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2023 Best Education Master's Degree Schools

808 Colleges
$49,367 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Education Master's Degree School for You

With 327,871 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, education is the #4 most popular major in the United States.

With all the programs available today, it can be tough to choose which one is the best for you. You're no longer limited to schools in your local area, either, since online programs are becoming more prevalent. Or you may find the programs at a trade school to be a better alternative for you.

To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Course Advisor has developed this Best Education Master's Degree Schools ranking. Our analysis looked at 808 schools in the United States to see which master's degree programs offered the best educational experiences for students. Factors related to overall quality of the school, post-graduation earnings, average student debt, and more accumulated were considered when coming up with this list.

View our full ranking methodology.

2023 Best Education Master’s Degree Schools in the United States

Check out the education master's degree programs at these schools if you want to get the best education that money can buy.

Top 25 Top Schools for a Master's in Education

Our 2023 rankings named Claremont Graduate University the best school in the United States for education students working on their master’s degree. Claremont Graduate University is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Claremont.

Read full report on Education at Claremont Graduate University

Out of the 808 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Bank Street College of Education landed the # 2 spot on the list. Located in the city of New York, Bank Street College of Education is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

Read More…

#3

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL

A rank of #3 on this year’s list means Northwestern University is a great place for education students working on their master’s degree. Located in the city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit college with a very large student population.

Full Education at Northwestern University Report

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Teachers College at Columbia University. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Education Master’s Degree Schools list. Teachers College is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of New York.

Read full report on Education at Teachers College at Columbia University

#5

Stanford University

Stanford, CA

A rank of #5 on this year’s list means Stanford University is a great place for education students working on their master’s degree. Stanford is a large private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Stanford.

Read full report on Education at Stanford University

#6

Santa Clara University

Santa Clara, CA

With a ranking of #6, Santa Clara University did quite well on this year’s best schools for education students working on their master’s degree. SCU is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the city of Santa Clara.

Full Education at Santa Clara University Report

#7

Lebanon Valley College

Annville, PA

With a ranking of #7, Lebanon Valley College did quite well on this year’s best schools for education students working on their master’s degree. Located in the small suburb of Annville, LVC is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

Read full report on Education at Lebanon Valley College

University of Washington - Tacoma Campus landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best master’s degree education programs. Located in the city of Tacoma, UW Tacoma is a public college with a medium-sized student population.

Full Education at University of Washington - Tacoma Campus Report

#9

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA

University of Pennsylvania did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for education students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #9 on the list. Located in the large city of Philadelphia, UPenn is a private not-for-profit college with a very large student population.

Full Education at University of Pennsylvania Report

Fresno Pacific University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for education students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #10 on the list. Fresno Pacific is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Fresno.

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Concordia University, Irvine landed the #11 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best master’s degree education programs. Located in the city of Irvine, Concordia University, Irvine is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

Full Education at Concordia University, Irvine Report

#12

Brandman University

Irvine, CA

Brandman University landed the #12 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best master’s degree education programs. Located in the city of Irvine, Brandman is a private not-for-profit school with a medium-sized student population.

Read full report on Education at Brandman University

#13

Brown University

Providence, RI

With a ranking of #13, Brown University did quite well on this year’s best schools for education students working on their master’s degree. Brown is a large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Providence.

Read full report on Education at Brown University

#14

Seattle University

Seattle, WA

Seattle University came in at #14 in this year’s edition of the Best Education Master’s Degree Schools ranking. Seattle U is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the city of Seattle.

Read full report on Education at Seattle University

The College of New Jersey came in at #15 in this year’s edition of the Best Education Master’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the suburb of Ewing, TCNJ is a public college with a medium-sized student population.

Read full report on Education at The College of New Jersey

#16

Harvard University

Cambridge, MA

Harvard University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for education students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #16 on the list. Located in the midsize city of Cambridge, Harvard is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

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University of California - Irvine came in at #17 in this year’s edition of the Best Education Master’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the large city of Irvine, UC Irvine is a public college with a fairly large student population.

