2023 Most Popular Nursing Master's Degree Schools
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 help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Healthcare Degree Search has developed this Most Popular Nursing Master's Degree Schools ranking. Our analysis looked at 673 schools in the United States to see which master's degree programs were the most popular for healthcare students. To create this ranking we looked at how many students graduated from the Nursing program at each school on the list.
2023 Most Popular Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in the United States
The following schools top our list of the Most Popular Nursing Master's Degree Colleges.
Top 25 Most Popular Schools for a Master's in Nursing
Out of the 673 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Chamberlain University - Illinois landed the # 2 spot on the list. Located in the suburb of Addison, Chamberlain - Illinois is a private for-profit school with a very large student population.
Women make up 90% of the nursing majors at the school.
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Out of the 673 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Western Governors University landed the # 3 spot on the list. Located in the large suburb of Salt Lake City, WGU is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.
Women make up 91% of the nursing majors at the school.
Full Nursing at Western Governors University Report
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A rank of #4 on this year’s list means Grand Canyon University is a great place for nursing students working on their master’s degree. Located in the city of Phoenix, Grand Canyon University is a private for-profit college with a fairly large student population.
Of the 1,935 students majoring in nursing at Grand Canyon University, 10% are male and 90% are female.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend The University of Texas at Arlington. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Most Popular Nursing Master’s Degree Schools list. UT Arlington is a very large public school located in the city of Arlington.
Of the 1,204 students majoring in nursing at UT Arlington, 12% are male and 88% are female.
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Maryville University of Saint Louis did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular places for nursing students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #6 on the list. Maryville U is a large private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Saint Louis.
Of the 839 students majoring in nursing at Maryville U, 13% are male and 87% are female.
Full Nursing at Maryville University of Saint Louis Report
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University of South Alabama did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular places for nursing students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #7 on the list. Located in the midsize city of Mobile, USA is a public school with a large student population.
Of the 780 students majoring in nursing at USA, 12% are male and 88% are female.
Full Nursing at University of South Alabama Report
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With a ranking of #8, University of Alabama at Birmingham did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their master’s degree. Located in the midsize city of Birmingham, UAB is a public school with a very large student population.
About 86% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 14% are male.
Read full report on Nursing at University of Alabama at Birmingham
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With a ranking of #9, Capella University did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their master’s degree. Located in the city of Minneapolis, Capella University is a private for-profit school with a fairly large student population.
Of the 643 students majoring in nursing at Capella University, 7% are male and 93% are female.
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With a ranking of #10, Frontier Nursing University did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their master’s degree. Frontier Nursing University is a small private not-for-profit school located in the rural area of Hyden.
Women make up 95% of the nursing majors at the school.
Full Nursing at Frontier Nursing University Report
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University of Cincinnati - Main Campus ranked #11 on this year’s Most Popular Nursing Master’s Degree Schools list. Located in the large city of Cincinnati, UC is a public school with a very large student population.
About 89% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 11% are male.
Full Nursing at University of Cincinnati - Main Campus Report
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South University’s online programs did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular places for nursing students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #12 on the list. Located in the medium-sized city of Savannah, South University's online programs is a private for-profit school with a moderately-sized student population.
Women make up 83% of the nursing majors at the school.
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Simmons University came in at #13 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Master’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the large city of Boston, Simmons is a private not-for-profit school with a medium-sized student population.
Women make up 92% of the nursing majors at the school.
Full Nursing at Simmons University Report
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Purdue University Global ranked #14 on this year’s Most Popular Nursing Master’s Degree Schools list. Located in the city of Indianapolis, Purdue University Global is a public school with a very large student population.
About 89% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 11% are male.
Read full report on Nursing at Purdue University Global
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Miami Regional University came in at #15 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Master’s Degree Schools ranking. Miami Regional University is a fairly small private for-profit school located in the suburb of Miami Springs.
Of the 493 students majoring in nursing at Miami Regional University, 41% are male and 59% are female.
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Northern Kentucky University came in at #16 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Master’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the large suburb of Highland Heights, NKU is a public college with a fairly large student population.
About 88% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 12% are male.
Full Nursing at Northern Kentucky University Report
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Aspen University came in at #17 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Master’s Degree Schools ranking. Aspen University is a medium-sized private for-profit school located in the large city of Denver.
Women make up 90% of the nursing majors at the school.
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University of Phoenix - Arizona came in at #18 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Master’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the city of Tempe, UOPX - Arizona is a private for-profit school with a very large student population.
About 89% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 11% are male.
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United States University came in at #19 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Master’s Degree Schools ranking. USU is a small private for-profit school located in the city of San Diego.
About 83% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 17% are male.
Full Nursing at United States University Report
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University of Pennsylvania ranked #20 on this year’s Most Popular Nursing Master’s Degree Schools list. UPenn is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Philadelphia.
Women make up 90% of the nursing majors at the school.
Full Nursing at University of Pennsylvania Report
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With a ranking of #21, Spring Arbor University did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their master’s degree. Spring Arbor is a small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Spring Arbor.
Of the 381 students majoring in nursing at Spring Arbor, 13% are male and 87% are female.
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With a ranking of #22, Vanderbilt University did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their master’s degree. Vanderbilt is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Nashville.
Women make up 89% of the nursing majors at the school.
Read full report on Nursing at Vanderbilt University
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With a ranking of #23, Drexel University did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their master’s degree. Located in the city of Philadelphia, Drexel is a private not-for-profit college with a very large student population.
About 90% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 10% are male.
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West Coast University - Orange County did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular places for nursing students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #24 on the list. West Coast University - Orange County is a small private for-profit school located in the city of Anaheim.
Of the 317 students majoring in nursing at West Coast University - Orange County, 22% are male and 78% are female.
Read full report on Nursing at West Coast University - Orange County
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Regis College ranked #25 on this year’s Most Popular Nursing Master’s Degree Schools list. Located in the suburb of Weston, Regis College is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
Women make up 86% of the nursing majors at the school.
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Additional Award Winners
This list represents the rest of the schools awarded a Most Popular Nursing Master's Degree Schools badge. Showing in this list means the school was ranked in the top 15% of the 673 different United States nursing schools we analyzed.
Honorable Mentions
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also popular but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Most Popular Nursing Master's Degree Schools award.
Nursing by Region
View the Most Popular Nursing Master's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.
Region |
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Southeast |
New England |
Rocky Mountains |
Plains States |
Middle Atlantic |
Far Western US |
Southwest |
Great Lakes |
Nursing Related Majors
One of 30 majors within the healthcare area of study, nursing has other similar majors worth exploring.
Nursing Concentrations
Most Popular Related Majors
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.
- 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.