Health & Physical Education is of the hottest master's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #23 most popular major in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 193 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for health & physical education students pursuing a master's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 9,192 master's degrees in health & physical education during the <nil> academic year.
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Choosing a Great Health & Physical Education School for Your Master's Degree
The phys ed master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality phys ed 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
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.
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
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to health & physical education students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - How many other health & physical education 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 much debt health & physical education 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 health & physical education related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for health & physical education students working on their master's degree.
More Ways to Rank Health & Physical Education 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 Health & Physical Education Master's Degree Schools list to help you make the college decision.
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Pursue opportunities in collegiate and professional sport management organizations with the support of this well-established online master's degree from Southern New Hampshire University.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Health & Physical Education in the United States
Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for health & physical education 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.
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in health & physical education. U-M is a fairly large public university located in the midsize city of Ann Arbor.
After graduating, phys ed master's recipients usually make an average of $41,473 in their early careers.
Every student who is interested in a master's degree in health & physical education has to look into Texas A&M University - College Station. Located in the city of College Station, Texas A&M College Station is a public university with a very large student population.
Master's recipients from the health & physical education program at Texas A&M University - College Station earn $2,127 above the standard college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
University of Florida is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in health & physical education. Located in the midsize city of Gainesville, UF is a public university with a very large student population.
Master's recipients from the health & physical education major at University of Florida earn $4,830 above the standard graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in health & physical education needs to look into Ohio University - Athens Campus. OHIO Athens is a very large public university located in the town of Athens.
Those health & physical education students who get their master's degree from Ohio University - Athens Campus earn $10,130 more than the standard phys ed student.
Ohio State is a very large public university located in the city of Columbus.
Health & Physical Education master's degree recipients from Ohio State University - Main Campus get an earnings boost of around $2,137 over the average earnings of health & physical education majors.
Located in the large city of Irvine, Concordia University, Irvine is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.
Master's recipients from the health & physical education program at Concordia University, Irvine get $16,237 more than the average graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Concordia University, Chicago is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of River Forest.
Those health & physical education students who get their master's degree from Concordia University, Chicago receive $5,539 more than the standard phys ed student.
UNC Chapel Hill is a very large public university located in the city of Chapel Hill.
Those health & physical education students who get their master's degree from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill receive $2,092 more than the average phys ed grad.
Located in the remote town of Plymouth, Plymouth State is a public university with a small student population.
Health & Physical Education master's degree recipients from Plymouth State University get an earnings boost of about $24,536 over the average income of health & physical education majors.
SMC is a small private not-for-profit college located in the suburb of Moraga.
Master's recipients from the health & physical education degree program at Saint Mary's College of California make $18,905 more than the average college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
IU Bloomington is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Bloomington.
Health & Physical Education master's degree recipients from Indiana University - Bloomington get an earnings boost of around $7,861 over the average income of health & physical education graduates.
Rutgers New Brunswick is a fairly large public university located in the city of New Brunswick.
Master's recipients from the health & physical education major at Rutgers University - New Brunswick get $4,603 more than the average college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
CSULB is a very large public university located in the city of Long Beach.
Health & Physical Education master's degree recipients from California State University - Long Beach earn a boost of about $3,812 over the typical earnings of health & physical education majors.
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Additional Noteworthy Schools
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Health & Physical Education Master's Degree Schools award.
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.
The phys ed master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality phys ed program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
