With the U.S. community-college industry undergoing major changes — such as the prospect of a free associate’s degree and 22 states authorizing their community colleges to offer bachelor’s degree programs — the personal-finance website WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis of 2016’s Best & Worst Community Colleges then drew upon its results to identify the States with the Best & Worst Community College Systems.
To help students weigh their community-college prospects, WalletHub’s analysts compared 821 schools across 12 key metrics. Their data set ranges from the cost of in-state tuition and fees to student-faculty ratio to graduation rate.
| Top 20 Community Colleges | |||||
| 1 | Helene Fuld College of Nursing (NY) | 11 | Southwest Wisconsin Technical College (WI) | ||
| 2 | Ilisagvik College (AK) | 12 | Mesalands Community College (NM) | ||
| 3 | Pamlico Community College (NC) | 13 | Moorpark College (CA) | ||
| 4 | Cochise County Community College District (AZ) | 14 | Pratt Community College (KS) | ||
| 5 | State Technical College of Missouri (MO) | 15 | Coastline Community College (CA) | ||
| 6 | Fashion Institute of Technology (NY) | 16 | Northern Oklahoma College (OK) | ||
| 7 | Rend Lake College (IL) | 17 | Whatcom Community College (WA) | ||
| 8 | Lake Area Technical Institute (SD) | 18 | Barstow Community College (CA) | ||
| 9 | Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture (NE) | 19 | Manhattan Area Technical College (KS) | ||
| 10 | North Central Missouri College (MO) | 20 | Turtle Mountain Community College (ND) | ||
| States with the Best Community College Systems | |||||
| 1 | South Dakota | 11 | Georgia | ||
| 2 | Alaska | 12 | New Mexico | ||
| 3 | North Dakota | 13 | Nebraska | ||
| 4 | Florida | 14 | California | ||
| 5 | Montana | 15 | Iowa | ||
| 6 | Wyoming | 16 | Arizona | ||
| 7 | Washington | 17 | Arkansas | ||
| 8 | Wisconsin | 18 | Mississippi | ||
| 9 | Connecticut | 19 | New York | ||
| 10 | New Hampshire | 20 | Maine | ||