2025 Best Public Health Doctor's Degree Schools

If you plan on getting your doctor's degree in public health, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #32 in the country in terms of popularity. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 30 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Public Health Doctor's Degree Schools ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 1,011 doctor's degrees in public health to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

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

The public health doctor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. 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

The overall quality of a doctor's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Doctor'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 doctor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. That is, everyone wants their doctor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

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 doctor'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 easy is it for public health to pay back their student loans after receiving their doctor'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 schools for public health students working on their doctor's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Public Health Doctor's Degree Schools list, to help you choose the best school for you.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Public Health in the United States

Learn about the top ranked colleges and universities for public health students seeking a a doctor's degree.

10 Top Schools for a Doctorate in Public Health

1

Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD

61 Annual Graduates

$96,297 Median Starting Salary

Johns Hopkins University is a great choice for individuals interested in a doctor's degree in public health. Johns Hopkins is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Baltimore.

Students who graduate with their doctorate from the public health program state that they receive average early career income of $96,297.

More information about a doctorate in public health from Johns Hopkins University

2

University of California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA

15 Annual Graduates

$115,362 Median Starting Salary

University of California - Los Angeles is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a doctor's degree in public health. Located in the city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Those public health students who get their doctor's degree from University of California - Los Angeles receive $17,522 more than the standard public health student.

More information about a doctorate in public health from University of California - Los Angeles

3

University of Maryland - College Park
College Park, MD

17 Annual Graduates

It is hard to beat University of Maryland - College Park if you want to pursue a doctor's degree in public health. UMCP is a very large public university located in the large suburb of College Park.More information about a doctorate in public health from University of Maryland - College Park

4

University of Washington - Seattle Campus
Seattle, WA

18 Annual Graduates

University of Washington - Seattle Campus is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a doctor's degree in public health. Located in the city of Seattle, UW Seattle is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in public health from University of Washington - Seattle Campus

5

University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA

10 Annual Graduates

USC is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Los Angeles.More information about a doctorate in public health from University of Southern California

6

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Houston, TX

10 Annual Graduates

UTHealth is a moderately-sized public university located in the city of Houston.More information about a doctorate in public health from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

7

University of Wisconsin - Madison
Madison, WI

18 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in public health from University of Wisconsin - Madison

8

University of Oklahoma - Health Sciences Center
Oklahoma City, OK

27 Annual Graduates

UOHSC is a small public university located in the city of Oklahoma City.More information about a doctorate in public health from University of Oklahoma - Health Sciences Center

9

University of Georgia
Athens, GA

20 Annual Graduates

Located in the midsize city of Athens, UGA is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in public health from University of Georgia

10

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN

10 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Minneapolis, UMN Twin Cities is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in public health from University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

Public Health by Region

View the Best Public Health Doctor's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

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Public Health Related Rankings by Major

One of 34 majors within the Health Professions area of study, Public Health has other similar majors worth exploring.

Public Health Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
General Public Health	585
Public Health Education and Promotion	112
Environmental Health	87
Other Public Health	72
Behavioral Aspects of Health	49
Health/Medical Physics	28
Community Health and Preventive Medicine	25
International Public Health/International Health	25
Health Services Administration	20
Maternal and Child Health	6

Majors Similar to Public Health

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Medicine	29,168
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	16,935
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences	13,508
Nursing	13,058
Dentistry	6,928
Chiropractic	2,698
Optometry	1,780
Communication Sciences	1,034
Alternative Medicine & Systems	978
Allied Health Professions	786

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.