Human Development & Family Studies is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #97 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 Human Development & Family Studies Master's Degree Schools in the New England Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 81 master's degrees in human development & family studies during the 2022-2023 academic year.
DEBUG: Checking offer "DNP - Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) (I Have a BSN)" with relevance 0.6
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "DNP - Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) (I Have a BSN)" REJECTED (relevance 0.6)
DEBUG: Checking offer "MSN - Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) (I Have a BSN)" with relevance 0.6
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "MSN - Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) (I Have a BSN)" REJECTED (relevance 0.6)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Grad Cert - Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) (I Have a MSN)" with relevance 0.6
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "Grad Cert - Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) (I Have a MSN)" REJECTED (relevance 0.6)
DEBUG: Checking offer "DNP - Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) (I Have a MSN)" with relevance 0.6
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "DNP - Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) (I Have a MSN)" REJECTED (relevance 0.6)
DEBUG: Checking offer "MSN - Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) (I Have an ADN, ASN, or RN Diploma)" with relevance 0.6
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "MSN - Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) (I Have an ADN, ASN, or RN Diploma)" REJECTED (relevance 0.6)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Marriage & Family Counseling / Therapy (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 0.5
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "Marriage & Family Counseling / Therapy (I Have a Bachelors)" REJECTED (relevance 0.5)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Grad Cert - Marriage & Family Therapy (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 0.5
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "Grad Cert - Marriage & Family Therapy (I Have a Bachelors)" REJECTED (relevance 0.5)
DEBUG: Checking offer "BSW - Social Work (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 0.5
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "BSW - Social Work (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" REJECTED (relevance 0.5)
DEBUG: Checking offer "DSW - Social Work (I Have a Masters)" with relevance 0.5
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "DSW - Social Work (I Have a Masters)" REJECTED (relevance 0.5)
DEBUG: Checking offer "MSW - Social Work (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 0.5
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "MSW - Social Work (I Have a Bachelors)" REJECTED (relevance 0.5)
DEBUG: Checking offer "PhD - Social Work (I Have a Masters)" with relevance 0.5
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "PhD - Social Work (I Have a Masters)" REJECTED (relevance 0.5)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Social Work & Social Sciences Bachelors Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 0.5
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "Social Work & Social Sciences Bachelors Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" REJECTED (relevance 0.5)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Social Work & Social Sciences Doctorate Programs (I Have a Masters)" with relevance 0.5
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "Social Work & Social Sciences Doctorate Programs (I Have a Masters)" REJECTED (relevance 0.5)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Social Work & Social Sciences Masters Programs (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 0.5
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "Social Work & Social Sciences Masters Programs (I Have a Bachelors)" REJECTED (relevance 0.5)
DEBUG: relevant_offers count = 0
DEBUG: No relevant offers, showing generic ESYOH widget
Early-Career Earnings
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
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to human development & family studies students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - How many other human development & family studies students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
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 easy is it for human development & family studies 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 development & family studies related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for human development & family studies students working on their master's degree.
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 Human Development & Family Studies Master's Degree Schools in the New England Region list to help you make the college decision.
DEBUG: Raw major_slug = "family-consumer-human-sciences//human-development-family-studies"
Tufts University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in human development & family studies. Tufts is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Medford.
Soon after graduation, human development master's recipients typically earn around $45,105 in the first five years of their career.
University of Rhode Island is a great option for individuals pursuing a master's degree in human development & family studies. Located in the suburb of Kingston, URI is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Master's students who receive their degree from the human development program earn about $47,919 in their early career salary.
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).