service 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 & Social Service Master's Degree Schools in Iowa.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Public Administration & Social Service in Iowa

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in public administration & social service.

Top Iowa Schools for a Master's in Public Administration & Social Service

1

University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

150 Annual Graduates

It's difficult to beat University of Iowa if you want to pursue a master's degree in public administration & social service. Iowa is a very large public university located in the city of Iowa City.More information about a master’s in public administration & social service from University of Iowa

2

University of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls, IA

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

32 Annual Graduates

Any student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in public administration & social service needs to take a look at University of Northern Iowa. Located in the small city of Cedar Falls, UNI is a public university with a moderately-sized student population.More information about a master’s in public administration & social service from University of Northern Iowa

Best Public Administration & Social Service Colleges in the Plains States Region

Explore all the Best Public Administration & Social Service Colleges in the Plains States Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Missouri	32	854
Minnesota	31	2,199
Kansas	30	401
Nebraska	29	191
North Dakota	28	88
South Dakota	25	50

View All Rankings >

Public Administration & Social Service Majors to Study

Major	Annual Graduates
Public Administration	81

Majors Similar to Public Administration & Social Service

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies	108

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 University of the Fraser Valley. More about our data sources and methodologies.