Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #100 most popular master's degree program in the country. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 2 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries Master's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 196 master's degrees in pastoral counseling & specialized ministries during the 2022-2023 academic year.
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 pastoral counseling & specialized ministries students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of pastoral counseling & specialized ministries 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 pastoral counseling & specialized ministries 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 pastoral counseling & specialized ministries related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for pastoral counseling & specialized ministries students working on their master's degree.
More Ways to Rank Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries Schools
The pastoral counseling 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 Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries Master's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries in the Far Western US Region
Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for pastoral counseling & specialized ministries students seeking a a master's degree.
Top Far Western US Region Schools for a Master's in Pastoral Counseling
It's difficult to beat The Master's University and Seminary if you want to pursue a master's degree in pastoral counseling & specialized ministries. Located in the large suburb of Santa Clarita, The Master's University is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.
Master's students who receive their degree from the pastoral counseling program make around $46,541 in the first couple years of their career.
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.
