If you plan on getting your bachelor's degree in human development & family studies, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #39 in the country in terms of popularity. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.
College Factual looked at 10 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Human Development & Family Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 554 bachelor's degrees in human development & family studies to qualified students.
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
Choosing a Great Human Development & Family Studies School for Your Bachelor's Degree
The human development bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we include a school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a host of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Early-Career Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of bachelor's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their bachelor'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 human development & family studies students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of human development & family studies students who choose to seek a bachelor'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 development & family studies to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized human development & family studies related body.
Our full 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 bachelor's degree.
More Ways to Rank Human Development & Family Studies Schools
The human development 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 Development & Family Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region.
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat.
Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
DEBUG: Raw major_slug = "family-consumer-human-sciences//human-development-family-studies"
Iowa State University is a wonderful option for individuals interested in a bachelor's degree in human development & family studies. Iowa State is a fairly large public university located in the city of Ames.
Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the human development program make around $36,364 for their early career.
Any student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in human development & family studies has to check out North Dakota State University - Main Campus. Located in the medium-sized city of Fargo, North Dakota State University is a public university with a large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the human development & family studies program at North Dakota State University - Main Campus get $5,894 more than the average college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Kansas State University is a wonderful choice for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in human development & family studies. Located in the city of Manhattan, K -State is a public university with a large student population.
Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the human development program report average early career earnings of $34,241.
University of Missouri - Columbia is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in human development & family studies. Located in the midsize city of Columbia, Mizzou is a public university with a very large student population.
Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the human development program make about $33,015 in their early career salary.
Located in the large city of Saint Paul, Concordia University, Saint Paul is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the human development & family studies major at Concordia University, Saint Paul earn $4,770 above the typical college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Human Development & Family Studies Related Rankings by Major
One of 8 majors within the Family, Consumer & Human Sciences area of study, Human Development & Family Studies has other similar majors worth exploring.
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).