When it comes to popularity, a master's degree in museum studies sits in the middle of the road, ranking #151 out of 343 majors in the country. So, you may have to do some digging around to find quality schools that offer the degree program. This list can help with that.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 9 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Museum Studies Master's Degree Schools ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 562 master's degrees in museum studies to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great Museum Studies School for Your Master's Degree
Your choice of museum studies for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality museum studies program can vary widely even among the top schools. 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 museum studies students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other museum studies students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
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 museum studies 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 museum studies related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for museum studies students working on their master's degree.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Museum Studies Master's Degree Schools list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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Harvard University is a wonderful decision for individuals interested in a master's degree in museum studies. Harvard is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the midsize city of Cambridge.
Master's recipients from the museum studies major at Harvard University earn $7,395 above the typical college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Johns Hopkins University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in museum studies. Johns Hopkins is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Baltimore.
Museum Studies master's degree recipients from Johns Hopkins University earn a boost of about $4,066 over the typical earnings of museum studies majors.
Tufts University is a great choice for students interested in a master's degree in museum studies. Tufts is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Medford.
Students who graduate with their master's from the museum studies program report average early career income of $31,434.
Located in the large city of Washington, Georgetown is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Master's recipients from the museum studies program at Georgetown University make $3,818 above the average college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
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.
Your choice of museum studies for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality museum studies program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
