Best Public Health Schools by Graduate Salary & ROI (2026)
These are the top schools offering Public Health, ranked by DegreeOutlook Score. The score combines graduate earnings, AI automation resilience, job market demand, and return on tuition investment. The average Public Health graduate earns $38,917/yr across 213 schools.
What do Public Health graduates do? See career paths and salaries →
Why a Tech School in Montana Leads in Public Health
Montana Technological University’s #1 rank is driven by its unique focus on industrial and environmental health. Located in a historic mining city, the university leverages its engineering strengths to place graduates in high-paying occupational safety and health roles within the energy and natural resource sectors. This specialized pipeline explains the exceptional $74,771 average earnings, demonstrating how a niche focus can create powerful, high-return career outcomes far from traditional public health hubs.
Why St. Petersburg College Outperforms Berkeley on Value
Seeing a Florida state college at #4, ahead of prestigious names like UC Berkeley (#8), reveals a key truth: ROI isn't about prestige, it's about results versus cost. St. Petersburg College delivers an incredible 55.6x ROI by combining ultra-low tuition ($10,728 for four years) with solid local job placement, feeding graduates directly into the Tampa Bay area's healthcare system. This model proves an affordable, career-focused public education can be a much smarter financial bet than a high-cost degree from a world-famous university.
AI Won't Steal Your Job, It Will Rewrite the Job Description
Every public health program faces high AI exposure (51.9% on average), but this doesn't mean mass unemployment. It means your value is shifting from performing routine tasks to overseeing them. AI will automate data analysis and compliance paperwork, freeing you to focus on the human-centric work: strategic planning, community engagement, and making judgment calls based on AI-generated insights. Your career will depend less on running the numbers and more on interpreting what they mean for real people.
Public Universities Own the Top 20. Here's Why.
The fact that 19 of our top 20 schools are public is the central story of this ranking. State schools from the CUNY and Cal State systems to Utah State are designed to be economic engines, providing affordable pathways into critical regional jobs. They create immense value by keeping tuition low and building direct pipelines to local government and healthcare employers, resulting in the high ROI and low debt-to-earnings ratios you see across the top of this list.
All Public Health Programs Ranked
Click any row for full AI scenario analysis, earnings projections, and career path breakdown.
| # | School | DW Score | Earnings | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Montana Technological University
Butte, MT · Public |
80
76–80 |
$74,771/yr | 29.7x |
| 2 |
Utah State University
Logan, UT · Public |
76
72–76 |
$76,451/yr | 20.0x |
| 3 |
Colorado State University-Fort Collins
Fort Collins, CO · Public |
70
65–70 |
$52,540/yr | 15.1x |
| 4 |
St Petersburg College
St. Petersburg, FL · Public |
70
65–70 |
$51,565/yr | 55.6x |
| 5 |
Illinois State University
Normal, IL · Public |
69
64–70 |
$59,207/yr | 12.0x |
| 6 |
University of Central Oklahoma
Edmond, OK · Public |
69
64–69 |
$49,560/yr | 19.1x |
| 7 |
Oakland University
Rochester Hills, MI · Public |
67
62–68 |
$59,330/yr | 11.4x |
| 8 |
University of California-Berkeley
Berkeley, CA · Public |
66
62–67 |
$48,351/yr | 12.7x |
| 9 |
CUNY Hunter College
New York, NY · Public |
66
62–67 |
$47,444/yr | 19.8x |
| 10 |
American Public University System
Charles Town, WV · Private for-profit |
66
61–66 |
$47,100/yr | 17.9x |
| 11 |
North Carolina A & T State University
Greensboro, NC · Public |
64
59–65 |
$58,660/yr | 20.7x |
| 12 |
Indiana University-Bloomington
Bloomington, IN · Public |
