2025 Best Nursing Master's Degree Schools in Michigan

Nursing is of the hottest master's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #2 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 looked at 12 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Nursing Master's Degree Schools in Michigan ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 710 master's degrees in nursing to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Nursing School for Your Master's Degree

Your choice of nursing 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. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

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 account for this we include a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree 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 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

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 master'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 master'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 full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for nursing students working on their master'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 Master's Degree Schools in Michigan ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Nursing in Michigan

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

10 Top Michigan Schools for a Master's in Nursing

1

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI

123 Annual Graduates

$91,784 Median Starting Salary

It is difficult to beat University of Michigan - Ann Arbor if you wish to pursue a master's degree in nursing. Located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public university with a very large student population.

After graduating, nursing master's recipients typically make around $91,784 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a master’s in nursing from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

2

Wayne State University
Detroit, MI

39 Annual Graduates

$128,146 Median Starting Salary

Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in nursing has to look into Wayne State University. Located in the large city of Detroit, Wayne State is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Those nursing students who get their master's degree from Wayne State University make $22,716 more than the standard nursing student.

More information about a master’s in nursing from Wayne State University

3

University of Detroit Mercy
Detroit, MI

67 Annual Graduates

$115,393 Median Starting Salary

Any student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in nursing needs to take a look at University of Detroit Mercy. Located in the city of Detroit, Detroit Mercy is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.

Nursing master's degree recipients from University of Detroit Mercy receive an earnings boost of approximately $9,963 over the typical earnings of nursing majors.

More information about a master’s in nursing from University of Detroit Mercy

4

Oakland University
Rochester Hills, MI

60 Annual Graduates

$108,536 Median Starting Salary

It is hard to beat Oakland University if you wish to pursue a master's degree in nursing. Located in the large suburb of Rochester Hills, Oakland is a public university with a large student population.

Master's recipients from the nursing degree program at Oakland University get $3,106 more than the standard graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.

More information about a master’s in nursing from Oakland University

5

Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI

10 Annual Graduates

$104,677 Median Starting Salary

Michigan State is a fairly large public university located in the small city of East Lansing.

Soon after graduating, nursing master's recipients typically make an average of $104,677 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a master’s in nursing from Michigan State University

6

University of Michigan - Flint
Flint, MI

65 Annual Graduates

$118,273 Median Starting Salary

Located in the small city of Flint, UM Flint is a public university with a medium-sized student population.

Those nursing students who get their master's degree from University of Michigan - Flint make $12,843 more than the typical nursing graduate.

More information about a master’s in nursing from University of Michigan - Flint

7

Madonna University
Livonia, MI

23 Annual Graduates

$112,237 Median Starting Salary

Madonna is a small private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Livonia.

Nursing master's degree recipients from Madonna University earn a boost of about $6,807 above the average earnings of nursing graduates.

More information about a master’s in nursing from Madonna University

8

Spring Arbor University
Spring Arbor, MI

228 Annual Graduates

$101,688 Median Starting Salary

Spring Arbor is a small private not-for-profit university located in the rural area of Spring Arbor.

After graduating, nursing master's recipients typically earn around $101,688 in their early careers.

More information about a master’s in nursing from Spring Arbor University

9

Saginaw Valley State University
University Center, MI

27 Annual Graduates

$106,840 Median Starting Salary

Saginaw Valley State University is a medium-sized public university located in the medium-sized suburb of University Center.

Master's graduates who receive their degree from the nursing program make around $106,840 in their early career salary.

More information about a master’s in nursing from Saginaw Valley State University

10

Eastern Michigan University
Ypsilanti, MI

12 Annual Graduates

$98,401 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large suburb of Ypsilanti, Eastern Michigan is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Soon after graduating, nursing master's recipients typically earn about $98,401 in their early careers.

More information about a master’s in nursing from Eastern Michigan 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
Illinois	221	5,250
Ohio	207	1,953
Indiana	191	1,452
Wisconsin	173	588

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
Family Practice Nurse/Nursing	264
Nursing Administration	143
Registered Nursing	126
Public Health/Community Nurse/Nursing	52
Geriatric Nurse/Nursing	40
Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse/Nursing	19
Maternal/Child Health and Neonatal Nurse/Nursing	18
School Nursing	14
Forensic Nursing	10
Clinical Nurse Specialist	8

Majors Similar to Nursing

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Mental & Social Health Services	454
Allied Health Professions	414
Public Health	414
Health & Medical Administrative Services	303
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	275
Communication Sciences	264
Medical Illustration & Informatics	60
Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services	51
Advanced Dentistry & Oral Sciences	47
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences	31

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.