2025 Best Nursing Master's Degree Schools in New York

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.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 34 schools in New York to determine which ones were the best for nursing students pursuing a master's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 2,655 master's degrees in nursing during the 2022-2023 academic year.

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 college's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a collection 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

The nursing 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 Nursing Master's Degree Schools in New York.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Nursing in New York

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

10 Top New York Schools for a Master's in Nursing

1

New York University
New York, NY

185 Annual Graduates

$141,353 Median Starting Salary

New York University is a great option for students interested in a master's degree in nursing. NYU is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of New York.

Those nursing students who get their master's degree from New York University receive $13,210 more than the typical nursing student.

More information about a master’s in nursing from New York University

2

Stony Brook University
Stony Brook, NY

169 Annual Graduates

$126,792 Median Starting Salary

It is difficult to beat Stony Brook University if you want to pursue a master's degree in nursing. SUNY Stony Brook is a very large public university located in the large suburb of Stony Brook.

Students who graduate with their master's from the nursing program state that they receive average early career wages of $126,792.

More information about a master’s in nursing from Stony Brook University

3

SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University
Brooklyn, NY

130 Annual Graduates

$132,479 Median Starting Salary

SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University is a wonderful decision for individuals pursuing a master's degree in nursing. Located in the city of Brooklyn, SUNY Downstate is a public university with a small student population.

Master's recipients from the nursing degree program at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University make $4,336 above the average college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.

More information about a master’s in nursing from SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University

4

Molloy College
Rockville Centre, NY

96 Annual Graduates

$133,952 Median Starting Salary

It is hard to beat Molloy College if you want to pursue a master's degree in nursing. Located in the suburb of Rockville Centre, Molloy is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

Those nursing students who get their master's degree from Molloy College make $5,809 more than the standard nursing student.

More information about a master’s in nursing from Molloy College

5

University of Rochester
Rochester, NY

84 Annual Graduates

$104,483 Median Starting Salary

University of Rochester is a large private not-for-profit university located in the midsize city of Rochester.

Soon after graduation, nursing master's recipients typically earn around $104,483 at the beginning of their careers.

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

6

LIU Post
Brookville, NY

186 Annual Graduates

$130,958 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large suburb of Brookville, LIU Post is a private not-for-profit school with a large student population.

Nursing master's degree recipients from LIU Post earn a boost of around $2,815 over the average income of nursing majors.

More information about a master’s in nursing from LIU Post

7

Upstate Medical University
Syracuse, NY

90 Annual Graduates

$109,921 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of Syracuse, SUNY Upstate Medical University is a public university with a small student population.

Master's graduates who receive their degree from the nursing program earn around $109,921 in the first couple years of their career.

More information about a master’s in nursing from Upstate Medical University

8

Pace University - New York
New York, NY

145 Annual Graduates

$136,021 Median Starting Salary

Pace University is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of New York.

Master's recipients from the nursing degree program at Pace University - New York earn $7,878 more than the standard graduate in this field shortly after graduation.

More information about a master’s in nursing from Pace University - New York

9

Adelphi University
Garden City, NY

43 Annual Graduates

$146,993 Median Starting Salary

Adelphi is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Garden City.

Those nursing students who get their master's degree from Adelphi University make $18,850 more than the average nursing student.

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

10

Hofstra University
Hempstead, NY

57 Annual Graduates

$132,442 Median Starting Salary

Hofstra is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Hempstead.

Master's recipients from the nursing degree program at Hofstra University get $4,299 above the average graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.

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

Best Nursing Colleges in the Middle Atlantic Region

Explore all the Best Nursing Schools in the Middle Atlantic Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Pennsylvania	248	2,051
Maryland	193	624
New Jersey	188	445
District of Columbia	154	448
Delaware	109	129

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	1,146
Registered Nursing	348
Adult Health Nurse/Nursing	320
Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse/Nursing	267
Nursing Administration	163
School Nursing	86
Geriatric Nurse/Nursing	84
Critical Care Nursing	66
Nursing Science	39
Women’s Health Nurse/Nursing	36

Majors Similar to Nursing

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Public Health	1,308
Allied Health Professions	1,263
Communication Sciences	1,139
Mental & Social Health Services	1,091
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	1,053
Health & Medical Administrative Services	856
Bioethics/Medical Ethics	279
Other Health Professions	234
Alternative Medicine & Systems	187
Medical Illustration & Informatics	136

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.