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2023 Best Nursing Master's Degree Schools

586 Colleges
$98,140 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Nursing Master's Degree School for You

In 2020-2021, 322,592 degrees and certificates were awarded to nursing students, making the major the most popular in the country.

There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which healthcare program is right for you. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Healthcare Degree Search has created its Best Nursing Master's Degree Schools ranking. Our analysis looked at 586 schools in the United States to see which master's degree programs offered the best educational experiences for healthcare 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 Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in the United States

Check out the nursing 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 Nursing

Our 2023 rankings named Albany Medical College the best school in the United States for nursing students working on their master’s degree. AMC Albany is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Albany.

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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Midwestern University - Glendale. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools list. Midwestern University - Glendale is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Glendale.

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#3

Saint Vincent College

Latrobe, PA

Out of the 586 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Saint Vincent College landed the # 3 spot on the list. Located in the large suburb of Latrobe, Saint Vincent is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

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#4

Wake Forest University

Winston-Salem, NC

Out of the 586 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Wake Forest University landed the # 4 spot on the list. Wake Forest University is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the medium-sized city of Winston-Salem.

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A rank of #5 on this year’s list means Samuel Merritt University is a great place for nursing students working on their master’s degree. Located in the large city of Oakland, Samuel Merritt University is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

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With a ranking of #6, University of Southern California did quite well on this year’s best schools for nursing students working on their master’s degree. Located in the city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

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#7

Mount Marty University

Yankton, SD

Mount Marty University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for nursing students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #7 on the list. Mount Marty is a small private not-for-profit school located in the town of Yankton.

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#8

Vanderbilt University

Nashville, TN

Vanderbilt University landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best master’s degree nursing programs. Vanderbilt is a large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Nashville.

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Touro University California landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best master’s degree nursing programs. TUC is a small private not-for-profit school located in the medium-sized city of Vallejo.

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#10

Texas Wesleyan University

Fort Worth, TX

Texas Wesleyan University landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best master’s degree nursing programs. Located in the city of Fort Worth, Texas Wesleyan is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

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#11

Duke University

Durham, NC

Duke University ranked #11 on this year’s Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools list. Duke is a large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Durham.

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University of California - San Francisco did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for nursing students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #12 on the list. Located in the large city of San Francisco, UCSF is a public college with a small student population.

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#13

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA

University of Pennsylvania came in at #13 in this year’s edition of the Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools ranking. UPenn is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Philadelphia.

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With a ranking of #14, Medical University of South Carolina did quite well on this year’s best schools for nursing students working on their master’s degree. Located in the medium-sized city of Charleston, MUSC is a public school with a small student population.

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SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University came in at #15 in this year’s edition of the Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools ranking. SUNY Downstate is a small public school located in the city of Brooklyn.

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#16

AdventHealth University

Orlando, FL

With a ranking of #16, AdventHealth University did quite well on this year’s best schools for nursing students working on their master’s degree. AHU is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Orlando.

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Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota came in at #17 in this year’s edition of the Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the distant town of Winona, SMU MN is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

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Frontier Nursing University came in at #18 in this year’s edition of the Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools ranking. Frontier Nursing University is a small private not-for-profit school located in the rural area of Hyden.

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The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston landed the #19 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best master’s degree nursing programs. UTHealth is a medium-sized public school located in the large city of Houston.

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#20

Newman University

Wichita, KS

Newman University landed the #20 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best master’s degree nursing programs. Located in the city of Wichita, Newman University is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

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#21

Gonzaga University

Spokane, WA

Gonzaga University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for nursing students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #21 on the list. Located in the city of Spokane, Gonzaga is a private not-for-profit school with a moderately-sized student population.

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With a ranking of #22, York College of Pennsylvania did quite well on this year’s best schools for nursing students working on their master’s degree. YCP is a small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of York.

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#23

Loma Linda University

Loma Linda, CA

Loma Linda University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for nursing students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #23 on the list. Loma Linda University is a small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Loma Linda.

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#24

Thomas Jefferson University

Philadelphia, PA

With a ranking of #24, Thomas Jefferson University did quite well on this year’s best schools for nursing students working on their master’s degree. Located in the large city of Philadelphia, Thomas Jefferson University is a private not-for-profit college with a moderately-sized student population.

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University of California - Davis landed the #25 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best master’s degree nursing programs. UC Davis is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Davis.

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

#26

University of Providence

Great Falls, MT
#27

Villanova University

Villanova, PA
#28

Touro University Nevada

Henderson, NV
#30

Gannon University

Erie, PA
#33

Georgetown University

Washington, DC
#35

Webster University

Saint Louis, MO
#38

Yale University

New Haven, CT
#43

Emory University

Atlanta, GA
#44

University of Virginia - Main Campus

Charlottesville, VA
#47

Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, MD
#48

University of San Francisco

San Francisco, CA
#49

New York University

New York, NY
#50

Clarkson College

Omaha, NE

Additional Award Winners

This list shows the rest of the schools awarded a Best Nursing Master's Degree Schools badge. Showing in this list means the college was ranked in the top 15% of the 586 different United States nursing schools we analyzed.

