2024 Best Public Health Master's Degree Schools
If you pursue a master's degree in
public health, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #14 most popular program in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
College Factual reviewed 308 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for master's degree seekers in the field of public health. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 16,133 master's degrees in public health during the 2020-2021 academic year.
What's on this page: * Our Methodology
Choosing a Great Public Health School for Your Master's Degree
The public health master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality public health program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
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 take this into account we include a college'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.
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
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
- Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to public health students as compared to other majors.
- Major Demand - How many other public health students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
- 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 easy is it for public health to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
- Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized public health related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for public health students working on their master's degree.
More Ways to Rank Public Health Schools
The public health 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 Health Master's Degree Schools.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Public Health in the United States
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in public health. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
25 Top Schools for a Master's in Public Health
It is hard to beat Harvard University if you want to pursue a master's degree in public health. Located in the midsize city of Cambridge, Harvard is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Those public health students who get their master's degree from Harvard University receive $71,643 more than the average public health student.
More information about a master’s in public health from Harvard University
It's difficult to beat Columbia University in the City of New York if you wish to pursue a master's degree in public health. Columbia is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of New York.
Those public health students who get their master's degree from Columbia University in the City of New York make $22,940 more than the typical public health graduate.
More information about a master’s in public health from Columbia University in the City of New York
Emory University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in public health. Emory is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Atlanta.
Soon after graduation, public health master's recipients typically make around $52,686 in the first five years of their career.
More information about a master’s in public health from Emory University
Johns Hopkins University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in public health. Located in the city of Baltimore, Johns Hopkins is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Public Health master's degree recipients from Johns Hopkins University earn a boost of about $11,906 over the typical income of public health graduates.
More information about a master’s in public health from Johns Hopkins University
Located in the city of Houston, UTHealth is a public university with a moderately-sized student population.
Soon after graduating, public health master's recipients generally earn about $49,931 in their early careers.
More information about a master’s in public health from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston