Best Online Master’s in Human Services

Published: Jul 2, 2021
Updated: Feb 1, 2024

Find top-ranked online master’s in human services degree programs for students wanting to go into fields like long-term care, government, grant writing, and child welfare. Students will also qualify to work in clinical settings and serve as executive directors, grants management specialists, advocacy directors, teen center directors, and human services business analysts.

Top 10 Online Master's in Human Services Degrees

Wilmington University
Eastern Illinois University
East Tennessee State University
Nova Southeastern University
California State University, Northridge
Purdue Global
Plymouth State University
Regent University
Bellevue University
Shorter University

California State University, Northridge
Nova Southeastern University
Youngstown State University
East Tennessee State University
Regent University
Eastern Illinois University
Stephen F. Austin State University
Prescott College
Saint Leo University
Purdue Global

Plymouth State University 98%
Prescott College 98%
Shorter University 97%
Concordia University Chicago 93%
California State University, Northridge 91%
Stephen F. Austin State University 90%
Southwestern Assemblies of God University 86%
Mount Aloysius College 86%
East Tennessee State University 85%
Houston Christian University 84%

Southeastern University 27 to 1
Purdue Global 26 to 1
California State University, Northridge 24 to 1
Regent University 21 to 1
Youngstown State University 18 to 1
Saint Leo University 18 to 1
Nova Southeastern University 17 to 1
Southwestern Assemblies of God University 17 to 1
Stephen F. Austin State University 17 to 1
Plymouth State University 17 to 1

Lenoir–Rhyne University $43,000
Saint Joseph's College of Maine $41,586
Albertus Magnus College $37,682
Houston Christian University $36,750
Nova Southeastern University $36,300
Prescott College $35,450
Concordia University Chicago $34,964
St. Joseph's University $32,370
Southeastern University $30,148
Saint Leo University $27,050

Albertus Magnus College $22,176
Nova Southeastern University $22,062
St. Joseph's University $21,456
Saint Leo University $18,436
Prescott College $16,824
Shorter University $16,800
Regent University $16,028
Mount Aloysius College $16,020
Lenoir–Rhyne University $12,240
Plymouth State University $12,109

Touro University Worldwide
Saint Joseph's College of Maine
Prescott College
Lenoir–Rhyne University
Mount Aloysius College
St. Joseph's University
Bryan College
Albertus Magnus College
Southeastern University
Concordia University Chicago

Touro University Worldwide
St. Joseph's University
Lenoir–Rhyne University
Saint Joseph's College of Maine
Southeastern University
Shorter University
Mount Aloysius College
Concordia University Chicago
Bryan College
Albertus Magnus College

Regent University 32%
Southeastern University 61%
Eastern Illinois University 68%
Nova Southeastern University 76%
St. Joseph's University 77%
Albertus Magnus College 80%
Saint Leo University 80%
Saint Joseph's College of Maine 81%
Youngstown State University 81%
Lenoir–Rhyne University 83%

Touro University Worldwide 8 to 1
Prescott College 9 to 1
Saint Joseph's College of Maine 10 to 1
Lenoir–Rhyne University 11 to 1
Mount Aloysius College 11 to 1
Concordia University Chicago 12 to 1
Wilmington University 12 to 1
St. Joseph's University 12 to 1
Bellevue University 13 to 1
Bryan College 13 to 1

California State University, Northridge $5,742
East Tennessee State University $7,486
Stephen F. Austin State University $7,842
Bellevue University $8,790
Eastern Illinois University $9,417
Youngstown State University $9,426
Purdue Global $10,080
Plymouth State University $11,870
Wilmington University $12,030
Touro University Worldwide $14,600

Stephen F. Austin State University $5,262
Youngstown State University $6,494
California State University, Northridge $7,176
Eastern Illinois University $7,691
Southwestern Assemblies of God University $8,280
East Tennessee State University $8,784
Touro University Worldwide $9,000
Wilmington University $9,216
Concordia University Chicago $9,399
Purdue Global $9,472

Table of Contents

Featured Programs

Frequently Asked Questions About Human Services Degrees

Professionals looking to acquire advanced skills and expand career opportunities can earn a master’s in human services either online or on campus. With the ultimate goal of making a positive difference for people, graduate students will focus their learning in specializations like community and social services, gerontology, human services nonprofit administration, and family studies and interventions.

Find out what you can do with a human services degree.

Programs range from 30 to 45 credits and typically take students two to three years to complete.

Depending on their concentration, graduates can work in a variety of fields, including long-term care, government, grant writing, and child welfare. Upon graduation, students will qualify to work in clinical settings and serve as executive directors, grants management specialists, advocacy directors, teen center directors, and human services business analysts.

Learn more about what you can do with a master’s degree in social work.

How do we determine the best online human services master's degree programs?

Methodology

Pursuing your degree online doesn’t mean you need to settle for an inferior school. Today, most universities and colleges offer online degrees, and many respected schools are seeing significant growth in their numbers of online students.

The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great. This is why influence — i.e., the academic impact of faculty and alumni associated with a school — gets at the heart of what is truly best in education. The combined influence score of a college or university’s top academic influencers is the best indicator of academic excellence. For our online degree rankings, we focus on the academic influence of faculty and alumni in the specific disciplines we’re ranking.