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With a ranking of #18, Seattle Pacific University did quite well on this year’s best schools for education students working on their master’s degree. Located in the large city of Seattle, SPU is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

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University of Puget Sound landed the #19 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best master’s degree education programs. Located in the medium-sized city of Tacoma, Puget Sound is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

Read full report on Education at University of Puget Sound

#20

University of Redlands

Redlands, CA

University of Redlands did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for education students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #20 on the list. Located in the city of Redlands, University of Redlands is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

Read More…

#21

Wisconsin Lutheran College

Milwaukee, WI

With a ranking of #21, Wisconsin Lutheran College did quite well on this year’s best schools for education students working on their master’s degree. Located in the large city of Milwaukee, WLC is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

Read More…

#22

Drake University

Des Moines, IA

Drake University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for education students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #22 on the list. Drake is a small private not-for-profit school located in the midsize city of Des Moines.

Read full report on Education at Drake University

#23

University of Scranton

Scranton, PA

University of Scranton ranked #23 on this year’s Best Education Master’s Degree Schools list. University of Scranton is a small private not-for-profit school located in the small city of Scranton.

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University of Washington - Seattle Campus did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for education students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #24 on the list. UW Seattle is a very large public school located in the large city of Seattle.

Read full report on Education at University of Washington - Seattle Campus

#25

Stevenson University

Stevenson, MD

With a ranking of #25, Stevenson University did quite well on this year’s best schools for education students working on their master’s degree. Located in the rural area of Stevenson, Stevenson is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

Read full report on Education at Stevenson University

Rest of the Top 50 Best Education Master's Degree Schools

#26

Wagner College

Staten Island, NY
#27

Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, MD
#30

Trinity University

San Antonio, TX
#31

Berry College

Mount Berry, GA
#32

Elizabethtown College

Elizabethtown, PA
#33

Lehigh University

Bethlehem, PA
#34

Wake Forest University

Winston-Salem, NC
#35

Manhattan College

Riverdale, NY
#36

Westminster College Pennsylvania

New Wilmington, PA
#37

Northwestern College

Orange City, IA
#38

Vanderbilt University

Nashville, TN
#39

California Lutheran University

Thousand Oaks, CA
#42

Alfred University

Alfred, NY
#43

Loyola University Maryland

Baltimore, MD
#44

Gonzaga University

Spokane, WA
#45

North Central College

Naperville, IL
#47

University of Virginia - Main Campus

Charlottesville, VA
#48

Loyola Marymount University

Los Angeles, CA
#50

Whitworth University

Spokane, WA

Remaining Award Winners

This list shows the remainder of the schools awarded a Best Education Master's Degree Schools badge. Showing in this list means the school was ranked in the top 15% of the 808 different United States education schools we analyzed.

