2025 Best Public Policy Master's Degree Schools in New Jersey

If you plan on getting your master's degree in public policy, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #55 in the country in terms of popularity. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 2 schools in New Jersey to determine which ones were the best for public policy students pursuing a master's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 148 master's degrees in public policy during the 2022-2023 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

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

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on public policy students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of public policy students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for public policy 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 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.

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 Policy Master's Degree Schools in New Jersey list, to help you choose the best school for you.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Public Policy in New Jersey

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

Top New Jersey Schools for a Master's in Public Policy

1

Princeton University
Princeton, NJ

100 Annual Graduates

$85,111 Median Starting Salary

Princeton University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in public policy. Located in the small city of Princeton, Princeton is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.

Master's recipients from the public policy degree program at Princeton University earn $15,702 above the average college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.

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

2

Rutgers University - New Brunswick
New Brunswick, NJ

40 Annual Graduates

$61,558 Median Starting Salary

It's difficult to beat Rutgers University - New Brunswick if you wish to pursue a master's degree in public policy. Located in the city of New Brunswick, Rutgers New Brunswick is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Master's graduates who receive their degree from the public policy program earn about $61,558 for their early career.

More information about a master’s in public policy from Rutgers University - New Brunswick

Best Public Policy Colleges in the Middle Atlantic Region

Explore all the Best Public Policy Schools in the Middle Atlantic Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
New York	261	77
Pennsylvania	248	190
Maryland	193	107
District of Columbia	154	310
Delaware	109	2

View All Rankings >

Public Policy Related Rankings by Major

One of 4 majors within the Public Administration & Social Service area of study, Public Policy has other similar majors worth exploring.

Public Policy Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
General Public Policy Analysis	148

Most Popular Majors Related to Public Policy

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Public Administration	246
Other Public Administration	14

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.