2025 Best Public Health Master's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region

Ranked #14 in popularity, public health is one of the most sought-after master's degree programs in the nation. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 57 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Public Health Master's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 4,250 master's degrees in public health to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

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

The public health master'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. 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 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 public health students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other public health 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 easy is it for public health to pay back their student loans after receiving their master'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 master's degree.

More Ways to Rank Public Health 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 Public Health Master's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region list to help you make the college decision.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Public Health in the Southeast Region

Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for public health students seeking a a master's degree. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.

11 Top Southeast Region Schools for a Master's in Public Health

1

Emory University
Atlanta, GA

424 Annual Graduates

$63,822 Median Starting Salary

Emory University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in public health. Emory is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Atlanta.

Master's recipients from the public health program at Emory University earn $8,728 more than the typical graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

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

2

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC

514 Annual Graduates

$60,926 Median Starting Salary

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in public health. Located in the city of Chapel Hill, UNC Chapel Hill is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Public Health master's degree recipients from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill get an earnings boost of about $5,832 over the typical income of public health majors.

More information about a master’s in public health from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

3

University of Florida
Gainesville, FL

183 Annual Graduates

$54,905 Median Starting Salary

It's hard to beat University of Florida if you want to pursue a master's degree in public health. UF is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Gainesville.

Soon after graduating, public health master's recipients usually earn around $54,905 in the first five years of their career.

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

4

Tulane University of Louisiana
New Orleans, LA

79 Annual Graduates

$58,719 Median Starting Salary

Tulane University of Louisiana is a good decision for individuals interested in a master's degree in public health. Located in the city of New Orleans, Tulane is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.

Public Health master's degree recipients from Tulane University of Louisiana earn a boost of around $3,625 above the average income of public health majors.

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

5

University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, AL

277 Annual Graduates

$56,823 Median Starting Salary

UAB is a very large public university located in the city of Birmingham.

After graduating, public health master's recipients generally earn an average of $56,823 in the first five years of their career.

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

6

University of South Carolina - Columbia
Columbia, SC

34 Annual Graduates

$55,845 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of Columbia, UofSC is a public university with a very large student population.

Soon after graduation, public health master's recipients typically make around $55,845 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a master’s in public health from University of South Carolina - Columbia

7

University of Georgia
Athens, GA

96 Annual Graduates

$47,001 Median Starting Salary

UGA is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Athens.

Students who graduate with their master's from the public health program state that they receive average early career income of $47,001.

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

8

University of Miami
Coral Gables, FL

26 Annual Graduates

$69,067 Median Starting Salary

Located in the suburb of Coral Gables, U Miami is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

Master's recipients from the public health degree program at University of Miami earn $13,973 more than the typical college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

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

9

University of South Florida - Main Campus
Tampa, FL

206 Annual Graduates

$58,339 Median Starting Salary

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

Master's recipients from the public health program at University of South Florida - Main Campus make $3,245 more than the standard college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.

More information about a master’s in public health from University of South Florida - Main Campus

10

East Carolina University
Greenville, NC

50 Annual Graduates

$54,877 Median Starting Salary

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

Students who graduate with their master's from the public health program report average early career wages of $54,877.

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

11

Duke University
Durham, NC

12 Annual Graduates

$61,687 Median Starting Salary

Duke is a large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Durham.

Those public health students who get their master's degree from Duke University receive $6,593 more than the standard public health graduate.

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

Honorable Mentions

Here are some additional great schools for Public Health students in the Southeast Region that almost earned our Best Public Health Master's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region award.

Rank	College	Location
12	University of Kentucky	Lexington, KY
13	George Mason University	Fairfax, VA
14	University of Virginia - Main Campus	Charlottesville, VA
15	East Tennessee State University	Johnson City, TN
16	Samford University	Birmingham, AL
17	Western Kentucky University	Bowling Green, KY
18	The University of Tennessee - Knoxville	Knoxville, TN
19	The University of Alabama	Tuscaloosa, AL

Best Public Health Colleges by State

Explore the best public health schools for a specific state in the Southeast Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Florida	208	763
Georgia	190	806
Virginia	182	601
North Carolina	178	519
Tennessee	166	212
Alabama	151	377
Kentucky	147	103
Louisiana	147	189
South Carolina	146	61
Mississippi	145	86
Arkansas	121	54
West Virginia	112	105

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Public Health

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

Public Health Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
General Public Health	3,263
Health Services Administration	247
Public Health Education and Promotion	215
Environmental Health	162
International Public Health/International Health	128
Community Health and Preventive Medicine	88
Other Public Health	54
Health/Medical Physics	48
Patient Safety and Healthcare Quality	25
Behavioral Aspects of Health	18

Most Popular Majors Related to Public Health

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Nursing	11,667
Allied Health Professions	3,991
Mental & Social Health Services	3,537
Health & Medical Administrative Services	2,953
Communication Sciences	2,178
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	1,624
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences	493
Medical Illustration & Informatics	433
Health Sciences & Services	413
Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services	288

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.