63
60–63 |
$42,790/yr | 14.4x |
| 13 |
CUNY Lehman College
Bronx, NY · Public |
62
60–63 |
$41,255/yr | 19.9x |
| 14 |
University of Washington-Seattle Campus
Seattle, WA · Public |
62
58–62 |
$46,016/yr | 12.0x |
| 15 |
University of Washington-Tacoma Campus
Tacoma, WA · Public |
62
57–62 |
$46,016/yr | 11.8x |
| 16 |
California State University-Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA · Public |
60
57–60 |
$40,750/yr | 19.7x |
| 17 |
California State University-Northridge
Northridge, CA · Public |
60
59–61 |
$39,011/yr | 20.7x |
| 18 |
Rutgers University-New Brunswick
New Brunswick, NJ · Public |
60
56–61 |
$45,408/yr | 9.6x |
| 19 |
CUNY York College
Jamaica, NY · Public |
60
57–60 |
$43,000/yr | 17.4x |
| 20 |
Weber State University
Ogden, UT · Public |
60
58–61 |
$41,661/yr | 20.4x |
| 21 |
Purdue University-Main Campus
West Lafayette, IN · Public |
60
56–60 |
$45,274/yr | 13.1x |
| 22 |
University of Georgia
Athens, GA · Public |
59
57–60 |
$39,534/yr | 14.3x |
| 23 |
Indiana University-Northwest
Gary, IN · Public |
59
56–60 |
$43,356/yr | 15.5x |
| 24 |
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Houston, TX · Public |
59
55–60 |
$99,671/yr | — |
| 25 |
National University
San Diego, CA · Private nonprofit |
58
53–59 |
$52,057/yr | 9.4x |
| 26 |
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Charlotte, NC · Public |
58
58–58 |
$36,307/yr | 21.0x |
| 27 |
Northeastern State University
Tahlequah, OK · Public |
58
55–59 |
$41,457/yr | 16.7x |
| 28 |
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT · Public |
58
57–59 |
$37,068/yr | 17.1x |
| 29 |
Central Washington University
Ellensburg, WA · Public |
58
55–58 |
$42,137/yr | 14.1x |
| 30 |
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL · Public |
57
55–57 |
$40,564/yr | 10.1x |
| 31 |
University of Maryland-College Park
College Park, MD · Public |
57
56–58 |
$38,273/yr | 13.7x |
| 32 |
California State University-Chico
Chico, CA · Public |
56
52–56 |
$45,339/yr | 13.1x |
| 33 |
Indiana University-Indianapolis
Indianapolis, IN · Public |
56
53–56 |
$42,152/yr | 12.2x |
| 34 |
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Greensboro, NC · Public |
56
53–57 |
$42,239/yr | 15.2x |
| 35 |
Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania
Slippery Rock, PA · Public |
56
53–57 |
$42,605/yr | 12.2x |
| 36 |
Florida Gulf Coast University
Fort Myers, FL · Public |
56
56–57 |
$35,724/yr | 22.6x |
| 37 |
Kennesaw State University
Kennesaw, GA · Public |
56
53–56 |
$42,175/yr | 17.2x |
| 38 |
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ · Public |
55
52–55 |
$41,561/yr | 10.6x |
| 39 |
Walden University
Minneapolis, MN · Private for-profit |
55
52–56 |
$44,285/yr | 10.1x |
| 40 |
Boise State University
Boise, ID · Public |
55
51–56 |
$46,117/yr | 12.1x |
| 41 |
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
La Crosse, WI · Public |
55
52–56 |
$41,585/yr | 12.7x |
| 42 |
Oregon State University-Cascades Campus
Bend, OR · Public |
55
53–56 |
$40,682/yr | 10.9x |
| 43 |
University of Alaska Anchorage
Anchorage, AK · Public |
54
51–54 |
$42,552/yr | 13.1x |
| 44 |
California State University-Long Beach
Long Beach, CA · Public |
54
55–54 |
$32,880/yr | 21.0x |
| 45 |
University of California-San Diego
La Jolla, CA · Public |
54
53–55 |
$39,144/yr | 10.0x |
| 46 |
University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus
Denver, CO · Public |
54
51–54 |
$40,566/yr | 12.2x |
| 47 |
Winona State University
Winona, MN · Public |
54
50–55 |
$46,250/yr | 10.6x |
| 48 |
Kent State University at Trumbull
Warren, OH · Public |
54
52–54 |
$39,159/yr | 15.8x |
| 49 |
Ohio State University-Main Campus
Columbus, OH · Public |
54
53–54 |
$36,226/yr | 12.1x |
| 50 |
Oklahoma State University-Main Campus
Stillwater, OK · Public |
54
52–54 |
$38,852/yr | 12.8x |
Scores calculated using College Scorecard, BLS, and AI task-exposure data. See full methodology →