Ranked #28 in popularity, public health is one of the most sought-after bachelor's degree programs in the nation. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
College Factual looked at 16 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Public Health Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 622 bachelor's degrees in public health to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great Public Health School for Your Bachelor's Degree
The public health bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality public health program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
The overall quality of a bachelor'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 college's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a combination of various 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 bachelor's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their bachelor'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 public health students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - The number of public health students who choose to seek a bachelor's degree at the school.
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 easy is it for public health to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
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 bachelor's degree.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Public Health Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
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It's hard to beat University of Iowa if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in public health. Located in the city of Iowa City, Iowa is a public university with a very large student population.
Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the public health program earn around $35,852 for their early career.
St Catherine University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in public health. St. Kate's is a small private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Saint Paul.
Bachelor's recipients from the public health program at St Catherine University earn $5,332 above the typical graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Saint Louis University is a good choice for students interested in a bachelor's degree in public health. Located in the large city of Saint Louis, SLU is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.
Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the public health program earn about $33,863 in their early career salary.
It's difficult to beat University of Missouri - Columbia if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in public health. Located in the medium-sized city of Columbia, Mizzou is a public university with a fairly large student population.
After graduation, public health bachelor's recipients usually make about $36,867 in the first five years of their career.
Located in the distant town of Winona, Winona State is a public university with a moderately-sized student population.
Public Health bachelor's degree recipients from Winona State University get an earnings boost of approximately $9,175 over the typical earnings of public health majors.
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).
The public health bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality public health program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
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