2025 Best Nursing Master's Degree Schools in Alabama

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 11 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Nursing Master's Degree Schools in Alabama ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 1,995 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 good 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 colleges 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 Alabama ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

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

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

10 Top Alabama Schools for a Master's in Nursing

1

Samford University
Birmingham, AL

47 Annual Graduates

$156,772 Median Starting Salary

Samford University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in nursing. Samford is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Birmingham.

Master's recipients from the nursing degree program at Samford University earn $55,150 above the standard college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.

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

2

University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, AL

588 Annual Graduates

$103,147 Median Starting Salary

It is difficult to beat University of Alabama at Birmingham if you wish to pursue a master's degree in nursing. UAB is a very large public university located in the city of Birmingham.

Soon after graduating, nursing master's recipients generally make about $103,147 in their early careers.

More information about a master’s in nursing from University of Alabama at Birmingham

3

University of South Alabama
Mobile, AL

806 Annual Graduates

$104,698 Median Starting Salary

University of South Alabama is a great decision for individuals interested in a master's degree in nursing. Located in the medium-sized city of Mobile, USA is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Nursing master's degree recipients from University of South Alabama get an earnings boost of approximately $3,076 over the average earnings of nursing graduates.

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

4

Auburn University
Auburn, AL

46 Annual Graduates

$100,573 Median Starting Salary

Auburn University is a good decision for individuals pursuing a master's degree in nursing. Located in the city of Auburn, Auburn is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Soon after graduating, nursing master's recipients generally earn around $100,573 in the first five years of their career.

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

5

University of Alabama in Huntsville
Huntsville, AL

122 Annual Graduates

$93,529 Median Starting Salary

UAH is a medium-sized public university located in the medium-sized city of Huntsville.

Soon after graduation, nursing master's recipients usually make around $93,529 at the beginning of their careers.

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

6

The University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, AL

87 Annual Graduates

$94,911 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of Tuscaloosa, UA is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Master's graduates who receive their degree from the nursing program earn around $94,911 for their early career.

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

7

Troy University
Troy, AL

67 Annual Graduates

$98,805 Median Starting Salary

Located in the remote town of Troy, TROY is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Master's students who receive their degree from the nursing program earn an average of $98,805 in the first couple years of their career.

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

8

University of Mobile
Mobile, AL

12 Annual Graduates

$103,794 Median Starting Salary

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

Those nursing students who get their master's degree from University of Mobile earn $2,172 more than the standard nursing student.

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

9

University of North Alabama
Florence, AL

137 Annual Graduates

$77,761 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of Florence, UNA is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Soon after graduating, nursing master's recipients generally make an average of $77,761 at the beginning of their careers.

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

10

Jacksonville State University
Jacksonville, AL

58 Annual Graduates

$80,009 Median Starting Salary

Jacksonville State University is a moderately-sized public university located in the small suburb of Jacksonville.

Master's students who receive their degree from the nursing program make about $80,009 for their early career.

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

Best Nursing Colleges in the Southeast Region

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

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Florida	208	2,300
Georgia	190	1,353
Virginia	182	728
North Carolina	178	931
Tennessee	166	1,147
Kentucky	147	1,361
Louisiana	147	340
South Carolina	146	369
Mississippi	145	175
Arkansas	121	229
West Virginia	112	145

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	1,910
Family Practice Nurse/Nursing	55
Public Health/Community Nurse/Nursing	21
Emergency Room/Trauma Nursing	5
Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse/Nursing	3
Clinical Nurse Leader	1

Majors Similar to Nursing

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Public Health	448
Allied Health Professions	216
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	176
Communication Sciences	156
Mental & Social Health Services	149
Health & Medical Administrative Services	136
Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services	40
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science	22
Other Health Professions	17
Advanced Dentistry & Oral Sciences	16

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.