2025 Best Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in Illinois

Nursing is of the hottest doctor's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #5 most popular major in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.

College Factual reviewed 10 schools in Illinois to determine which ones were the best for doctor's degree seekers in the field of nursing. Combined, these schools handed out 1,151 doctor's degrees in nursing to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Nursing School for Your Doctor's Degree

The nursing doctor'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

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To take this into account we consider a college's overall Best Colleges for a Doctor'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.

Early-Career Earnings

One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of doctorate graduates during the early years of their career. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their doctor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

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 nursing students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other nursing students want to attend this school to pursue a doctor'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 much debt nursing students go into to obtain their doctor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized nursing related body.

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

More Ways to Rank Nursing Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in Illinois ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Nursing in Illinois

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in nursing.

10 Top Illinois Schools for a Doctorate in Nursing

1

Loyola University Chicago
Chicago, IL

10 Annual Graduates

$149,948 Median Starting Salary

Loyola University Chicago is a great choice for students interested in a doctor's degree in nursing. Loyola Chicago is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Chicago.

Doctorate graduates who receive their degree from the nursing program earn about $149,948 in the first couple years of their career.

More information about a doctorate in nursing from Loyola University Chicago

2

Rush University
Chicago, IL

235 Annual Graduates

$119,538 Median Starting Salary

Every student pursuing a degree in a doctor's degree in nursing needs to check out Rush University. Rush University is a small private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Chicago.

Students who graduate with their doctorate from the nursing program state that they receive average early career earnings of $119,538.

More information about a doctorate in nursing from Rush University

3

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Edwardsville, IL

90 Annual Graduates

$165,748 Median Starting Salary

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is a wonderful choice for students interested in a doctor's degree in nursing. SIUE is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of Edwardsville.

After graduation, nursing doctorate recipients usually make around $165,748 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a doctorate in nursing from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

4

Bradley University
Peoria, IL

43 Annual Graduates

$108,003 Median Starting Salary

It is difficult to beat Bradley University if you want to pursue a doctor's degree in nursing. Bradley is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of Peoria.

Students who graduate with their doctorate from the nursing program state that they receive average early career wages of $108,003.

More information about a doctorate in nursing from Bradley University

5

Chamberlain University - Illinois
Addison, IL

482 Annual Graduates

$130,967 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large suburb of Addison, Chamberlain - Illinois is a private for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

Doctorate graduates who receive their degree from the nursing program make around $130,967 in the first couple years of their career.

More information about a doctorate in nursing from Chamberlain University - Illinois

6

University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, IL

136 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Chicago, UIC is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing from University of Illinois at Chicago

7

Saint Anthony College of Nursing
Rockford, IL

16 Annual Graduates

Located in the medium-sized city of Rockford, SACN is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing from Saint Anthony College of Nursing

8

DePaul University
Chicago, IL

31 Annual Graduates

$204,157 Median Starting Salary

DePaul is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Chicago.

Nursing doctor's degree recipients from DePaul University get an earnings boost of about $33,974 above the typical earnings of nursing majors.

More information about a doctorate in nursing from DePaul University

9

Millikin University
Decatur, IL

18 Annual Graduates

$259,426 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of Decatur, Millikin is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

Nursing doctor's degree recipients from Millikin University earn a boost of about $89,243 over the typical income of nursing graduates.

More information about a doctorate in nursing from Millikin University

10

McKendree University
Lebanon, IL

20 Annual Graduates

McKendree is a small private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Lebanon.More information about a doctorate in nursing from McKendree University

Best Nursing Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

Explore all the Best Nursing Colleges in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Michigan	149	169
Ohio	144	238
Indiana	132	190
Wisconsin	108	209

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Nursing

One of 34 majors within the Health Professions area of study, Nursing has other similar majors worth exploring.

Nursing Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Nursing Practice	1,060
Nurse Anesthetist	48
Nursing Science	21
Nursing Administration	20
Family Practice Nurse/Nursing	2

Majors Similar to Nursing

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Medicine	1,391
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences	514
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	452
Dentistry	307
Optometry	163
Communication Sciences	82
Chiropractic	65
Alternative Medicine & Systems	39
Allied Health Professions	28
Other Health Professions	19

Notes and References

• 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).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to Aleksahgabrielle. More about our data sources and methodologies.