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.
College Factual looked at 2 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Public Policy Master's Degree Schools in Pennsylvania ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 275 master's degrees in public policy to qualified students.
DEBUG: Checking offer "Grad Cert - Health Policy (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Grad Cert - Health Policy (I Have a Bachelors)" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "BS in Business Administration - Public Administration" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "BS in Business Administration - Public Administration" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "MBA in Public Administration" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "MBA in Public Administration" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Public Health (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 0.6
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "Public Health (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" REJECTED (relevance 0.6)
DEBUG: Checking offer "MSN - Public Health (I Have a BSN)" with relevance 0.6
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "MSN - Public Health (I Have a BSN)" REJECTED (relevance 0.6)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Doctorate - Public Health (I Have a Masters)" with relevance 0.6
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "Doctorate - Public Health (I Have a Masters)" REJECTED (relevance 0.6)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Grad Cert - Public Health (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 0.6
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "Grad Cert - Public Health (I Have a Bachelors)" REJECTED (relevance 0.6)
DEBUG: Checking offer "MPH - Public Health (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 0.6
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "MPH - Public Health (I Have a Bachelors)" REJECTED (relevance 0.6)
DEBUG: Checking offer "MSN - Public Health (I Have an ADN, ASN, or RN Diploma)" with relevance 0.6
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "MSN - Public Health (I Have an ADN, ASN, or RN Diploma)" REJECTED (relevance 0.6)
DEBUG: Checking offer "BSW - Social Work (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 0.5
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "BSW - Social Work (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" REJECTED (relevance 0.5)
DEBUG: Checking offer "DSW - Social Work (I Have a Masters)" with relevance 0.5
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "DSW - Social Work (I Have a Masters)" REJECTED (relevance 0.5)
DEBUG: Checking offer "MSW - Social Work (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 0.5
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "MSW - Social Work (I Have a Bachelors)" REJECTED (relevance 0.5)
DEBUG: Checking offer "PhD - Social Work (I Have a Masters)" with relevance 0.5
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "PhD - Social Work (I Have a Masters)" REJECTED (relevance 0.5)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Social Work & Social Sciences Bachelors Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 0.5
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "Social Work & Social Sciences Bachelors Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" REJECTED (relevance 0.5)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Social Work & Social Sciences Doctorate Programs (I Have a Masters)" with relevance 0.5
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "Social Work & Social Sciences Doctorate Programs (I Have a Masters)" REJECTED (relevance 0.5)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Social Work & Social Sciences Masters Programs (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 0.5
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "Social Work & Social Sciences Masters Programs (I Have a Bachelors)" REJECTED (relevance 0.5)
DEBUG: relevant_offers count = 3
DEBUG: relevant_offers > 0, checking for ESYOH offers
DEBUG: ESYOH filtering - found 1 ESYOH offers with relevance >= 0.8
DEBUG: esyoh_offers count = 1
DEBUG: ESYOH offers found, rendering ESYOH widget
DEBUG: most_relevant_only = true, filtering for most relevant
DEBUG: Found 0 offers with relevance >= 1.0
DEBUG: Backfilling with 0 offers with relevance >= 0.9
DEBUG: Backfilling with 1 offers with relevance >= 0.8
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
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 schools for public policy students working on their master's degree.
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 Pennsylvania list, to help you choose the best school for you.
DEBUG: Raw major_slug = "social-services-public-administration//public-policy"
Fit new strategic skills into your public service passion and goals when you earn an MBA in Public Administration from Southern New Hampshire University.
Every student who is interested in a master's degree in public policy needs to take a look at Temple University. Temple is a very large public university located in the city of Philadelphia.
Master's graduates who receive their degree from the public policy program earn around $54,910 in their early career salary.
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).
by our College Data Analytics Team
.jpg){kind=link}