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Appleton, Wisconsin has 3 accredited schools offering public administration programs. Appleton has a population of about 74,873. Median household income is $77,450 (Census ACS 2023, 5-year). About 37.0% of adults 25+ hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. In the Appleton, WI metro area, the top-earning public administration-related role is General and Operations Manager at a median $109,890 annually (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
The accredited institutions listed below are the closest in our directory that offer public administration programs near Appleton, ranked by BOC Score and straight-line distance from Appleton city center. The list is rebuilt from federal IPEDS data on every site update.
Every school list on this site is ordered by the BOC Score, computed from the most recent school-level data published by the U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and IPEDS). To qualify, a school must be currently operating and accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Each eligible school is then scored on five measures, percentile-ranked against schools at the same credential level:
Schools without enough outcome data appear after ranked schools, without a score. On this page, schools are ordered by distance from Appleton. Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source: IPEDS / College Scorecard (2023 cohort). Browse all Wisconsin schools on the Wisconsin public administration page.
Appleton is part of the Appleton, WI metro area (BLS area code 11540). Where MSA-level wages are published, the table below shows MSA medians; otherwise it falls back to Wisconsin statewide.
| Occupation | Median Wage | Source | COL-Adjusted (US=100) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social and Community Service Manager | $82,550 | Appleton, WI | $89,340 |
| Urban and Regional Planner | $81,770 | Appleton, WI | $88,496 |
| General and Operations Manager | $109,890 | Appleton, WI | $118,929 |
| Management Analyst | $99,060 | Appleton, WI | $107,208 |
Source: BLS, May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes wage data at the metro (MSA) and state level – not by individual city.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Population | 74,873 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B01003) |
| Median household income | $77,450 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B19013) |
| Adults 25+ with bachelor’s+ | 37.0% | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B15003) |
| Regional Price Parity (US=100) | 92.4 (below U.S. average) | BEA RPP 2024 |
Our directory has 3 accredited schools offering public administration programs near Appleton. The closest is University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in Oshkosh, WI (19.1 miles), and the farthest of the schools shown is University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (86.8 miles). 3 of the highlighted schools are flagged as offering distance education.
Based on BLS OEWS May 2025 wage data, the top-paying public administration-related roles near Appleton are: General and Operations Manager ($109,890), Management Analyst ($99,060), Social and Community Service Manager ($82,550). These reflect MSA-level medians where published, with Wisconsin statewide fallback for occupations not reported at the metro level.
Neenah, WI is 8.7 miles from Appleton and has its own set of local public administration programs – see the city’s page. For online programs, distance matters less; for hybrid or in-person formats, comparing both can help.
Appleton’s median household income of $77,450 (Census ACS 2023) is one input. Online programs let students stay in Appleton while attending lower-cost out-of-state schools, and Wisconsin public universities often offer reduced in-state online tuition.
Confirm institutional accreditation via the U.S. Department of Education database (U.S. Dept. of Education database), and check for any program-specific accreditation listed by the school.
Compare every accredited online degree program with city-level data for Appleton:
Data verified: August 31, 2026. Salary, employment, and tuition figures on this page are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025; Employment Projections 2024–2034) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (2023 cohort). The source agency and data year are cited inline with every statistic.
Back to Best Public Administration Schools in Wisconsin (2026)
