Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

If you plan to study parks, recreation and leisure studies, take a look at what University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has to offer and decide if the program is a good match for you. Get started with the following essential facts.

UIUC is located in Champaign, Illinois and approximately 52,679 students attend the school each year. In the 2020-2021 academic year, 99 students received a bachelor's degree in parks and rec from UIUC.

Want to know more about the career opportunities in this field? Check out the Careers in Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies section at the bottom of this page.

UIUC Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Degrees Available

• Bachelor’s Degree in Parks & Rec
• Master’s Degree in Parks & Rec
• Doctorate Degree in Parks & Rec

UIUC Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Rankings

Each year, College Factual ranks parks and rec programs across the country. The following shows how UIUC performed in these rankings.

Note: While rankings may be a good starting point when you're researching a school, they don't necessarily highlight all of a school's strengths. Don't forget to check out the other details that are available for a school to see if it has what you're looking for in a program.

Bachelor’s Degree Overall Quality & Other Notable Rankings

The parks and rec major at UIUC is not ranked on College Factual’s Best Colleges and Universities for Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies. This could be for a number of reasons, such as not having enough data on the major or school to make an accurate assessment of its quality.

Ranking Type	Rank
Most Popular Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools	1
Most Popular Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Schools	2

In 2021, 41 students received their master’s degree in parks and rec from UIUC. This makes it the #1 most popular school for parks and rec master’s degree candidates in the country.

There were 2 students who received their doctoral degrees in parks and rec, making the school the #1 most popular school in the United States for this category of students.

Earnings of UIUC Parks & Rec Graduates

The median salary of parks and rec students who receive their bachelor's degree at UIUC is $36,770. This is great news for graduates of the program, since this figure is 16% higher than the national average of $31,674 for all parks and rec bachelor's degree recipients.

Parks & Rec Student Demographics at UIUC

Take a look at the following statistics related to the make-up of the parks and rec majors at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

UIUC Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Bachelor’s Program

Of the 99 students who graduated with a bachelor’s in parks and rec from UIUC in 2021, 62% were men and 38% were women. The typical parks and rec bachelor's degree program is made up of only 44% men. So male students are more repesented at UIUC since its program graduates 18% more men than average.

About 58% of those who receive a bachelor's degree in parks and rec at UIUC are white. This is below average for this degree on the nationwide level. Prospective students may be interested in knowing that this school graduates 1% more racial-ethnic minorities in its parks and rec bachelor's program than the national average.*

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a bachelor's in parks and rec.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	2
Black or African American	15
Hispanic or Latino	10
White	57
International Students	12
Other Races/Ethnicities	3

UIUC Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies Master’s Program

For the most recent academic year available, 44% of parks and rec master's degrees went to men and 56% went to women.

Of the students who received a parks and rec master's degree from UIUC, 63% were white. This is typical for this degree on the natiowide level. In the parks and rec master's program at this school, racial-ethnic minorities make up 34% of degree recipients. That is 5% better than the national average.*

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a master's in parks and rec.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	1
Black or African American	8
Hispanic or Latino	4
White	26
International Students	1
Other Races/Ethnicities	1

UIUC also has a doctoral program available in parks and rec. In 2021, 2 students graduated with a doctor's degree in this field.

Related Majors

• Health & Physical Education

Careers That Parks & Rec Grads May Go Into

A degree in parks and rec can lead to the following careers. Since job numbers and average salaries can vary by geographic location, we have only included the numbers for IL, the home state for University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Occupation	Jobs in IL	Average Salary in IL
Recreation and Fitness Studies Professors	580	$61,840

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• Image Credit: By Beyond My ken under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.