With Americans struggling financially due to significant inflation and a year of community college nearly three times less expensive than a year at a public four-year college, the personal-finance company WalletHub today released its report on 2025’s Best & Worst Community Colleges, coupled with its state-by-state ranking of the Best & Worst Community-College Systems, as well as expert commentary.
To determine where students can receive the best education at the cheapest rates, WalletHub compared more than 650 community colleges across 18 key indicators of cost and quality. The data set ranges from the cost of in-state tuition and fees to student-faculty ratio to graduation rate.
| Top 20 Community Colleges | |
| 1. State Technical College of Missouri (MO) | 11. Moreno Valley College (CA) |
| 2. Manhattan Area Technical College (KS) | 12. Irvine Valley College (CA) |
| 3. Pratt Community College (KS) | 13. Mitchell Technical College (SD) |
| 4. Woodland Community College (CA) | 14. Gogebic Community College (MI) |
| 5. De Anza College (CA) | 15. Colby Community College (KS) |
| 6. College of San Mateo (CA) | 16. Kellogg Community College (MI) |
| 7. Santa Fe Community College (NM) | 17. Montgomery College (MD) |
| 8. Saddleback College (CA) | 18. Norco College (CA) |
| 9. Santa Rosa Junior College (CA) | 19. Southeast New Mexico College (NM) |
| 10. Alexandria Technical & Community College (MN) | 20. Clackamas Community College (OR) |
| States with the Best Community-College Systems | |
| 1. Maryland | 11. Hawaii |
| 2. New Mexico | 12. Minnesota |
| 3. Wisconsin | 13. Colorado |
| 4. North Dakota | 14. Connecticut |
| 5. Washington | 15. Michigan |
| 6. Oregon | 16. Iowa |
| 7. South Dakota | 17. Tennessee |
| 8. Wyoming | 18. California |
| 9. New Hampshire | 19. Massachusetts |
| 10. Kansas | 20. New York |
To read the full reports, please visit: