2025 Best Public Administration Master's Degree Schools in Tennessee

Public Administration is of the hottest master's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #19 most popular major in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 3 schools in Tennessee 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 148 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. 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 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

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Public Administration Master's Degree Schools in Tennessee list, to help you choose the best school for you.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Public Administration in Tennessee

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

Top Tennessee Schools for a Master's in Public Admin

1

Tennessee State University
Nashville, TN

36 Annual Graduates

Tennessee State University is a great choice for students pursuing a master's degree in public administration. Tennessee State University is a medium-sized public university located in the city of Nashville.More information about a master’s in public administration from Tennessee State University

2

University of Memphis
Memphis, TN

21 Annual Graduates

Every student who is interested in a master's degree in public administration has to check out University of Memphis. UofM is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Memphis.More information about a master’s in public administration from University of Memphis

3

The University of Tennessee - Chattanooga
Chattanooga, TN

13 Annual Graduates

Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in public administration needs to look into The University of Tennessee - Chattanooga. Located in the midsize city of Chattanooga, UT Chattanooga is a public university with a large student population.More information about a master’s in public administration from The University of Tennessee - Chattanooga

Best Public Administration Colleges in the Southeast Region

Explore all the Best Public Administration Colleges in the Southeast Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Florida	208	514
Georgia	190	379
Virginia	182	394
North Carolina	178	341
Alabama	151	335
Kentucky	147	112
Louisiana	147	113
South Carolina	146	83
Mississippi	145	66
Arkansas	121	165
West Virginia	112	132

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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	148

Most Popular Majors Related to Public Admin

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Public Policy	48
Community Organization & Advocacy	18
Human Services	17

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.