2025 Best Public Policy Master's Degree Schools

Public Policy is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #55 most popular master's degree program in the country. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 36 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for public policy students pursuing a master's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 3,391 master's degrees in public policy to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Public Policy School for Your Master's Degree

Your choice of public policy for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality public policy 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 policy students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other public policy 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 public policy 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 policy related body.

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

More Ways to Rank Public Policy Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Public Policy Master's Degree Schools ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Public Policy in the United States

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

10 Top Schools for a Master's in Public Policy

1

Duke University
Durham, NC

143 Annual Graduates

$85,125 Median Starting Salary

It is difficult to beat Duke University if you wish to pursue a master's degree in public policy. Located in the city of Durham, Duke is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.

Public Policy master's degree recipients from Duke University receive an earnings boost of about $21,986 over the average earnings of public policy graduates.

More information about a master’s in public policy from Duke University

2

University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA

116 Annual Graduates

$64,952 Median Starting Salary

University of Southern California is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in public policy. USC is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Los Angeles.

Students who graduate with their master's from the public policy program report average early career wages of $64,952.

More information about a master’s in public policy from University of Southern California

3

University of California - Berkeley
Berkeley, CA

131 Annual Graduates

Any student who is interested in a master's degree in public policy has to take a look at University of California - Berkeley. UC Berkeley is a fairly large public university located in the midsize city of Berkeley.More information about a master’s in public policy from University of California - Berkeley

4

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI

117 Annual Graduates

$75,277 Median Starting Salary

Every student who is interested in a master's degree in public policy has to check out University of Michigan - Ann Arbor. U-M is a very large public university located in the midsize city of Ann Arbor.

Those public policy students who get their master's degree from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor make $12,138 more than the standard public policy grad.

More information about a master’s in public policy from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

5

Princeton University
Princeton, NJ

100 Annual Graduates

$85,111 Median Starting Salary

Princeton is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of Princeton.

Those public policy students who get their master's degree from Princeton University make $21,972 more than the average public policy graduate.

More information about a master’s in public policy from Princeton University

6

George Mason University
Fairfax, VA

74 Annual Graduates

$74,616 Median Starting Salary

GMU is a very large public university located in the large suburb of Fairfax.

Master's recipients from the public policy program at George Mason University get $11,477 more than the typical college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.

More information about a master’s in public policy from George Mason University

7

University of Maryland - College Park
College Park, MD

99 Annual Graduates

$65,892 Median Starting Salary

UMCP is a fairly large public university located in the large suburb of College Park.

Master's recipients from the public policy degree program at University of Maryland - College Park get $2,753 more than the typical college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.

More information about a master’s in public policy from University of Maryland - College Park

8

The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX

125 Annual Graduates

$71,723 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large city of Austin, UT Austin is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Public Policy master's degree recipients from The University of Texas at Austin earn a boost of about $8,584 above the average income of public policy graduates.

More information about a master’s in public policy from The University of Texas at Austin

9

Brandeis University
Waltham, MA

74 Annual Graduates

$64,496 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of Waltham, Brandeis is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.

Master's students who receive their degree from the public policy program earn around $64,496 in the first couple years of their career.

More information about a master’s in public policy from Brandeis University

10

Brown University
Providence, RI

66 Annual Graduates

$61,564 Median Starting Salary

Located in the midsize city of Providence, Brown is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

Students who graduate with their master's from the public policy program state that they receive average early career earnings of $61,564.

More information about a master’s in public policy from Brown University

Public Policy by Region

View the Best Public Policy Master's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

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Rankings in Majors Related to Public Policy

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

Public Policy Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
General Public Policy Analysis	2,935
Health Policy Analysis	160
International Policy Analysis	104
Education Policy Analysis	99
Other Public Policy Analysis	93

Majors Similar to Public Policy

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Public Administration	11,984
Human Services	873
Community Organization & Advocacy	478
Other Public Administration	222

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.