If you are serious about finding the best online colleges, you should be asking where the most influential professors are teaching, and whether their graduates themselves are advancing the school’s reputation for academic excellence. Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Influence, as measured by our InfluenceRanking engine, provides a ranking that is free from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.

Best Online Master’s in Human Services Degree Programs

Career Outlook for Students with Human Services Degree

Go to Degree Finder tool

Human Services

Degree Level: Master's

Location: The U.S. (Private Schools)
Avg. Starting Salary*: $47,249
Avg. Salary after 4 Years*: $57,739
* denotes ‘annually’

Career Salaries

Career	Job Growth	Avg. Salary
Social and Community Service Managers	9.08%	$69,922
Community and Social Service Specialists, All Other	6.50%	$46,416
Social and Human Service Assistants	8.55%	$37,060

Average Career Salaries

Bottom 10%	Median	Top 10%
$34,960	$51,136	$78,309

Promising Job Markets

State	Cost of Living	Avg. Salary
#2 Virginia	5% higher than average	$62,077
#3 Michigan	15% higher than average	$52,563
#4 Pennsylvania	5% higher than average	$58,440
#5 Tennessee	14% higher than average	$50,773
#6 South Dakota	7% higher than average	$54,580
#7 New York	5% higher than average	$61,007
#8 Wisconsin	7% higher than average	$54,477
#9 Washington	7% higher than average	$61,950
#10 Texas	10% higher than average	$51,187
#11 Ohio	14% higher than average	$48,827
#12 Minnesota	4% higher than average	$54,080
#13 North Dakota	average	$56,333
#14 Colorado	3% higher than average	$57,923
#15 Kentucky	14% higher than average	$47,933
#16 North Carolina	11% higher than average	$48,303
#17 Illinois	7% higher than average	$50,643
#18 Louisiana	9% higher than average	$48,470
#19 New Jersey	13% higher than average	$60,207
#20 New Mexico	7% higher than average	$49,233
#21 Oklahoma	13% higher than average	$45,487
#22 Missouri	16% higher than average	$44,000
#23 Wyoming	2% higher than average	$50,973
#24 Rhode Island	20% higher than average	$61,873
#25 Indiana	11% higher than average	$45,993
#26 Florida	6% higher than average	$48,717
#27 South Carolina	8% higher than average	$47,433
#28 Alabama	13% higher than average	$44,260
#29 Nevada	5% higher than average	$53,323
#30 Kansas	9% higher than average	$46,520
#31 Georgia	13% higher than average	$44,067
#32 District of Columbia	49% higher than average	$75,017
#33 Iowa	9% higher than average	$45,783
#34 Nebraska	6% higher than average	$46,910
#35 Arizona	5% higher than average	$47,633
#36 Idaho	7% higher than average	$46,113
#37 Oregon	11% higher than average	$53,987
#38 Delaware	2% higher than average	$49,610
#39 Arkansas	16% higher than average	$40,700
#40 Utah	4% higher than average	$45,663
#41 West Virginia	11% higher than average	$41,687
#42 Maryland	18% higher than average	$54,843
#43 Montana	3% higher than average	$44,617
#44 Alaska	23% higher than average	$55,867
#45 Massachusetts	24% higher than average	$56,020
#46 Mississippi	18% higher than average	$37,057
#47 New Hampshire	13% higher than average	$50,043
#48 Vermont	13% higher than average	$49,870
#49 California	26% higher than average	$55,630
#50 Connecticut	18% higher than average	$52,120
#51 Maine	9% higher than average	$45,253
#52 Hawaii	40% higher than average	$53,017

Top Industries

Industry	Avg. Salary
Social and Community Service Managers	$69,922
Community and Social Service Specialists, All Other	$46,416
Social and Human Service Assistants	$37,060

Data from The Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Department of Education College Scorecard, The Department of Education NCES, and The Council for Community and Economic Research.

Looking for online master’s degrees similar to human services? Check out our rankings of online degrees in school counseling or psychology!

Online Degree Frequently Asked Questions

If this is your first time taking an online course, the experience may require some adjustment. While you’ll generally learn the same content and take the same exams as your on-campus peers, the medium will likely require you to manage much of this experience independently. You’ll be accountable for your own time management, your ability to harness the technology at your fingertips, and your ability to focus on the lectures, lessons, and assignments at hand. This means you’ll need to create a suitable workspace for yourself, maintain a realistic schedule, and take it upon yourself to build relationships with your instructors and classmates. With online college, your goal is to find a balance between independence and engagement.

No. The only part of online education that’s easier is actually getting there. Taking the commute out of the equation means getting to class should be a lot more manageable. But that’s where it ends. In general, your online courses will incorporate the very same materials, concepts, and testing methods as would a traditional classroom.

And in many cases, you’ll even have the same instructors as your on-campus counterparts. In fact, if you are adjusting to the experience of independent learning or working with remote learning technology for the first time, online college may even be a little more challenging for you. For a few insights on how to manage this new experience, check out our 10 Tips for Adjusting to School Online.

