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

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.

College Factual looked at 16 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Public Health Master's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 1,075 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 full 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 the Plains States Region.

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

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

10 Top Plains States Region Schools for a Master's in Public Health

1

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN

171 Annual Graduates

$70,387 Median Starting Salary

It is difficult to beat University of Minnesota - Twin Cities if you wish to pursue a master's degree in public health. Located in the large city of Minneapolis, UMN Twin Cities is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Public Health master's degree recipients from University of Minnesota - Twin Cities get an earnings boost of around $7,868 over the average income of public health graduates.

More information about a master’s in public health from University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

2

University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA

84 Annual Graduates

$69,154 Median Starting Salary

Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in public health needs to look into University of Iowa. Iowa is a very large public university located in the small city of Iowa City.

Public Health master's degree recipients from University of Iowa earn a boost of about $6,635 above the average earnings of public health majors.

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

3

University of Nebraska Medical Center
Omaha, NE

77 Annual Graduates

$59,287 Median Starting Salary

University of Nebraska Medical Center is one of the best schools in the country for getting a master's degree in public health. UNMC is a small public university located in the city of Omaha.

After graduation, public health master's recipients usually make about $59,287 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a master’s in public health from University of Nebraska Medical Center

4

Saint Louis University
Saint Louis, MO

41 Annual Graduates

$61,908 Median Starting Salary

Any student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in public health has to check out Saint Louis University. SLU is a large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Saint Louis.

Soon after graduating, public health master's recipients usually make about $61,908 in their early careers.

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

5

University of Missouri - Columbia
Columbia, MO

79 Annual Graduates

$62,368 Median Starting Salary

Mizzou is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of Columbia.

Students who graduate with their master's from the public health program report average early career wages of $62,368.

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

6

St Catherine University
Saint Paul, MN

16 Annual Graduates

$61,593 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large city of Saint Paul, St. Kate's is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

Soon after graduation, public health master's recipients typically earn around $61,593 in the first five years of their career.

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

7

University of North Dakota
Grand Forks, ND

25 Annual Graduates

Located in the small city of Grand Forks, UND is a public university with a large student population.More information about a master’s in public health from University of North Dakota

8

Missouri State University - Springfield
Springfield, MO

25 Annual Graduates

Located in the midsize city of Springfield, Missouri State is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in public health from Missouri State University - Springfield

9

Saint Mary's University of Minnesota
Winona, MN

16 Annual Graduates

Located in the town of Winona, SMU MN is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.More information about a master’s in public health from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota

10

South Dakota State University
Brookings, SD

16 Annual Graduates

South Dakota State is a large public university located in the remote town of Brookings.More information about a master’s in public health from South Dakota State University

Best Public Health Colleges by State

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

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Missouri	193	392
Minnesota	174	446
Iowa	154	151
Kansas	149	51
Nebraska	123	82
North Dakota	115	25
South Dakota	89	25

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	673
Environmental Health	118
Other Public Health	99
Public Health Education and Promotion	87
Community Health and Preventive Medicine	38
Health Services Administration	34
Maternal and Child Health	21
Health/Medical Physics	5

Majors Similar to Public Health

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Nursing	7,167
Mental & Social Health Services	2,934
Health & Medical Administrative Services	1,566
Allied Health Professions	1,054
Communication Sciences	737
Bioethics/Medical Ethics	734
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	464
Medical Illustration & Informatics	318
Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services	230
Alternative Medicine & Systems	111

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.