2025 Best Public Administration Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

Ranked #19 in popularity, public administration is one of the most sought-after master's degree programs in the nation. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 27 schools in the Great Lakes Region to determine which ones were the best for public administration students pursuing a master's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 1,250 master's degrees in public administration 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 Administration School for Your Master's Degree

Your choice of public administration for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality public admin program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

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 Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

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 public administration students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other public administration 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 public administration 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 administration related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for public administration students working on their master's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The public admin 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 Administration Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Public Administration in the Great Lakes Region

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in public administration.

10 Top Great Lakes Region Schools for a Master's in Public Admin

1

Northwestern University
Evanston, IL

97 Annual Graduates

$73,260 Median Starting Salary

It's hard to beat Northwestern University if you wish to pursue a master's degree in public administration. Northwestern is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Evanston.

Master's recipients from the public administration major at Northwestern University make $14,345 more than the average college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.

More information about a master’s in public administration from Northwestern University

2

Indiana University - Bloomington
Bloomington, IN

200 Annual Graduates

$57,990 Median Starting Salary

Indiana University - Bloomington is one of the best schools in the country for getting a master's degree in public administration. IU Bloomington is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Bloomington.

Students who graduate with their master's from the public admin program report average early career earnings of $57,990.

More information about a master’s in public administration from Indiana University - Bloomington

3

Ohio State University - Main Campus
Columbus, OH

111 Annual Graduates

$58,937 Median Starting Salary

Ohio State University - Main Campus is a great choice for students pursuing a master's degree in public administration. Ohio State is a very large public university located in the large city of Columbus.

Students who graduate with their master's from the public admin program state that they receive average early career earnings of $58,937.

More information about a master’s in public administration from Ohio State University - Main Campus

4

Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis
Indianapolis, IN

67 Annual Graduates

$66,036 Median Starting Salary

It's difficult to beat Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis if you want to pursue a master's degree in public administration. Located in the large city of Indianapolis, IUPUI is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Those public administration students who get their master's degree from Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis make $7,121 more than the standard public admin grad.

More information about a master’s in public administration from Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis

5

Central Michigan University
Mount Pleasant, MI

46 Annual Graduates

$67,233 Median Starting Salary

Central Michigan is a fairly large public university located in the distant town of Mount Pleasant.

Master's recipients from the public administration degree program at Central Michigan University earn $8,318 above the standard college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

More information about a master’s in public administration from Central Michigan University

6

Grand Valley State University
Allendale, MI

25 Annual Graduates

$57,449 Median Starting Salary

Located in the town of Allendale, GVSU is a public university with a very large student population.

Master's graduates who receive their degree from the public admin program earn about $57,449 in the first couple years of their career.

More information about a master’s in public administration from Grand Valley State University

7

University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, IL

19 Annual Graduates

$59,815 Median Starting Salary

UIC is a very large public university located in the large city of Chicago.

Students who graduate with their master's from the public admin program report average early career income of $59,815.

More information about a master’s in public administration from University of Illinois at Chicago

8

University of Illinois at Springfield
Springfield, IL

46 Annual Graduates

$61,014 Median Starting Salary

Located in the midsize city of Springfield, UIS is a public university with a small student population.

Those public administration students who get their master's degree from University of Illinois at Springfield earn $2,099 more than the typical public admin student.

More information about a master’s in public administration from University of Illinois at Springfield

9

University of Cincinnati - Main Campus
Cincinnati, OH

11 Annual Graduates

UC is a very large public university located in the large city of Cincinnati.More information about a master’s in public administration from University of Cincinnati - Main Campus

10

Oakland University
Rochester Hills, MI

12 Annual Graduates

$55,254 Median Starting Salary

Oakland is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of Rochester Hills.

Students who graduate with their master's from the public admin program state that they receive average early career income of $55,254.

More information about a master’s in public administration from Oakland University

Best Public Administration Colleges by State

Explore the best public administration colleges for a specific state in the Great Lakes Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Illinois	221	414
Michigan	211	253
Ohio	207	283
Indiana	191	432
Wisconsin	173	44

View All Rankings >

Public Administration Related Rankings by Major

Public Administration is one of 4 different types of Public Administration & Social Service programs to choose from.

Public Admin Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Public Administration	1,250

Majors Similar to Public Admin

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Public Policy	244
Human Services	172
Community Organization & Advocacy	107
Other Public Administration	27

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 The Official CTBTO Photostream. More about our data sources and methodologies.