2025 Best Nursing Master's Degree Schools in Virginia

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 reviewed 14 schools in Virginia to determine which ones were the best for master's degree seekers in the field of nursing. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 769 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 good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we consider a college's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a host 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 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 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 Virginia list to help you make the college decision.

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

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

10 Top Virginia Schools for a Master's in Nursing

1

University of Virginia - Main Campus
Charlottesville, VA

112 Annual Graduates

$89,572 Median Starting Salary

It's difficult to beat University of Virginia - Main Campus if you want to pursue a master's degree in nursing. University of Virginia is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized suburb of Charlottesville.

Master's students who receive their degree from the nursing program earn an average of $89,572 for their early career.

More information about a master’s in nursing from University of Virginia - Main Campus

2

Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, VA

96 Annual Graduates

$111,341 Median Starting Salary

Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in nursing needs to look into Virginia Commonwealth University. VCU is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of Richmond.

Those nursing students who get their master's degree from Virginia Commonwealth University make $7,327 more than the standard nursing student.

More information about a master’s in nursing from Virginia Commonwealth University

3

Old Dominion University
Norfolk, VA

69 Annual Graduates

$104,712 Median Starting Salary

It's difficult to beat Old Dominion University if you wish to pursue a master's degree in nursing. Old Dominion is a very large public university located in the midsize city of Norfolk.

Soon after graduating, nursing master's recipients usually earn an average of $104,712 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a master’s in nursing from Old Dominion University

4

Marymount University
Arlington, VA

29 Annual Graduates

$105,608 Median Starting Salary

Marymount University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in nursing. Marymount is a small private not-for-profit university located in the medium-sized city of Arlington.

Master's graduates who receive their degree from the nursing program make around $105,608 in their early career salary.

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

5

Shenandoah University
Winchester, VA

17 Annual Graduates

$124,681 Median Starting Salary

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

Master's recipients from the nursing major at Shenandoah University earn $20,667 more than the average college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.

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

6

ECPI University
Virginia Beach, VA

33 Annual Graduates

$102,419 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large city of Virginia Beach, ECPI University is a private for-profit university with a large student population.

Master's graduates who receive their degree from the nursing program make an average of $102,419 in the first couple years of their career.

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

7

George Mason University
Fairfax, VA

106 Annual Graduates

$105,346 Median Starting Salary

Located in the suburb of Fairfax, GMU is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Soon after graduating, nursing master's recipients typically earn around $105,346 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a master’s in nursing from George Mason University

8

James Madison University
Harrisonburg, VA

31 Annual Graduates

$97,814 Median Starting Salary

Located in the small city of Harrisonburg, JMU is a public university with a fairly large student population.

After graduating, nursing master's recipients usually make an average of $97,814 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a master’s in nursing from James Madison University

9

Liberty University
Lynchburg, VA

160 Annual Graduates

$95,825 Median Starting Salary

Liberty University is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Lynchburg.

Students who graduate with their master's from the nursing program state that they receive average early career earnings of $95,825.

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

10

Radford University
Radford, VA

24 Annual Graduates

$101,223 Median Starting Salary

Located in the town of Radford, Radford is a public university with a medium-sized student population.

Students who graduate with their master's from the nursing program report average early career earnings of $101,223.

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

Best Nursing Colleges in the Southeast Region

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

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Florida	208	2,300
Georgia	190	1,353
North Carolina	178	931
Tennessee	166	1,147
Alabama	151	1,997
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	321
Nursing Administration	193
Family Practice Nurse/Nursing	106
Nursing Practice	96
Adult Health Nurse/Nursing	31
Other Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing	17
Clinical Nurse Leader	4
Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse/Nursing	1

Majors Similar to Nursing

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Mental & Social Health Services	1,058
Public Health	503
Allied Health Professions	412
Health & Medical Administrative Services	332
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	155
Communication Sciences	153
Alternative Medicine & Systems	95
Medical Illustration & Informatics	72
Health/Medical Prep Programs	70
Allied Health & Medical Assisting Services	47

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.