2025 Best Public Health Master's Degree Schools in Pennsylvania

If you pursue a master's degree in public health, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #14 most popular program in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 11 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Public Health Master's Degree Schools in Pennsylvania ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 622 master's degrees in public health during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Public Health School for Your Master's Degree

Your choice of public health 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. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on public health students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of public health students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
• Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
• Student Debt - How much debt public health 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 public health related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for public health students working on their master's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The public health 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 Public Health Master's Degree Schools in Pennsylvania.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Public Health in Pennsylvania

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

10 Top Pennsylvania Schools for a Master's in Public Health

1

University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA

67 Annual Graduates

$65,496 Median Starting Salary

Any student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in public health has to take a look at University of Pennsylvania. Located in the city of Philadelphia, UPenn is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

Master's recipients from the public health major at University of Pennsylvania get $7,166 more than the typical college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.

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

2

University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus
Pittsburgh, PA

38 Annual Graduates

University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in public health. Located in the city of Pittsburgh, Pitt is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in public health from University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus

3

Drexel University
Philadelphia, PA

80 Annual Graduates

$61,046 Median Starting Salary

Any student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in public health needs to look into Drexel University. Located in the city of Philadelphia, Drexel is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

Public Health master's degree recipients from Drexel University earn a boost of around $2,716 above the average income of public health majors.

More information about a master’s in public health from Drexel University

4

Saint Joseph's University
Philadelphia, PA

69 Annual Graduates

Saint Joseph's University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in public health. St. Joe's is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Philadelphia.More information about a master’s in public health from Saint Joseph’s University

5

Thomas Jefferson University
Philadelphia, PA

82 Annual Graduates

$61,081 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large city of Philadelphia, Thomas Jefferson University is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.

Those public health students who get their master's degree from Thomas Jefferson University earn $2,751 more than the typical public health graduate.

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

6

Temple University
Philadelphia, PA

39 Annual Graduates

$59,164 Median Starting Salary

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

Master's graduates who receive their degree from the public health program make around $59,164 in their early career salary.

More information about a master’s in public health from Temple University

7

Arcadia University
Glenside, PA

17 Annual Graduates

Arcadia is a small private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Glenside.More information about a master’s in public health from Arcadia University

8

Duquesne University
Pittsburgh, PA

14 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Pittsburgh, Duquesne is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.More information about a master’s in public health from Duquesne University

9

Widener University
Chester, PA

29 Annual Graduates

$49,890 Median Starting Salary

Widener is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Chester.

After graduation, public health master's recipients generally make around $49,890 in their early careers.

More information about a master’s in public health from Widener University

10

Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania
Slippery Rock, PA

14 Annual Graduates

$45,293 Median Starting Salary

SRU is a moderately-sized public university located in the distant town of Slippery Rock.

Master's students who receive their degree from the public health program make around $45,293 in their early career salary.

More information about a master’s in public health from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania

Best Public Health Colleges in the Middle Atlantic Region

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

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
New York	261	1,114
Maryland	193	699
New Jersey	188	232
District of Columbia	154	588
Delaware	109	29

View All Rankings >

Public Health Related Rankings by Major

Public Health is one of 34 different types of Health Professions programs to choose from.

Public Health Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
General Public Health	257
Health Services Administration	128
Other Public Health	100
Behavioral Aspects of Health	53
International Public Health/International Health	35
Public Health Education and Promotion	34
Environmental Health	12
Patient Safety and Healthcare Quality	3

Majors Similar to Public Health

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Nursing	1,946
Allied Health Professions	1,377
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	879
Communication Sciences	634
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 Article 25 Flickr. More about our data sources and methodologies.