Rank College Location
51 Florida Gulf Coast University Fort Myers, FL
52 University of Washington - Tacoma Campus Tacoma, WA
53 Vanguard University of Southern California Costa Mesa, CA
54 Wagner College Staten Island, NY
55 Saint Anthony College of Nursing Rockford, IL
56 Sonoma State University Rohnert Park, CA
57 University of Michigan - Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI
58 Upstate Medical University Syracuse, NY
59 Mount Saint Mary’s University Los Angeles, CA
60 Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY
61 American University of Health Sciences Signal Hill, CA
62 The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio San Antonio, TX
63 Augsburg University Minneapolis, MN
64 The University of Tennessee - Chattanooga Chattanooga, TN
65 Wilkes University Wilkes-Barre, PA
66 Maryville University of Saint Louis Saint Louis, MO
67 University of California - Irvine Irvine, CA
68 California State University - Chico Chico, CA
69 James Madison University Harrisonburg, VA
70 Florida State University Tallahassee, FL
71 Texas A&M University - College Station College Station, TX
72 Marquette University Milwaukee, WI
73 California State University - Fullerton Fullerton, CA
74 Bethel University Minnesota Saint Paul, MN
74 Azusa Pacific University Azusa, CA
76 Ramapo College of New Jersey Mahwah, NJ
77 The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX
78 San Jose State University San Jose, CA
79 Bushnell University Eugene, OR
80 Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA
81 University of Washington - Bothell Campus Bothell, WA
82 University of Scranton Scranton, PA
83 MGH Institute of Health Professions Boston, MA
84 University of Rochester Rochester, NY
85 United States University San Diego, CA
86 Point Loma Nazarene University San Diego, CA
87 Fairfield University Fairfield, CT

Honorable Mentions

Here are some additional great schools for Nursing students that almost earned our Best Nursing Master's Degree Schools award.

Rank College Location
88 Otterbein University Westerville, OH
89 University of Washington - Seattle Campus Seattle, WA
90 Belmont University Nashville, TN
91 College of Saint Elizabeth Morristown, NJ
92 University of Massachusetts Medical School Worcester Worcester, MA
93 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC
94 Allen College Waterloo, IA
95 Holy Names University Oakland, CA
96 Ottawa University - Kansas City Overland Park, KS
97 Fresno Pacific University Fresno, CA
98 University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Little Rock, AR
99 Duquesne University Pittsburgh, PA
100 Bellin College Green Bay, WI
101 DeSales University Center Valley, PA
102 Oregon Health & Science University Portland, OR
103 Teachers College at Columbia University New York, NY
104 University of Delaware Newark, DE
105 Drexel University Philadelphia, PA
106 University of St Francis Joliet, IL
106 University of North Dakota Grand Forks, ND
108 West Coast University - Dallas Dallas, TX
109 Saint Louis University Saint Louis, MO
110 Rutgers University - New Brunswick New Brunswick, NJ
111 Quinnipiac University Hamden, CT
112 California State University - Long Beach Long Beach, CA
113 Towson University Towson, MD
114 Purdue University - Main Campus West Lafayette, IN
115 Texas A&M International University Laredo, TX
116 Michigan State University East Lansing, MI
117 University of Mary Bismarck, ND

Nursing by Region

View the Best Nursing 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

One of 30 majors within the healthcare area of study, nursing has other similar majors worth exploring.

Nursing Concentrations

Major Annual Graduates
Registered Nursing 266,651
Family Practice Nurse/Nursing 16,104
Nursing Administration 9,838
Nursing Practice 7,992
Other Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing 5,092
Nursing Science 4,600
Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse/Nursing 2,287
Adult Health Nurse/Nursing 2,021
Nurse Anesthetist 1,936
Public Health/Community Nurse/Nursing 1,883
Critical Care Nursing 773
Geriatric Nurse/Nursing 563
School Nursing 553
Nurse Midwife/Nursing Midwifery 509
Clinical Nurse Leader 444
Clinical Nurse Specialist 419
Perioperative/Operating Room and Surgical Nurse/Nursing 331
Maternal/Child Health and Neonatal Nurse/Nursing 181
Occupational and Environmental Health Nursing 57
Emergency Room/Trauma Nursing 53
Palliative Care Nursing 14
Forensic Nursing 14

Related Major Annual Graduates
Health & Medical Administrative Services 89,359
Allied Health & Medical Assisting Services 84,492
Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants 84,274
Allied Health Professions 82,308
Public Health 40,596

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 Aleksahgabrielle.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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