Find Affordable College Courses

What Do You Want to Study?

Most Popular Nursing Master's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region

Find Schools Near

2023 Most Popular Nursing Master's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region

67 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.

When it comes to higher education, there are a lot of options for healthcare students. 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.

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 in the Plains States Region ranking. Our analysis looked at 67 schools in the Plains States Region 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.

The colleges and universities below are the most popular for nursing majors pursuing a master's degree.

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means Maryville University of Saint Louis is a great place for nursing students working on their master’s degree. Maryville U is a large private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Saint Louis.

Women make up 87% of the nursing majors at the school.

Read full report on Nursing at Maryville University of Saint Louis

Request Information
#3

Capella University

Minneapolis, MN

The in-demand master’s degree programs at Capella University helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the most popular nursing schools in the Plains States Region . Located in the city of Minneapolis, Capella University is a private for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

Women make up 93% of the nursing majors at the school.

Read More…

Request Information

The in-demand master’s degree programs at Graceland University - Lamoni helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the most popular nursing schools in the Plains States Region . Graceland Lamoni is a small private not-for-profit school located in the rural area of Lamoni.

Of the 176 students majoring in nursing at Graceland Lamoni, 17% are male and 83% are female.

Read full report on Nursing at Graceland University - Lamoni

Request Information

A rank of #5 on this year’s list means University of Missouri - Kansas City is a great place for nursing students working on their master’s degree. Located in the city of Kansas City, UMKC is a public school with a large student population.

Women make up 93% of the nursing majors at the school.

Read full report on Nursing at University of Missouri - Kansas City

Request Information
#6

Saint Louis University

Saint Louis, MO

Saint Louis University came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking. Located in the city of Saint Louis, SLU is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

About 85% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 15% are male.

Read More…

Request Information

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking. Located in the city of Minneapolis, UMN Twin Cities is a public college with a very large student population.

Of the 98 students majoring in nursing at UMN Twin Cities, 16% are male and 84% are female.

Read More…

Request Information
#8

Clarkson College

Omaha, NE

Clarkson College ranked #8 on this year’s Most Popular Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list. Clarkson College is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Omaha.

About 79% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 21% are male.

Read More…

Request Information
#9

Webster University

Saint Louis, MO

Webster University 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 #9 on the list. Webster is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Saint Louis.

About 92% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 8% are male.

Read full report on Nursing at Webster University

Request Information
#10

St Catherine University

Saint Paul, MN

St Catherine University landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular master’s degree nursing programs. St. Kate's is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Saint Paul.

Women make up 94% of the nursing majors at the school.

Full Nursing at St Catherine University Report

Request Information

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 in the Plains States Region award.

Rank College Location
11 Allen College Waterloo, IA
12 Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota Winona, MN
13 University of Nebraska Medical Center Omaha, NE

Best Nursing Colleges by State

Explore the best nursing colleges for a specific state in the Plains States region.

State Degrees Awarded
Minnesota 14,890
Iowa 2,966
Missouri 6,840
Nebraska 1,908
Kansas 2,633
South Dakota 1,022
North Dakota 976

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

Majors Similar to Nursing

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.

Find Healthcare Schools Near You

Our free school-matching tool matches students with accredited healthcare schools across the U.S