2025 Best Public Administration & Social Service Master's Degree Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region

If you plan on getting your master's degree in public administration & social service, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #5 in the country in terms of popularity. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 12 schools in the Rocky Mountains Region 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 2,458 master's degrees in public administration & social service during the 2022-2023 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Public Administration & Social Service School for Your Master's Degree

The public administration & social service master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality public administration & social service 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

The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we consider a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a host of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

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 administration & social service students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other public administration & social service students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
• 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 administration & social service 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 & social service related body.

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

One Size Does Not Fit All

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 the Rocky Mountains Region 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 the Rocky Mountains Region

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

10 Top Rocky Mountains Region Schools for a Master's in Public Administration & Social Service

1

University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

324 Annual Graduates

University of Utah is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in public administration & social service. Located in the city of Salt Lake City, U of U is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in public administration & social service from University of Utah

2

Colorado State University - Fort Collins
Fort Collins, CO

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

93 Annual Graduates

Colorado State University - Fort Collins is a good decision for individuals interested in a master's degree in public administration & social service. Located in the midsize city of Fort Collins, Colorado State is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in public administration & social service from Colorado State University - Fort Collins

3

Boise State University
Boise, ID

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

280 Annual Graduates

Boise State University is a great option for students pursuing a master's degree in public administration & social service. Boise State is a fairly large public university located in the midsize city of Boise.More information about a master’s in public administration & social service from Boise State University

4

University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus
Denver, CO

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

129 Annual Graduates

It's difficult to beat University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus if you wish to pursue a master's degree in public administration & social service. CU Anschutz is a very large public university located in the city of Denver.More information about a master’s in public administration & social service from University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus

5

Metropolitan State University of Denver
Denver, CO

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

226 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Denver, MSU Denver is a public university with a large student population.More information about a master’s in public administration & social service from Metropolitan State University of Denver

6

University of Wyoming
Laramie, WY

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

41 Annual Graduates

Located in the remote town of Laramie, UW is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in public administration & social service from University of Wyoming

7

Weber State University
Ogden, UT

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

44 Annual Graduates

Located in the small city of Ogden, WSU is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in public administration & social service from Weber State University

8

Utah State University
Logan, UT

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

33 Annual Graduates

USU is a very large public university located in the small city of Logan.More information about a master’s in public administration & social service from Utah State University

9

Colorado State University - Pueblo
Pueblo, CO

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

34 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Pueblo, Colorado State University - Pueblo is a public university with a medium-sized student population.More information about a master’s in public administration & social service from Colorado State University - Pueblo

10

The University of Montana
Missoula, MT

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

81 Annual Graduates

UM is a large public university located in the city of Missoula.More information about a master’s in public administration & social service from The University of Montana

Best Public Administration & Social Service Colleges by State

Explore the best public administration & social service schools for a specific state in the Rocky Mountains Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Colorado	30	1,012
Utah	30	569
Montana	26	71
Idaho	25	357
Wyoming	23	45

View All Rankings >

Public Administration & Social Service Majors to Study

Major	Annual Graduates
Public Administration	508
Public Policy	38
Community Organization & Advocacy	10

Majors Similar to Public Administration & Social Service

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies	238

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.