2025 Best Nursing Master's Degree Schools in Pennsylvania

If you pursue a master's degree in nursing, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #2 most popular program in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 24 schools in Pennsylvania to determine which ones were the best for nursing students pursuing a master's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 1,946 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. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we include a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a combination of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master'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 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 complete 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

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 Nursing Master's Degree Schools in Pennsylvania list to help you make the college decision.

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

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in nursing.

10 Top Pennsylvania Schools for a Master's in Nursing

1

University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA

241 Annual Graduates

$115,382 Median Starting Salary

University of Pennsylvania is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in nursing. UPenn is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Philadelphia.

Students who graduate with their master's from the nursing program report average early career earnings of $115,382.

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

2

Drexel University
Philadelphia, PA

296 Annual Graduates

$117,291 Median Starting Salary

Drexel University is a good choice for individuals pursuing a master's degree in nursing. Drexel is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Philadelphia.

Master's graduates who receive their degree from the nursing program earn around $117,291 for their early career.

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

3

Villanova University
Villanova, PA

43 Annual Graduates

$125,417 Median Starting Salary

Villanova University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in nursing. Villanova is a large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Villanova.

Those nursing students who get their master's degree from Villanova University make $4,611 more than the typical nursing grad.

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

4

Thomas Jefferson University
Philadelphia, PA

224 Annual Graduates

$117,607 Median Starting Salary

Thomas Jefferson University is a wonderful option for individuals pursuing a master's degree in nursing. Thomas Jefferson University is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Philadelphia.

After graduating, nursing master's recipients usually make around $117,607 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a master’s in nursing from Thomas Jefferson University

5

University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus
Pittsburgh, PA

10 Annual Graduates

Pitt is a fairly large public university located in the city of Pittsburgh.More information about a master’s in nursing from University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus

6

La Salle University
Philadelphia, PA

54 Annual Graduates

$137,009 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large city of Philadelphia, La Salle is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

Nursing master's degree recipients from La Salle University receive an earnings boost of approximately $16,203 above the typical income of nursing graduates.

More information about a master’s in nursing from La Salle University

7

Duquesne University
Pittsburgh, PA

77 Annual Graduates

$94,344 Median Starting Salary

Duquesne is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of Pittsburgh.

Soon after graduation, nursing master's recipients typically earn around $94,344 in their early careers.

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

8

Gannon University
Erie, PA

16 Annual Graduates

$188,872 Median Starting Salary

Gannon is a small private not-for-profit university located in the city of Erie.

Those nursing students who get their master's degree from Gannon University receive $68,066 more than the typical nursing student.

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

9

Widener University
Chester, PA

29 Annual Graduates

$108,805 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large suburb of Chester, Widener is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.

Students who graduate with their master's from the nursing program report average early career wages of $108,805.

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

10

DeSales University
Center Valley, PA

50 Annual Graduates

$115,780 Median Starting Salary

Located in the suburb of Center Valley, DeSales is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

Master's graduates who receive their degree from the nursing program earn about $115,780 in their early career salary.

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

Best Nursing Colleges in the Middle Atlantic Region

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

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
New York	261	2,540
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
Registered Nursing	1,034
Family Practice Nurse/Nursing	232
Nursing Administration	141
Perioperative/Operating Room and Surgical Nurse/Nursing	116
Other Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing	100
Nurse Anesthetist	51
Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse/Nursing	49
School Nursing	46
Adult Health Nurse/Nursing	42
Nursing Science	32

Most Popular Majors Related to Nursing

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Allied Health Professions	1,377
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	879
Communication Sciences	634
Public Health	622
Health & Medical Administrative Services	581
Mental & Social Health Services	358
Health/Medical Prep Programs	142
Bioethics/Medical Ethics	136
Other Health Professions	124
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences	98

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.