Religious Education isn't the most popular master's program in the world, but it's not the least popular either. To be more precise it ranks #144 in popularity out of 343 majors in the country. As such, the degree program isn't offered at every college in the United States, but there are schools that do have a program in the field that are top-notch when it comes to quality.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 6 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Religious Education Master's Degree Schools ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 425 master's degrees in religious education during the <nil> academic year.
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Choosing a Great Religious Education School for Your Master's Degree
Your choice of religious education for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality religious ed program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
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 Earnings
To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
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 religious education students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - How many other religious education 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 easy is it for religious education 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 religious education related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for religious education 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 Religious Education Master's Degree Schools list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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Any student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in religious education needs to check out Wheaton College Illinois. Wheaton College Illinois is a small private not-for-profit college located in the suburb of Wheaton.
After graduating, religious ed master's recipients typically earn about $43,867 in their early careers.
Grand Canyon University is a wonderful decision for individuals pursuing a master's degree in religious education. Located in the large city of Phoenix, Grand Canyon University is a private for-profit university with a very large student population.
After graduation, religious ed master's recipients usually earn around $43,605 in their early careers.
Liberty University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in religious education. Located in the small city of Lynchburg, Liberty University is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in religious education from Liberty University
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).
Your choice of religious education for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality religious ed program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
