Human Resource Management is of the hottest master's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #22 most popular major in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 136 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Human Resource Management Master's Degree Schools ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 8,301 master's degrees in human resource management to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great Human Resource Management School for Your Master's Degree
Your choice of human resource management for getting your master's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. 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 much a school focuses on human resource management students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of human resource management 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 easy is it for human resource management 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 human resource management related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for human resource management students working on their master's degree.
More Ways to Rank Human Resource Management Schools
The hr 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 Human Resource Management Master's Degree Schools.
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ADBLOCK #171
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Human Resource Management in the United States
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in human resource management. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
It's difficult to beat Villanova University if you wish to pursue a master's degree in human resource management. Villanova is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Villanova.
Those human resource management students who get their master's degree from Villanova University earn $33,749 more than the typical hr student.
Cornell University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a master's degree in human resource management. Located in the small city of Ithaca, Cornell is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Human Resource Management master's degree recipients from Cornell University earn a boost of about $47,512 over the average income of human resource management majors.
University of Pennsylvania is a good choice for individuals pursuing a master's degree in human resource management. UPenn is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Philadelphia.
Human Resource Management master's degree recipients from University of Pennsylvania earn a boost of about $41,543 above the average income of human resource management majors.
It is hard to beat University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign if you want to pursue a master's degree in human resource management. UIUC is a very large public university located in the city of Champaign.
Those human resource management students who get their master's degree from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign receive $24,858 more than the standard hr graduate.
Located in the city of Washington, GWU is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Master's recipients from the human resource management degree program at George Washington University earn $24,728 above the average graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Located in the city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Human Resource Management master's degree recipients from University of Southern California receive an earnings boost of about $29,846 over the average income of human resource management majors.
UMN Twin Cities is a very large public university located in the city of Minneapolis.
Master's recipients from the human resource management degree program at University of Minnesota - Twin Cities get $27,462 above the standard graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Michigan State is a fairly large public university located in the city of East Lansing.
Human Resource Management master's degree recipients from Michigan State University get an earnings boost of around $34,747 above the typical income of human resource management majors.
NYU is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of New York.
Master's recipients from the human resource management degree program at New York University make $22,293 more than the average college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Georgetown is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Washington.
Master's recipients from the human resource management major at Georgetown University make $33,661 above the standard college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Texas A&M College Station is a fairly large public university located in the city of College Station.
Human Resource Management master's degree recipients from Texas A&M University - College Station receive an earnings boost of about $37,063 above the typical earnings of human resource management graduates.
Located in the city of Columbus, Ohio State is a public university with a very large student population.
Master's recipients from the human resource management degree program at Ohio State University - Main Campus get $18,067 more than the typical graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Located in the small city of New Brunswick, Rutgers New Brunswick is a public university with a very large student population.
Master's recipients from the human resource management degree program at Rutgers University - New Brunswick get $2,383 above the standard college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Located in the medium-sized city of Columbia, UofSC is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Human Resource Management master's degree recipients from University of South Carolina - Columbia receive an earnings boost of around $39,076 over the typical earnings of human resource management majors.
Pepperdine is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Malibu.
Human Resource Management master's degree recipients from Pepperdine University get an earnings boost of around $48,923 over the average earnings of human resource management majors.
UCONN is a fairly large public university located in the town of Storrs.
Human Resource Management master's degree recipients from University of Connecticut get an earnings boost of about $20,105 above the average income of human resource management graduates.
Located in the city of Scranton, University of Scranton is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.
Master's recipients from the human resource management program at University of Scranton earn $2,719 more than the average college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
Colorado State University - Global Campus is a medium-sized public university located in the large city of Aurora.
Those human resource management students who get their master's degree from Colorado State University - Global Campus earn $3,381 more than the standard hr grad.
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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 Human Resource Management Master's Degree Schools award.
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).
Your choice of human resource management for getting your master's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
