Best Community Colleges in Maryland 2024

Badge for BEST IN MARYLAND COMMUNITY COLLEGES

Published: Mar 26, 2021
Updated: Oct 16, 2023

The best community colleges provide an effective springboard into higher education, offering students high-quality two-year degree programs in a wide range of disciplines. The top-rated community colleges in Maryland offer a broad selection of associate’s degrees, affordable tuition rates, and strong partnerships with public four-year schools so that students can easily transfer their credits into accredited bachelor’s degree programs.

Anne Arundel Community College
Montgomery College
Cecil College
Baltimore City Community College
Prince George's Community College
Community College of Baltimore County
College of Southern Maryland
Howard Community College
Garrett College
Hagerstown Community College

Anne Arundel Community College 16 to 1
College of Southern Maryland 16 to 1
Frederick Community College 16 to 1
Hagerstown Community College 16 to 1
Montgomery College 16 to 1
Prince George's Community College 16 to 1
Chesapeake College 15 to 1
Harford Community College 15 to 1
Carroll Community College 14 to 1
Community College of Baltimore County 14 to 1

Garrett College $8,792
Montgomery College $8,070
Anne Arundel Community College $7,920
Allegany College of Maryland $7,860
Cecil College $7,290
Howard Community College $6,939
Frederick Community College $6,768
Wor–Wic Community College $6,192
Community College of Baltimore County $5,784
College of Southern Maryland $5,760

Carroll Community College
Harford Community College
Chesapeake College
Hagerstown Community College
Wor–Wic Community College
Frederick Community College
Baltimore City Community College
Allegany College of Maryland
Howard Community College
College of Southern Maryland

Carroll Community College
Wor–Wic Community College
Chesapeake College
Allegany College of Maryland
Harford Community College
Frederick Community College
Hagerstown Community College
Garrett College
Howard Community College
College of Southern Maryland

Allegany College of Maryland 11 to 1
Garrett College 12 to 1
Baltimore City Community College 12 to 1
Cecil College 12 to 1
Wor–Wic Community College 12 to 1
Howard Community College 13 to 1
Carroll Community College 14 to 1
Community College of Baltimore County 14 to 1
Chesapeake College 15 to 1
Harford Community College 15 to 1

Baltimore City Community College $2,640
Prince George's Community College $5,016
Chesapeake College $5,376
Carroll Community College $5,496
Harford Community College $5,520
College of Southern Maryland $5,760
Hagerstown Community College $5,760
Community College of Baltimore County $5,784
Wor–Wic Community College $6,192
Frederick Community College $6,768

Colleges and Universities in Maryland

The Old Line State has 46 colleges and universities, 30 of which are public and 16 of which are private. The United States Naval Academy offers programs in physical sciences, aeronautical engineering, and naval architecture. The largest private institution, Johns Hopkins University, has just over 24,000 students and a tuition rate of $54,000. Located in Baltimore, this research university is known for its science and medical discoveries.

Find college admissions consultants in your state.

The University of Maryland in College Park boasts over 35,000 students with a price tag of $11,000. The school has 15 campuses, and students can choose from areas of study like criminal justice, communications, physics, and sociology. The most affordable school in the state, Baltimore City Community College comes in at $3,000 and has 37 associate degree programs to choose from. Maryland also provides loan forgiveness programs for its residents, including those for dentists and public servants. Students can also check out the Maryland SmartBuy Home Buyer Assistance and Forgiveness Program, where eligible applicants can receive up to 15% of the home purchase price toward outstanding student loan, to be paid off as part of closing.

Maryland is a state bursting with history, from its numerous museums to its historic battlegrounds. Students who attend school in Maryland can explore the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Park and walk the same streets as many influential Marylanders, including Francis Scott Key, Babe Ruth, Billie Holiday, and Thurgood Marshall.

Whether you’re looking to earn an associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree, Maryland offers its students history, legacy, and numerous degree paths.

What are Maryland’s Colleges & Universities?

Maryland’s Best Overall

How do we determine Maryland's best community colleges?

Methodology

The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great! If you are serious about finding the best colleges and universities for a bachelor’s degree, you should be asking where the most influential professors are teaching and whether their graduates are themselves advancing the school’s reputation for academic excellence in their fields of study.

Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Concentrated Influence provides a ranking that is freer from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.

To rank the influence of schools, we first determine the influence of scholars and professionals based on the number of citations and publications they have had over the past 10 years. In addition to publications and citations, we consider the web links to and from these sources, and the page views of those sources. We then match the influential people to their alma maters and institutions of employment, so that their influence is attributed to those schools. Our machine-learning Influence Ranking algorithm produces a numerical score of academic achievements, merits, and citations across Wikipedia, wikidata, Crossref, Semantic Scholar and an ever-growing body of data. If you are interested in exploring how and why we rank by influence, explore our methodology in more depth.

We’ve identified 16 community colleges in Maryland. The following list shows the best community colleges and primarily associate degree granting colleges in Maryland.