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Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools in California

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2023 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools in California

22 Colleges
$32,218 Avg Salary
$19,856 Avg Student Debt

Finding the Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies School for You

With 1,097 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies is the #16 most popular major in California.

With all the programs available today, it can be tough to choose which one is the best 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.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Grad Degree Search has created the Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools in California to help you in your search for the best school for you. Our analysis looked at 22 schools in California to see which programs offered the best educational experiences for students.

View our full ranking methodology.

2023 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools in California

The colleges and universities below are the best for parks and rec majors pursuing a .

Top 10 Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools

Our 2023 rankings named Concordia University, Irvine the best school in California for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students. Located in the large city of Irvine, Concordia University, Irvine is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Concordia University, Irvine

The excellent programs at California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies schools in California. Located in the small suburb of San Luis Obispo, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a public school with a very large student population.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Point Loma Nazarene University. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools in California list. Located in the large city of San Diego, PLNU is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at Point Loma Nazarene University

#4

University of San Francisco

San Francisco, CA

The excellent programs at University of San Francisco helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies schools in California. USFCA is a large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of San Francisco.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at University of San Francisco Report

The excellent programs at University of the Pacific helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies schools in California. Pacific is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the city of Stockton.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at University of the Pacific

California Baptist University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best schools for parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies students. It came in at #6 on the list. Located in the city of Riverside, Cal Baptist is a private not-for-profit school with a large student population.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at California Baptist University Report

San Jose State University came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools in California ranking. Located in the large city of San Jose, San Jose State is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Read full report on Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at San Jose State University

California State University - Long Beach ranked #8 on this year’s Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools in California list. Located in the large city of Long Beach, CSULB is a public school with a very large student population.

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#9

National University

La Jolla, CA

National University ranked #9 on this year’s Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools in California list. National University is a large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of La Jolla.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at National University Report

California State University - East Bay came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Schools in California ranking. Cal State East Bay is a fairly large public school located in the large suburb of Hayward.

Full Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies at California State University - East Bay Report

Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Colleges in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 122
Oregon 67
Nevada 13
Hawaii 12
Alaska 5

Parks & Rec Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Health & Physical Education 9,742
Recreation Administration 441
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies 206
Other Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies 35
Outdoor Education 28

Majors Similar to Parks & Rec

Related Major Annual Graduates
Public Administration & Social Service 53,252
Legal Professions 45,189
Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting 13,045
Military Technologies & Applied Sciences 1,613

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 22 schools only.

  • Read more about our ranking methodology.
  • 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 NPS Photo/Zurbuch.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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