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2024 Best Psychology Master's Degree Schools

572 Colleges in the United States
32,270 Master's Degrees
$45,565 Avg Early-Career Salary
a master's degree in psychology is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #7 out of 37 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.

In 2024, College Factual analyzed 572 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Psychology Master's Degree Schools ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 32,270 master's degrees in psychology to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

Choosing a Great Psychology School for Your Master's Degree

Best Psychology Master's Degree Schools The psychology master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality psychology 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 collection of various 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.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for psychology students working on their master's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Rankings by Location Check Out Other Locales
More Psychology Rankings Other Ranking Categories

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 Psychology Master's Degree Schools list to help you make the college decision.


 

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Psychology in the United States

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in psychology. 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 Psychology

1
Harvard crest
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
82 Annual Graduates

Harvard University is a wonderful choice for students pursuing a master's degree in psychology. Located in the medium-sized city of Cambridge, Harvard is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in psychology from Harvard University

2
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
279 Annual Graduates

Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in psychology needs to check out Northwestern University. Located in the small city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in psychology from Northwestern University

3
UPenn crest
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
196 Annual Graduates

Any student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in psychology needs to take a look at University of Pennsylvania. UPenn is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Philadelphia.More information about a master’s in psychology from University of Pennsylvania

4
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
338 Annual Graduates

The Chicago School of Professional Psychology at Los Angeles is a good decision for students pursuing a master's degree in psychology. The Chicago School Los Angeles Campus is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Los Angeles.More information about a master’s in psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology at Los Angeles

5
Duke crest
Duke University
Durham, NC
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
12 Annual Graduates

Duke is a large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Durham.More information about a master’s in psychology from Duke University

6
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
26 Annual Graduates

UChicago is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Chicago.More information about a master’s in psychology from University of Chicago

7
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
231 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Chicago, The Chicago School Chicago Campus is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.More information about a master’s in psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology at Chicago

8
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
290 Annual Graduates

Teachers College is a small private not-for-profit university located in the large city of New York.More information about a master’s in psychology from Teachers College at Columbia University

9
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
10 Annual Graduates

WUSTL is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Saint Louis.More information about a master’s in psychology from Washington University in St Louis

10
Princeton crest
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
8 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Princeton, Princeton is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.More information about a master’s in psychology from Princeton University

11
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
9 Annual Graduates

Columbia is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of New York.More information about a master’s in psychology from Columbia University in the City of New York

12
NYU crest
New York University
New York, NY
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
264 Annual Graduates

NYU is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of New York.More information about a master’s in psychology from New York University

13
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
14 Annual Graduates

Notre Dame is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Notre Dame.More information about a master’s in psychology from University of Notre Dame

14
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
36 Annual Graduates

UCLA is a very large public university located in the large city of Los Angeles.More information about a master’s in psychology from University of California - Los Angeles

15
Vanderbilt crest
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
22 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Nashville, Vanderbilt is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in psychology from Vanderbilt University

16
Emory crest
Emory University
Atlanta, GA
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
8 Annual Graduates

Emory is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Atlanta.More information about a master’s in psychology from Emory University

17
Rice crest
Rice University
Houston, TX
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
6 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Houston, Rice is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.More information about a master’s in psychology from Rice University

18
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
16 Annual Graduates

Located in the small city of Ithaca, Cornell is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in psychology from Cornell University

19
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
127 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in psychology from University of Southern California

20
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
92 Annual Graduates

The Chicago School Washington DC Campus is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Washington.More information about a master’s in psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology at Washington DC

21
SCU crest
Santa Clara University
Santa Clara, CA
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
98 Annual Graduates

SCU is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the medium-sized city of Santa Clara.More information about a master’s in psychology from Santa Clara University

22
Adler crest
Adler University
Chicago, IL
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
288 Annual Graduates

Adler is a small private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Chicago.More information about a master’s in psychology from Adler University

23
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
671 Annual Graduates

Pepperdine is a large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Malibu.More information about a master’s in psychology from Pepperdine University

24
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
85 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Santa Barbara, Fielding is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.More information about a master’s in psychology from Fielding Graduate University