Rank College Location
51 Saint Martin’s University Lacey, WA
52 New York University New York, NY
53 California State University - Sacramento Sacramento, CA
54 Western Washington University Bellingham, WA
55 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL
56 University of St Thomas Minnesota Saint Paul, MN
57 Carroll University Waukesha, WI
58 California State University - San Marcos San Marcos, CA
59 Villanova University Villanova, PA
60 Saint Joseph’s University Philadelphia, PA
61 University of Delaware Newark, DE
62 Creighton University Omaha, NE
63 Martin Luther College New Ulm, MN
64 California State University - Long Beach Long Beach, CA
65 Carthage College Kenosha, WI
66 Northern State University Aberdeen, SD
67 Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA
68 Winona State University Winona, MN
69 University of Mary Bismarck, ND
70 Centenary University Hackettstown, NJ
71 Notre Dame de Namur University Belmont, CA
72 San Jose State University San Jose, CA
73 George Mason University Fairfax, VA
74 California State University - San Bernardino San Bernardino, CA
75 Bradley University Peoria, IL
76 George Washington University Washington, DC
77 Texas A&M University - College Station College Station, TX
78 University of Washington - Bothell Campus Bothell, WA
79 University of Maryland - College Park College Park, MD
80 Purdue University - Main Campus West Lafayette, IN
81 University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA
82 California Baptist University Riverside, CA
83 Pace University - New York New York, NY
84 Wilkes University Wilkes-Barre, PA
85 University of Georgia Athens, GA
86 California State University - Fullerton Fullerton, CA
87 University of Northern Iowa Cedar Falls, IA
88 Texas Christian University Fort Worth, TX
89 Lewis University Romeoville, IL
90 Montclair State University Montclair, NJ
91 Dominican University of California San Rafael, CA
92 William & Mary Williamsburg, VA
93 University of Wisconsin - La Crosse La Crosse, WI
94 Buena Vista University Storm Lake, IA
95 Pacific Oaks College Pasadena, CA
96 Brigham Young University - Provo Provo, UT
97 California State University - Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA
98 American University Washington, DC
99 Valparaiso University Valparaiso, IN
100 Rutgers University - New Brunswick New Brunswick, NJ
101 Dominican College of Blauvelt Orangeburg, NY
102 Towson University Towson, MD
103 Syracuse University Syracuse, NY
104 Dominican University River Forest, IL
105 National University La Jolla, CA
106 Providence College Providence, RI
107 Wayne State College Wayne, NE
108 University of Illinois at Chicago Chicago, IL
109 University of the Pacific Stockton, CA
110 Fordham University Bronx, NY
111 Olivet Nazarene University Bourbonnais, IL
112 Viterbo University La Crosse, WI
113 University of Richmond University of Richmond, VA
114 Minot State University Minot, ND
115 Ball State University Muncie, IN
116 Fairfield University Fairfield, CT
117 University of Nebraska - Lincoln Lincoln, NE
118 John Brown University Siloam Springs, AR
119 Aurora University Aurora, IL
120 University of San Diego San Diego, CA
121 University of Missouri - Columbia Columbia, MO

Additional Noteworthy Schools

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Education Master's Degree Schools award.

Rank College Location
122 Rowan University Glassboro, NJ
123 University of Florida Gainesville, FL
124 University of Wisconsin - Madison Madison, WI
125 West Chester University of Pennsylvania West Chester, PA
126 Rider University Lawrenceville, NJ
127 Boston University Boston, MA
128 Hunter College New York, NY
129 University of Wisconsin - River Falls River Falls, WI
130 The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX
131 Seton Hall University South Orange, NJ
132 California State University - Bakersfield Bakersfield, CA
133 Doane University Crete, NE
134 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC
135 Hood College Frederick, MD
136 Ithaca College Ithaca, NY
137 North Dakota State University - Main Campus Fargo, ND
138 South Dakota State University Brookings, SD
139 St John’s University - New York Queens, NY
140 The College of Saint Rose Albany, NY
141 Western Governors University Salt Lake City, UT
142 McDaniel College Westminster, MD
143 Loyola University Chicago Chicago, IL
144 Michigan State University East Lansing, MI
144 California State University - East Bay Hayward, CA
146 Stockton University Galloway, NJ
147 James Madison University Harrisonburg, VA
148 Heritage University Toppenish, WA
149 The City College of New York New York, NY
150 Bethel University Minnesota Saint Paul, MN
151 Goucher College Baltimore, MD
152 The College of Saint Scholastica Duluth, MN
153 Chadron State College Chadron, NE
154 California State University - Northridge Northridge, CA
155 Hamline University Saint Paul, MN
156 Elmhurst University Elmhurst, IL
157 Ramapo College of New Jersey Mahwah, NJ
158 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN
159 Dordt University Sioux Center, IA
160 Duquesne University Pittsburgh, PA
161 Monmouth University West Long Branch, NJ

Education by Region

View the Best Education Master's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Great Lakes

Education Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Teacher Education Grade Specific 110,226
Educational Administration 46,469
Teacher Education Subject Specific 43,297
Special Education 36,792
General Education 29,810
Curriculum & Instruction 19,832
Student Counseling 13,858
Instructional Media Design 8,695
Teaching English or French 5,791
Other Education 4,858
Teaching Assistants 2,751
Educational Assessment 2,552
Multilingual Education 1,910
Education Philosophy 737
International Education 293

Majors Similar to Education

Related Major Annual Graduates
Social Sciences 205,984
Psychology 195,678
Communication & Journalism 120,571
Family, Consumer & Human Sciences 55,820
History 32,731

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.

  • Read more about our ranking methodology.
  • 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 Horadrim.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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