Kinesiology Degree Programs

IPEDS & BLS · updated

Kinesiology degree programs, measured

Every kinesiology and exercise science program in the federal data, scored on the same weighted model and published with the numbers behind the score. Nothing here is estimated, modeled, or paid for.

See the national ranking Rankings by state
A group of adults driving their knees up in unison during an indoor exercise class
Photograph by Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels
Programs scored
971
Award levels
4
States ranked
49
Median wage (BLS)
$59,460

National · Bachelor’s

The highest scoring programs

The top 8 of 568 bachelor’s programs scored nationally. The trace plots each score across the 50 to 100 range the model produces, with a tick at the 75 midpoint; the peak marks where it lands.

  1. Rank 1: University of Georgia

    Athens, GA · Public

    Grad rate

    90%

    In-state

    $10,034

  2. Rank 2: University of Maryland-College Park

    College Park, MD · Public

    Grad rate

    89%

    In-state

    $10,087

  3. Rank 3: University of Virginia-Main Campus

    Charlottesville, VA · Public

    Grad rate

    96%

    In-state

    $19,472

  4. Rank 4: University of Wisconsin-Madison

    Madison, WI · Public

    Grad rate

    90%

    In-state

    $10,006

  5. Rank 5: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

    Champaign, IL · Public

    Grad rate

    85%

    In-state

    $14,975

  6. Rank 6: University of Central Florida

    Orlando, FL · Public

    Grad rate

    78%

    In-state

    $4,478

  7. Rank 7: Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus

    University Park, PA · Public

    Grad rate

    86%

    In-state

    $20,066

  8. Rank 8: The University of Tennessee-Knoxville

    Knoxville, TN · Public

    Grad rate

    74%

    In-state

    $11,560

All 25 ranked programs

By state

49 state rankings

Every state with a ranked program has a list at each level it reports: 556 programs across 130 lists, and 43 states rank more than one level. The number beside each state is how many programs it ranks in total, and the link opens the levels available there.

Coverage

Kinesiology Degrees by Award Level

The model runs separately at each level, because a two-year associate program and a research doctorate are not comparable on cost or completion. Together that is 971 programs in the same CIP code, 31.0505.

Associate's
187 programs scored
Bachelor's
568 programs scored
Master's
177 programs scored
Doctoral
39 programs scored

Methodology

What the Kinesiology Program Score Weighs

Seven inputs, all of them public, weighted as shown and scored against other programs in the same field at the same level. A program cannot buy a position, and there is no reputation survey anywhere in the model.

  1. Graduation rate 26

    The institution's six-year completion rate. The heaviest single input, because a degree you do not finish returns nothing.

  2. Admissions selectivity 24

    The undergraduate admit rate, inverted, so a harder seat scores higher. Read it as how much competition a place attracts, not as teaching quality.

  3. Earnings of graduates 18

    Median earnings of graduates of this specific field at this specific school, four years out where reported. Per-school and per-field, not a national average pasted onto every row.

  4. Incoming academic profile 14

    The midpoint SAT of the entering class, where the institution reports one.

  5. Institutional scale 7

    Total enrollment. A proxy for the breadth of labs, faculty and electives a department can sustain, weighted lightly because bigger is not better on its own.

  6. Return on tuition 6

    Graduate earnings divided by published in-state tuition. This is the only place published cost enters the score.

  7. Degrees conferred in the field 5

    How many of these degrees the school actually awards each year. A track record, and a check against programs that exist mainly on paper.

Read the full methodology

Sources

Where the Kinesiology Program Data Comes From

Tuition, graduation rates, admit rates, enrollment, and degree completions are federal IPEDS reporting. Wages are BLS. Where a school did not report a figure, the page says so instead of substituting an estimate.

One thing worth knowing before you compare programs: kinesiology has no single mandatory programmatic accreditor. CAAHEP, on the recommendation of CoAES, accredits some exercise science programs, but most bachelor’s-level kinesiology programs are institutionally accredited only. A program without CAAHEP status is not unaccredited, and a site that implies otherwise is selling something.

Primary sources

Last refreshed . More on who publishes this.