2023 Best Public Health Schools
Finding the Best Public Health School for You
In 2020-2021, 40,596 people earned a degree or certificate in public health, making the major the #25 most popular in the United States.
Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. With more and more schools offering online options, you could even register for a great program on the other side of the country. On top of that, there are a considerable number of trade schools that offer fast-track entry to many fields.
Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Course Advisor has created the Best Public Health Schools to help you in your search for the best school for you. Our analysis looked at 589 schools in the United States to see which programs offered the best educational experiences for students.
View our full ranking methodology.
2023 Best Public Health Schools in the United States
The following schools top our list of the Best Public Health Colleges.
Top 25 Top Schools in Public Health
Our analysis found Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine to be the best school for public health students who want to pursue a degree in the United States. Located in the city of Erie, LECOM is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Stanford University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Public Health Schools list. Located in the large suburb of Stanford, Stanford is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.
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Out of the 589 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Touro University California landed the # 3 spot on the list. TUC is a small private not-for-profit school located in the medium-sized city of Vallejo.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Harvard University. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Public Health Schools list. Harvard is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the medium-sized city of Cambridge.
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A rank of #5 on this year’s list means Vanderbilt University is a great place for public health students. Vanderbilt is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Nashville.
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With a ranking of #6, A T Still University of Health Sciences did quite well on this year’s best schools for public health students. Located in the remote town of Kirksville, A T Still University of Health Sciences is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
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Northwestern University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best schools for public health students. It came in at #7 on the list. Northwestern is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the small city of Evanston.
After completing their degree, public health graduates from Northwestern carry an average student debtload of $14,000.
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Brown University landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best public health programs. Located in the midsize city of Providence, Brown is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.
The average amount in student loans that public health majors at Brown take out is $15,000.
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With a ranking of #9, University of California - Berkeley did quite well on this year’s best schools for public health students. UC Berkeley is a very large public school located in the medium-sized city of Berkeley.
The average amount in student loans that public health majors at UC Berkeley take out is $11,875. The average monthly payment of a loan this size is about $304, assuming that the borrower is on a 10-year repayment plan.
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With a ranking of #10, Santa Clara University did quite well on this year’s best schools for public health students. Located in the city of Santa Clara, SCU is a private not-for-profit school with a moderately-sized student population.
Public Health majors at SCU take out an average of $20,000 in student loans while working on their egree.
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Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine came in at #11 in this year’s edition of the Best Public Health Schools ranking. Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Philadelphia.
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Dartmouth College came in at #12 in this year’s edition of the Best Public Health Schools ranking. Dartmouth is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the remote town of Hanover.
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University of Chicago ranked #13 on this year’s Best Public Health Schools list. Located in the large city of Chicago, UChicago is a private not-for-profit school with a large student population.
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With a ranking of #14, Wake Forest University did quite well on this year’s best schools for public health students. Wake Forest University is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the midsize city of Winston-Salem.
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Illinois State University ranked #15 on this year’s Best Public Health Schools list. Located in the suburb of Normal, Illinois State is a public college with a fairly large student population.
The average amount in student loans that public health majors at Illinois State take out is $24,750.
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Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences landed the #16 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best public health programs. Located in the small city of Albany, Albany College of Pharmacy is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
Full Public Health at Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Report
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Yale University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best schools for public health students. It came in at #17 on the list. Yale is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the medium-sized city of New Haven.
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The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston landed the #18 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best public health programs. UTHealth is a medium-sized public school located in the city of Houston.
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New York Medical College did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best schools for public health students. It came in at #19 on the list. Located in the suburb of Valhalla, New York Medical College is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
The average amount in student loans that public health majors at New York Medical College take out is $19,596.
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With a ranking of #20, University of Nebraska Medical Center did quite well on this year’s best schools for public health students. UNMC is a small public school located in the large city of Omaha.
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With a ranking of #21, Montana Technological University did quite well on this year’s best schools for public health students. Located in the town of Butte, Montana Tech is a public college with a small student population.
After completing their degree, public health graduates from Montana Tech carry an average student debtload of $26,000.
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Texas A&M University - College Station did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best schools for public health students. It came in at #22 on the list. Located in the city of College Station, Texas A&M College Station is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Public Health majors at Texas A&M College Station take out an average of $19,500 in student loans while working on their egree. For students who choose a 10-year repayment plan, the average monthly student loan payment is $347.
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University of California - Los Angeles did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best schools for public health students. It came in at #23 on the list. UCLA is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Los Angeles.
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Des Moines University - Osteopathic Medical Center did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best schools for public health students. It came in at #24 on the list. Located in the city of Des Moines, Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
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With a ranking of #25, Johns Hopkins University did quite well on this year’s best schools for public health students. Located in the large city of Baltimore, Johns Hopkins is a private not-for-profit school with a very large student population.
After completing their degree, public health graduates from Johns Hopkins carry an average student debtload of $16,088. Assuming that a graduate chooses a 10-year repayment plan, the average monthly loan payment is $585.
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Additional Award Winners
This section represents the rest of the schools awarded a Best Public Health Schools badge. Showing in this list means the school was ranked in the top 15% of the 589 different United States public health schools we analyzed.
Honorable Mentions
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Public Health Schools award.
Public Health by Region
View the Best Public Health Schools for a specific region near you.
| Region |
|---|
| Southeast |
| New England |
| Rocky Mountains |
| Plains States |
| Middle Atlantic |
| Far Western US |
| Southwest |
| Great Lakes |
More Public Health Rankings
Rankings in Majors Related to Public Health
Public Health is one of 30 different types of programs to choose from.
Most Popular Majors Related to Public Health
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Nursing | 322,592 |
| Health & Medical Administrative Services | 89,359 |
| Allied Health & Medical Assisting Services | 84,492 |
| Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants | 84,274 |
| Allied Health Professions | 82,308 |
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 Article 25 Flickr.
More about our data sources and methodologies.