Best Community Colleges in the United States

Everything you need to know about community colleges is in the name. From the start, they were established to serve their communities. 

And some of them have been doing this at a high level for a long time, bringing affordable education to the people who need it the most. 

These are the best community colleges in the United States. 

Location: Holyoke, Massachusetts

Opened: 1946

Enrollment: 4,217

President/chancellor: Christina Royal

Bottom line: The first community college established in Massachusetts is still thriving. Of the 15 community colleges in the state, Holyoke has the highest percentage of graduates with either an associate’s degree or a trade certification. 

The campus is directly connected to the Holyoke Water Works plant and the western part of the campus is all forest, which is a good place for the school’s cutting-edge cannabis education program. 

Location: Cupertino, California

Opened: 1967

Enrollment: 21,526

President/chancellor: Lloyd A. Holmes

Bottom line: De Anza College offers a course of study called the Puente Project. Puente means “bridge” in Spanish, and the scope of the Puente Project is to help students from underserved communities make the leap from two-year to four-year schools.

It’s a successful program. Sixty-one percent of Puente students transfer within six years compared to 54 percent of non-Puente students at De Anza and 39 percent statewide in California.

The Flint Center for the Performing Arts, which closed in 2019, has a large chunk of history attached to it as well. It’s where Steve Jobs introduced the Apple Macintosh in 1988 and the iMac in 1988. 

Location: Morganton, North Carolina

Opened: 1964

Enrollment: 7,000 (est.)

President/chancellor: Dr. Joel D. Welch

Bottom line: One of the great things about community colleges is the indispensable way in which they serve their communities. Western Piedmont Community College has been a perfect example of this in North Carolina since the early 1960s. 

WPCC hasn’t just sat on its laurels, either. More recently, they’ve begun to offer programs in virtual reality simulation and game development. 

One notable link to American history on the WPCC campus is the library, which is named after former U.S. Senator Sam J. Ervin, who chaired the Watergate hearings in 1973. 

Location: Concordia, Kansas

Opened: 1965

Enrollment: 3,437

President/chancellor: Amber Knoettgen

Bottom line: It’s saying something that Concordia, Kansas, where Cloud County Community College is located, is considered one of the more remote parts of the state. 

Once you get past that, it’s easy to see why CCCC continually shows up on the “best of” lists for community colleges across the U.S. Its campus is designed with “pod” buildings that blend seamlessly into the landscape of rolling hills. 

They’re also great at sports, with four NJCAA national championships in four different sports in the last 20 years.