by our College Data Analytics TeamIt's not easy to decide which college to attend when you have so many options available. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our Top Texas Colleges ranking - to help you make that decision.
After analyzing 115 schools in Texas, we came up with our list of those that offered the highest quality education. Our ranking is based on over 20 objective factors, including post graduate earnings, freshman retention, and graduation rate. We steer clear of subjective measures since they don't give a clear picture when determining how one school compares to another.
Since one ranking on its own is not enough to give you a complete understanding of your educational options, you can refine this list by location and field of study. We've also developed a number of other tools and rankings based on other factors. These other rankings highlight colleges that excel in other factors such as value or diversity as well as schools that excel in serving different groups of students such as veterans or returnings adults.
You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. Test it out by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering!
Learn more about these excellent schools below: Our analysis found Texas A&M University - College Station to be the best school for overall quality in Texas in this year’s ranking. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 95%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. Upon graduation, bachelor’s degree recipients go on to jobs making an average salary of $72,097 during the early years of their career.. A rank of #2 on our Best Colleges in Texas list means The University of Texas at Austin is a great place for students working on their bachelor’s degree. With a freshman retention rate of 95%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. Upon graduation, bachelor’s degree recipients go on to jobs making an average salary of $75,121 during the early years of their career.. You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Rice University. The school came in at #3 in Texas on this year’s overall quality ranking. Since the school has a student-to-faculty rate of 6 to 1, those pursuing a bachelor’s degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors. Upon graduation, bachelor’s degree recipients go on to jobs making an average salary of $89,718 during the early years of their career.. You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Texas Christian University. It ranked #4 on our 2025 Best Colleges in Texas list. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 92%. The average salary of a graduate with a bachelor’s degree from TCU is $68,424 during the early years of their career. You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Southern Methodist University. The school came in at #5 in Texas on this year’s overall quality ranking. With a freshman retention rate of 90%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. The average salary of a graduate with a bachelor’s degree from SMU is $78,354 during the early years of their career.1
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Baylor University came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Colleges in Texas ranking.
The student loan default rate at the school is 1.0%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1% Graduates with a bachelor’s degree from Baylor make an average of $65,793 per year during the early years of their career.
Texas State Technical College came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Colleges in Texas ranking. Upon graduation, bachelor’s degree recipients go on to jobs making an average salary of $38,916 during the early years of their career.. With a ranking of #8, Texas Tech University did quite well on the 2025 Best Colleges in Texas list. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 86%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. Those who receive a bachelor’s degree from Texas Tech go into careers with an average salary of $62,454 during the early years of their career. The University of Texas at Dallas ranked #9 on this year’s Best Colleges in Texas list. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 87%. Upon graduation, bachelor’s degree recipients go on to jobs making an average salary of $68,227 during the early years of their career.. Tarrant County College District ranked #10 on this year’s Best Colleges in Texas list. Upon graduation, bachelor’s degree recipients go on to jobs making an average salary of $42,727 during the early years of their career..7
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El Centro College ranked #11 on this year’s Best Colleges in Texas list.
The student loan default rate at the school is 1.0%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1% During the early years of their career, graduates from El Centro College make an average of $41,714 a year.
The University of Texas at Arlington did quite well in the 2025 Best Colleges in Texas ranking, coming in at #12. The student loan default rate at the school is 2.0%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1% Graduates with a bachelor’s degree from UT Arlington make an average of $63,199 per year during the early years of their career. University of North Texas landed the #13 spot on the 2025 Best Colleges in Texas ranking. Graduates with a bachelor’s degree from UNT make an average of $57,010 per year during the early years of their career. University of Houston ranked #14 on this year’s Best Colleges in Texas list. The student loan default rate at the school is 1.0%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1% During the early years of their career, graduates from UH make an average of $62,377 a year. Collin County Community College District did quite well in the 2025 Best Colleges in Texas ranking, coming in at #15. During the early years of their career, graduates from Collin County Community College District make an average of $48,701 a year.12
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Texas State University did quite well in the 2025 Best Colleges in Texas ranking, coming in at #16.
Upon graduation, bachelor’s degree recipients go on to jobs making an average salary of $56,906 during the early years of their career..
Houston Community College came in at #17 in this year’s edition of the Best Colleges in Texas ranking. Upon graduation, bachelor’s degree recipients go on to jobs making an average salary of $39,254 during the early years of their career.. Sam Houston State University did quite well in the 2025 Best Colleges in Texas ranking, coming in at #18. Those who receive a bachelor’s degree from SHSU go into careers with an average salary of $54,211 during the early years of their career. With a ranking of #19, South Texas College did quite well on the 2025 Best Colleges in Texas list. Graduates with a bachelor’s degree from South Texas College make an average of $36,788 per year during the early years of their career. Austin Community College District ranked #20 on this year’s Best Colleges in Texas list. During the early years of their career, graduates from Austin Community College District make an average of $43,177 a year.1718
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Lone Star College System came in at #21 in this year’s edition of the Best Colleges in Texas ranking.
Those who receive a bachelor’s degree from North Harris Montgomery go into careers with an average salary of $42,466 during the early years of their career.
Trinity University came in at #22 in this year’s edition of the Best Colleges in Texas ranking. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 91%. Upon graduation, bachelor’s degree recipients go on to jobs making an average salary of $71,668 during the early years of their career.. With a ranking of #23, The University of Texas at San Antonio did quite well on the 2025 Best Colleges in Texas list. The average salary of a graduate with a bachelor’s degree from UTSA is $57,131 during the early years of their career. Texas Woman’s University landed the #24 spot on the 2025 Best Colleges in Texas ranking. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 1.0%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. Graduates with a bachelor’s degree from TWU make an average of $56,544 per year during the early years of their career. Lamar Institute of Technology did quite well in the 2025 Best Colleges in Texas ranking, coming in at #25. Graduates with a bachelor’s degree from Lamar Institute of Technology make an average of $38,991 per year during the early years of their career.22
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Footnotes
*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.