25
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
82 Annual Graduates

Texas A&M College Station is a very large public university located in the city of College Station.More information about a master’s in psychology from Texas A&M University - College Station

Rest of the Top 50 Best Psychology Master's Degree Schools

26
Villanova crest
Villanova University
Villanova, PA
27
28
29
30
31
National University crest
National University
San Diego, CA
32

33

34
35
36
37
Boston U crest
Boston University
Boston, MA
37
38
39
40
USFCA crest
University of San Francisco
San Francisco, CA

41
Pacific Graduate School of Psychology crest
Palo Alto University
Palo Alto, CA

42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
Tufts crest
Tufts University
Medford, MA

Additional Award Winners

This list represents the remainder of the schools awarded a Best Psychology Master's Degree Schools badge. Showing in this list means the school was ranked in the top 15% of the 572 different United States psychology schools we analyzed.

Rank College Location
50 California Baptist University Riverside, CA
51 Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH
52 Marquette University Milwaukee, WI
53 University of Florida Gainesville, FL
54 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN
55 Southern Methodist University Dallas, TX
56 Simmons University Boston, MA
57 Nova Southeastern University Fort Lauderdale, FL
58 The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX
59 Brandeis University Waltham, MA
60 Carlos Albizu University - San Juan San Juan, PR
61 Holy Names University Oakland, CA
62 Florida International University Miami, FL
63 Loma Linda University Loma Linda, CA
64 Baylor University Waco, TX
65 University of Nebraska - Lincoln Lincoln, NE
66 Texas Christian University Fort Worth, TX
67 University of Denver Denver, CO
68 The Wright Institute Berkeley, CA
69 Pacific University Forest Grove, OR
70 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL
71 University of Colorado Boulder Boulder, CO
72 Capella University Minneapolis, MN
73 California State University - Long Beach Long Beach, CA
74 University of Cincinnati - Main Campus Cincinnati, OH
75 University of Miami Coral Gables, FL
76 Wheaton College Illinois Wheaton, IL
77 Ohio State University - Main Campus Columbus, OH
77 Walden University Minneapolis, MN
78 Brandman University Irvine, CA
78 Saint Louis University Saint Louis, MO
79 American University Washington, DC
80 University of California - Berkeley Berkeley, CA
80 Touro University Worldwide Los Alamitos, CA
82 Seattle University Seattle, WA
83 Yeshiva University New York, NY
84 Wake Forest University Winston-Salem, NC
85 Arizona State University - Skysong Scottsdale, AZ

Honorable Mentions

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Psychology Master's Degree Schools award.

Rank College Location
86 Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA
87 Salve Regina University Newport, RI
88 University of Kansas Lawrence, KS
89 Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus Atlanta, GA
90 Mount Saint Mary’s University Los Angeles, CA
91 Michigan State University East Lansing, MI
92 Florida State University Tallahassee, FL
93 Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, MI
94 University of California - Davis Davis, CA
95 Drexel University Philadelphia, PA
96 Hofstra University Hempstead, NY
97 Rutgers University - New Brunswick New Brunswick, NJ
98 University of Illinois at Chicago Chicago, IL
99 California Institute of Integral Studies San Francisco, CA
100 University of Oregon Eugene, OR
101 University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT
102 Auburn University Auburn, AL
103 Ball State University Muncie, IN
104 University of Nevada - Reno Reno, NV
105 Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA
106 National Louis University Chicago, IL
107 University of California - Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA
108 Syracuse University Syracuse, NY
108 University of North Dakota Grand Forks, ND
109 Utah State University Logan, UT
110 The Chicago School of Professional Psychology at Irvine Anaheim, CA
111 University of the Cumberlands Williamsburg, KY
112 University of St Thomas Minnesota Saint Paul, MN
113 Saint Joseph’s University Philadelphia, PA
114 University of Washington - Seattle Campus Seattle, WA

Psychology by Region

View the Best Psychology Master's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

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Psychology Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology 22,477
General Psychology 6,330
Other Psychology 1,777
Child Development & Psychology 1,686

Notes and References

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