Accreditation is especially important when it comes to online college. This is because the online education landscape is a mix of highly-reputable institutions and less-than-reputable for-profit schools. Accreditation gives you the power to differentiate between the two. Accreditation is a stamp of approval from an independent accrediting agency which indicates that a college or university is meeting standards of quality, credibility, and currency. School-wide accreditation falls into two major categories: regional and national accreditation. Regional accreditors generally hold jurisdiction only over schools in the states comprising their region, whereas national accreditors hold jurisdiction over schools in all states. Regional accreditation is widely regarded as a more rigorous standard of quality and credibility than national accreditation.

Attending a college or university which is not regionally accredited could limit your opportunities. When seeking an online education, we strongly recommend that students opt for regionally accredited schools. Regional accreditation ensures eligibility for federal loans and grants, ensures your college credits can be transferred between schools, and ensures that your degree credits can be accepted if you wish to earn an advanced degree.

As long as your online college degree is regionally accredited, you should have little difficulty transferring most of your credits or credentials to another regionally accredited undergraduate school. Every school carries its own standards and procedures for granting a transfer. In many cases, you will be required to navigate a bureaucracy in which some of your credits will be transferred and others will be jettisoned. However, provided that you have attended an online school with the proper regional accreditation, you should have plenty of options for transfer.

In most cases, as long you graduate from a well-regarded, regionally-accredited online college, prospective employers won’t look sideways at your degree. In fact, unless you attend an exclusively online college or university, there will likely be no specific indicator on your degree, transcript or resume differentiating your school from its brick-and-mortar counterpart. This means that your employer will likely only differentiate between an online and in-person degree if you mention this distinction.

While some employers may express concern about making the adjustment from online education to in-person workplace collaboration, many other employers will view your online degree as evidence of valuable 21st Century professional skills such as independence, self-motivation, time management, and tech savvy.

If you are a student who thrives on the dynamic energy of in-person discussion, who requires the physical surroundings of a classroom to feel engaged, or who considers the social aspects of education to be of equal importance to the actual content of your courses, online education will require some adjustment.

While there is much that can be supplanted or simulated through the online medium, some students may find that there is nothing which can replace the conversation, collaboration, and motivation that occur in an actual classroom setting. As you make the adjustment to online education, one of the biggest challenges you will likely face is overcoming this difference in order to the get the most out of your classes. Fortunately, we’ve got some great Tips for Online Education Beginners.

The advantages of online classes are many. First and foremost, online courses give you the freedom and flexibility to attend class from anywhere that works for you, whether you’re at home, in a coffee shop, or in a quiet conference room at work. In many cases, you’ll also enjoy the convenience of asynchronous learning opportunities-educational experiences that you can complete on your own schedule. This may include pre-taped lectures, ongoing chat-board discussions, and 24/7 access to digital materials. And of course, just as there are some learners who prefer the energy of a live classroom, there are those who learn best when working in their own personal space, free from distractions. If this sounds like you, you might find the solitude of online learning to be a major advantage.

Whether you’re just getting started on your college search, you’re looking for survival tips on your way to a bachelor’s degree, or you’re preparing for the transition into grad school, we’ve got guides, how to’s and tons of other valuable resources to keep you moving forward in your educational journey.

Do you have a question about this topic? Ask it here

Best Online Master’s in Human Services

Top 10 Online Master's in Human Services Degrees

Featured Programs

Frequently Asked Questions About Human Services Degrees

Why get a master’s in human services?

How long does it take to get a master’s in human services?

What can you do with a master’s in human services?

Best Online Master’s in Human Services Degree Programs

Career Outlook for Human Services degree at Wilmington University

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Human Services degree at Eastern Illinois University

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Human Services degree at East Tennessee State University

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Career Outlook for Human Services degree at Nova Southeastern University

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Human Services degree at California State University, Northridge

Online Degrees

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Career Outlook for Human Services degree at Plymouth State University

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Career Outlook for Human Services degree at Regent University

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Career Outlook for Human Services degree at Bellevue University

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Human Services degree at Shorter University

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Career Outlook for Human Services degree at Houston Christian University

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Career Outlook for Human Services degree at Stephen F. Austin State University

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Career Outlook for Human Services degree at Youngstown State University

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Human Services degree at Saint Leo University

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Human Services degree at Southwestern Assemblies of God University

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Human Services degree at Concordia University Chicago

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Human Services degree at Southeastern University

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Human Services degree at Albertus Magnus College

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Career Outlook for Human Services degree at Bryan College

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Human Services degree at St. Joseph's University

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Concentrations

Career Outlook for Human Services degree at Mount Aloysius College

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Career Outlook for Human Services degree at Lenoir–Rhyne University

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Human Services degree at Prescott College

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Human Services degree at Saint Joseph's College of Maine

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Students with Human Services Degree

Human Services

Degree Level: Master's

Career Salaries

Average Career Salaries

Promising Job Markets

Top Industries

Online Degree Frequently Asked Questions

What can I expect from an online college course?+

Is online college easier?+

Why does accreditation matter in online college?+

Will I be able to transfer my online college degree?+