2025 Best Nursing Associate Degree Schools in Colorado
Nursing is of the hottest associate degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #2 most popular major in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 12 schools in Colorado to determine which ones were the best for nursing students pursuing a associate degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 688 associate degrees in nursing during the 2022-2023 academic year.
What's on this page: * Our Methodology
Choosing a Great Nursing School for Your Associate Degree
Your choice of nursing for getting your associate degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To take this into account we consider a college's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a combination of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Average Early-Career Salaries
To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their associate degree from the school. After all, your associate degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
- Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to nursing students as compared to other majors.
- Major Demand - How many other nursing students want to attend this school to pursue a associate degree.
- Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
- Student Debt - How easy is it for nursing to pay back their student loans after receiving their associate degree.
- Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized nursing related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for nursing students working on their associate degree.
More Ways to Rank Nursing Schools
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Nursing Associate Degree Schools in Colorado list to help you make the college decision.
Best Schools for Associate Students to Study Nursing in Colorado
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing an associate degree in nursing.
10 Top Colorado Schools for an Associate in Nursing
Pueblo Community College is one of the best schools in the country for getting an associate degree in nursing. Pueblo Community College is a moderately-sized public college located in the medium-sized city of Pueblo.
Students who graduate with their associate from the nursing program state that they receive average early career wages of $72,520.
More information about a associate in nursing from Pueblo Community College
Denver College of Nursing is one of the best schools in the country for getting an associate degree in nursing. Denver College of Nursing is a small private for-profit college located in the large city of Denver.
Students who graduate with their associate from the nursing program report average early career income of $70,197.
More information about a associate in nursing from Denver College of Nursing
Front Range Community College is a great choice for individuals interested in an associate degree in nursing. Located in the large suburb of Westminster, FRCC is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Nursing associate degree recipients from Front Range Community College earn a boost of about $4,338 above the average income of nursing majors.
More information about a associate in nursing from Front Range Community College
Trinidad State Junior College is one of the best schools in the United States for getting an associate degree in nursing. Located in the remote town of Trinidad, Trinidad State Junior College is a public college with a small student population.
Students who graduate with their associate from the nursing program report average early career income of $66,009.
More information about a associate in nursing from Trinidad State Junior College
Arapahoe Community College is a large public college located in the suburb of Littleton.
Associate recipients from the nursing degree program at Arapahoe Community College earn $2,250 more than the average graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
More information about a associate in nursing from Arapahoe Community College