Texas’s Best Community Colleges of 2021
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 Texas 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.
Colleges and Universities in Texas
Texas offers more than 30 colleges and universities that serve communities of 10,000 students or more. The largest school in the bunch (and in the nation), Texas A&M University in College Station serves more than 65,000 students. The University of Texas at Austin is the next largest, serving about 45,000 students — but it too has a big claim to fame, as the wealthiest public university in the United States. Texas’s private colleges and universities, including Baylor University and Southern Methodist University, are also impressive in size and scope. The majority of these schools have religious affiliations and offer degrees in a variety fields, such as nursing, religious studies, criminal justice, business, and education.
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What are Texas’s Colleges & Universities?
- 28 Research Universities
- 46 Liberal Arts Colleges & Universities
- 43 Graduate Schools
- 36 Public Colleges & Universities
- 38 Private Colleges & Universities
- 36 Christian Colleges & Universities
- 39 Small Colleges & Universities (fewer than 5,000 students)
- 44 Affordable Colleges (below national average of $16,000/year)
- 55 Community Colleges
Texas’s Best Overall
There are a total of 55 community colleges in Texas. The following list shows the 25 best community colleges in the state with a student body of greater than one thousand students.
How do we determine Texas's best community colleges?
The best colleges pound for pound!
The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great. This is why, at the undergraduate level, we rank the best colleges and universities based on what we call Concentrated Influence.
Concentrated Influence takes the combined influence score of a college or university’s top academic influencers (including faculty and alums) and divides it by the school’s total number of undergraduates.
Using concentrated influence gives small and mid-sized schools an opportunity to shine by taking away the size advantage of larger universities. A small school with proportionately more influential faculty than a large school, whose influence in absolute terms may be bigger, will nonetheless score higher in a concentrated influence ranking. Our approach highlights undergraduate schools that truly rank for excellence, regardless of size.
25 Best Community Colleges in Texas
- #1Lamar Institute of Technology#3951 institution's overall influence
Tuition + fees
$4K
Student body
2K
Beaumont, TXView profile
- #2Lamar State College–Port Arthur#9091 institution's overall influence
Tuition + fees
$4K
Student body
1K
Port Arthur, TXView profile
- #3Trinity Valley Community College#5465 institution's overall influence
Tuition + fees
$5K
Student body
4K
Athens, TXView profile
What is Trinity Valley Community College known for?
Trinity Valley Community College's faculty and alumni have been influential in:
- Education
- Medical
- Criminal Justice
- Business
- Nursing
- Computer Science
Most Influential Alumni
- #4Galveston College#4689 institution's overall influence
Tuition + fees
$3K
Student body
2K
Galveston, TXView profile
- #5Paris Junior College#5577 institution's overall influence
Tuition + fees
$3K
Student body
3K
Paris, TXView profile
- #6Northeast Texas Community College#7612 institution's overall influence
Tuition + fees
$5K
Student body
1K
Mount Pleasant, TXView profile
- #7Navarro College#4372 institution's overall influence
Tuition + fees
$4K
Student body
6K
Corsicana, TXView profile
What is Navarro College known for?
Navarro College's faculty and alumni have been influential in:
- Education
- Medical
- Engineering
- Mathematics
- Criminal Justice
- Nursing
- Computer Science
- Communications
- Biology
- Chemistry
Most Influential Alumni
- #8Panola College#7909 institution's overall influence
Tuition + fees
$3K
Student body
2K
Carthage, TXView profile
- #9Grayson College#7703 institution's overall influence
Tuition + fees
$4K
Student body
3K
Denison, TXView profile
- #10Kilgore College#4436 institution's overall influence
Tuition + fees
$4K
Student body
4K
Kilgore, TXView profile
What is Kilgore College known for?
Kilgore College's faculty and alumni have been influential in:
- Education
- Medical
- Business
- Criminal Justice
- Nursing
- Computer Science
Most Influential Alumni
- #11Lee College#4741 institution's overall influence
Tuition + fees
$4K
Student body
5K
Baytown, TXView profile
What is Lee College known for?
Lee College's faculty and alumni have been influential in:
- Education
- Medical
- Earth Sciences
- Criminal Justice
- Computer Science
- Nursing
- Mathematics
- Biology
- Communications
- Engineering
Most Influential Alumni
- #12College of the Mainland#5227 institution's overall influence
Tuition + fees
$3K
Student body
3K
Texas City, TXView profile
- #13Ranger College#6547 institution's overall influence
Tuition + fees
$5K
Student body
2K
Ranger, TXView profile
- #14Collin College#2529 institution's overall influence
Tuition + fees
$3K
Student body
21K
McKinney, TXView profile
What is Collin College known for?
Collin College's faculty and alumni have been influential in:
- Education
- Criminal Justice
- Medical
- Business
- Computer Science
- Nursing
- Engineering
- Communications
- Sociology
Most Influential Alumni
- #15Texarkana College#1947 institution's overall influence
Tuition + fees
$4K
Student body
3K
Texarkana, TXView profile
- #16Amarillo College#3385 institution's overall influence
Tuition + fees
$3K
Student body
6K
Amarillo, TXView profile
- #17Austin Community College District#5631 institution's overall influence
Tuition + fees
$11K
Student body
24K
Austin, TXView profile
- #18Odessa College#4921 institution's overall influence
Tuition + fees
$3K
Student body
4K
Odessa, TXView profile
- #19Del Mar College#5662 institution's overall influence
Tuition + fees
$4K
Student body
5K
Corpus Christi, TXView profile
What is Del Mar College known for?
Del Mar College's faculty and alumni have been influential in:
- Education
- Medical
- Nursing
- History
- Criminal Justice
- Political Science
- Earth Sciences
- Business
- Communications
- Literature
Most Influential Alumni
- #20San Antonio College#2913 institution's overall influence
Tuition + fees
$7K
Student body
10K
San Antonio, TXView profile
What is San Antonio College known for?
San Antonio College's faculty and alumni have been influential in:
- Education
- Business
- Medical
- Communications
- Nursing
- Political Science
- History
- Engineering
- Literature
- Criminal Justice
Most Influential Alumni
- #21El Paso Community College#5988 institution's overall influence
Tuition + fees
$3K
Student body
17K
El Paso, TXView profile
- #22Central Texas College#4812 institution's overall influence
Tuition + fees
$3K
Student body
10K
Killeen, TXView profile
- #23St. Philip's College#6460 institution's overall influence
Tuition + fees
$7K
Student body
6K
San Antonio, TXView profile
- #24Palo Alto College#5968 institution's overall influence
Tuition + fees
$7K
Student body
5K
San Antonio, TXView profile
- #25Hill College#8320 institution's overall influence
Tuition + fees
$3K
Student body
3K
Hillsboro, TXView profile
