2025 Best Public Administration & Social Service Master's Degree Schools in Massachusetts

a master's degree in public administration & social service is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #5 out of 37 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. 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 7 schools in Massachusetts to determine which ones were the best for public administration & social service students pursuing a master's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 3,025 master's degrees in public administration & social service 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 & Social Service School for Your Master's Degree

Your choice of public administration & social service for getting your master's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

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.

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

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to public administration & social service students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of public administration & social service students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
• 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 administration & social service 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 administration & social service related body.

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

More Ways to Rank Public Administration & Social Service Schools

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

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Public Administration & Social Service in Massachusetts

Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for public administration & social service students seeking a a master's degree.

Top Massachusetts Schools for a Master's in Public Administration & Social Service

1

Simmons University
Boston, MA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

569 Annual Graduates

Simmons University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in public administration & social service. Simmons is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Boston.More information about a master’s in public administration & social service from Simmons University

2

Brandeis University
Waltham, MA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

99 Annual Graduates

Brandeis University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a master's degree in public administration & social service. Located in the city of Waltham, Brandeis is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.More information about a master’s in public administration & social service from Brandeis University

3

Anna Maria College
Paxton, MA

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

109 Annual Graduates

Anna Maria College is one of the best schools in the country for getting a master's degree in public administration & social service. Located in the rural area of Paxton, Anna Maria is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.More information about a master’s in public administration & social service from Anna Maria College

4

Northeastern University
Boston, MA

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

75 Annual Graduates

Any student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in public administration & social service needs to look into Northeastern University. Northeastern is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Boston.More information about a master’s in public administration & social service from Northeastern University

5

Salem State University
Salem, MA

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

121 Annual Graduates

Located in the large suburb of Salem, Salem State is a public university with a moderately-sized student population.More information about a master’s in public administration & social service from Salem State University

6

Westfield State University
Westfield, MA

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

117 Annual Graduates

Located in the suburb of Westfield, Westfield is a public university with a small student population.More information about a master’s in public administration & social service from Westfield State University

7

Bridgewater State University
Bridgewater, MA

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

107 Annual Graduates

Bridgewater State is a medium-sized public university located in the large suburb of Bridgewater.More information about a master’s in public administration & social service from Bridgewater State University

Best Public Administration & Social Service Colleges in the New England Region

Explore all the Best Public Administration & Social Service Schools in the New England Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Rhode Island	32	190
Connecticut	30	654
New Hampshire	27	130
Maine	27	285
Vermont	25	77

View All Rankings >

Public Administration & Social Service Majors to Study

Major	Annual Graduates
Public Administration	718
Public Policy	447
Community Organization & Advocacy	66
Other Public Administration	31

Most Popular Majors Related to Public Administration & Social Service

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies	358

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 University of the Fraser Valley. More about our data sources and methodologies.