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.
Get more details on our ranking methodology.
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 2025 rankings named Texas A&M University - College Station the best school in Texas in terms of overall quality for students working on their bachelor’s degree.
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..
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend The University of Texas at Austin. The school came in at #2 in Texas on this year’s overall quality 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 $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.
With a student-to-faculty rate of 6 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed. Graduates with a bachelor’s degree from Rice make an average of $89,718 per year during the early years of their career.
The excellent bachelor’s degree programs at Texas Christian University helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best schools in Texas.
With a freshman retention rate of 92%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. Those who receive a bachelor’s degree from TCU go into careers with an average salary of $68,424 during the early years of their career.
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Southern Methodist University. It ranked #5 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 90%. Upon graduation, bachelor’s degree recipients go on to jobs making an average salary of $78,354 during the early years of their career..
Baylor University did quite well in the 2025 Best Colleges in Texas ranking, coming in at #6.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 90%. Those who receive a bachelor’s degree from Baylor go into careers with an average salary of $65,793 during the early years of their career.
Texas State Technical College did quite well in the 2025 Best Colleges in Texas ranking, coming in at #7.
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 impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 1.0%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. 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.
The low student loan default rate of 1.0% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1% The average salary of a graduate with a bachelor’s degree from UT Dallas is $68,227 during the early years of their career.
With a ranking of #10, Tarrant County College District did quite well on the 2025 Best Colleges in Texas list.
Graduates with a bachelor’s degree from Tarrant County College make an average of $42,727 per year during the early years of their career.
El Centro College did quite well in the 2025 Best Colleges in Texas ranking, coming in at #11.
The low student loan default rate of 1.0% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1% Graduates with a bachelor’s degree from El Centro College make an average of $41,714 per year during the early years of their career.
The University of Texas at Arlington ranked #12 on this year’s Best Colleges in Texas list.
The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 2.0%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. Upon graduation, bachelor’s degree recipients go on to jobs making an average salary of $63,199 during the early years of their career..
University of North Texas did quite well in the 2025 Best Colleges in Texas ranking, coming in at #13.
The average salary of a graduate with a bachelor’s degree from UNT is $57,010 during the early years of their career.
University of Houston ranked #14 on this year’s Best Colleges in Texas list.
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%. Those who receive a bachelor’s degree from UH go into careers with an average salary of $62,377 during the early years of their career.
Collin County Community College District ranked #15 on this year’s Best Colleges in Texas list.
The average salary of a graduate with a bachelor’s degree from Collin County Community College District is $48,701 during the early years of their career.
Read full report on Collin County Community College District
Texas State University did quite well in the 2025 Best Colleges in Texas ranking, coming in at #16.
During the early years of their career, graduates from Texas State make an average of $56,906 a year.
Houston Community College landed the #17 spot on the 2025 Best Colleges in Texas ranking.
Those who receive a bachelor’s degree from Houston Community College go into careers with an average salary of $39,254 during the early years of their career.
With a ranking of #18, Sam Houston State University did quite well on the 2025 Best Colleges in Texas list.
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.
South Texas College landed the #19 spot on the 2025 Best Colleges in Texas ranking.
Those who receive a bachelor’s degree from South Texas College go into careers with an average salary of $36,788 during the early years of their career.
With a ranking of #20, Austin Community College District did quite well on the 2025 Best Colleges in Texas list.
Those who receive a bachelor’s degree from Austin Community College District go into careers with an average salary of $43,177 during the early years of their career.
With a ranking of #21, Lone Star College System did quite well on the 2025 Best Colleges in Texas list.
Upon graduation, bachelor’s degree recipients go on to jobs making an average salary of $42,466 during the early years of their career..
Trinity University landed the #22 spot on the 2025 Best Colleges in Texas ranking.
With a freshman retention rate of 91%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. During the early years of their career, graduates from Trinity U make an average of $71,668 a year.
The University of Texas at San Antonio came in at #23 in this year’s edition of the Best Colleges in Texas ranking.
During the early years of their career, graduates from UTSA make an average of $57,131 a year.
Texas Woman’s University came in at #24 in this year’s edition of the Best Colleges in Texas ranking.
The low student loan default rate of 1.0% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 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 came in at #25 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 $38,991 during the early years of their career..
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Footnotes
*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.