Head of the class

2 Dallas universities shine in new list of top Texas colleges for 2025

Southern Methodist University was surprisingly outranked by cross-town rival Texas Christian University and University of Dallas.

SMU Undergraduate Admission / Facebook

Dallas' prestigious University of Dallas and Southern Methodist University have risen through the ranks among the top 10 best colleges and universities in Texas for 2025, and four other North Texas universities earned spots on the list.

The just-released list, from personal finance website WalletHub, analyzed more than 800 colleges and universities in the United States using 30 metrics to determine their rankings.

The University of Dallas claimed the No. 9 spot in Texas and No. 51 in WalletHub's regional category of best universities in the South. The school also ranked as the No. 262 best college nationwide.

The private university performed the best in the ranking of "Student Selectivity," which covers admission rates, ACT/SAT scores, and the share of freshmen in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class. UD ranked a respectable No. 190 nationally, with a 54 percent acceptance rate, according to U.S. News and World Report.

University of Dallas ranked No. 9 in Texas for 2025. Photo courtesy of University of Dallas

Tuition and fees at UD cost $53,930 per year, which earned the school No. 632 in the national comparison for "Cost and Financing."

This is how UD fared in the remaining five major categories in the study:

No. 243 – Campus experience rank
No. 282 – Faculty resources rank
No. 352 – Campus safety rank
No. 368 – Education outcomes rank
No. 369 – Career outcomes rank

SMU followed right behind UD to round out the statewide top 10 ranking, took the No. 55 spot for best university in the South, and earned No. 271 in the nationwide ranking.

Surprisingly, SMU's cross-town rival Texas Christian University outranked the Mustangs to rank No. 6 in Texas, and No. 168 nationally.

TCU performed the best in the national ranking of "Education Outcomes," which covers retention and graduation rates, and bachelor's degrees awarded per undergraduate enrollment. The school ranked No. 93 with a 74 percent graduation rate, according to U.S. News, and a 92.9 percent "first-time-in-college student" retention rate.

Like the University of Dallas, TCU fell behind in the national category for cost and financing, ranking No. 774, as tuition and fees add up to $61,740 per year.

TCU's recent accolades add to an ongoing winning streak of high rankings. In September, the university ranked as the No. 6 best Texas college for 2025 by U.S. News, and No. 105 nationally. Education information and review platform Niche also recently ranked TCU the 8th best college in Texas and 163rd best nationwide for 2025.

However, in both of those rankings, SMU outpaced TCU as the Mustangs landed at No. 5 in Texas in both the U.S. News survey and the Niche report. This time, TCU's on top. (No iron skillet involved this time.)

Elsewhere across North Texas, Southwestern Adventist University in Keene - a town about 45 miles southwest of Dallas - ranked No. 13 in Texas, followed by The University of Texas at Dallas (No. 14). The University of North Texas ranked at the bottom of the statewide list in No. 18.

The top five best colleges and universities in the nation are Princeton University (No. 1), Yale University (No. 2), Harvard University (No. 3), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (No. 4), and Dartmouth College (No. 5).

The top 10 colleges and universities in Texas are:

No. 1 – Rice University
No. 2 – The University of Texas at Austin
No. 3 – Trinity University
No. 4 – Texas A&M University-College Station
No. 5 – Southwestern University
No. 6 – Texas Christian University
No. 7 – Austin College
No. 8 – Texas A&M International University
No. 9 – University of Dallas
No. 10 – Southern Methodist University

The full report can be found on wallethub.com.

colleges lists rankings smu southern methodist university tcu university of dallas wallethub

money woes

Texas is no longer the No. 1 most financially distressed state in U.S.

Photo by Image Source/Getty Images

undefined

After spending an unfortunate year as the No. 1 state with the most people in financial distress, Texas has slightly recovered. But the Lone Star State isn't out of the woods yet: it's still among the five most financially distressed states in America for 2026.

According to WalletHub's 2026 report, Texas sits in the No. 4 spot this year, while Kansas, Louisiana, and Florida moved up to become the top three states with the most financially distressed residents.

The personal finance website's experts compared all 50 states based on residents' average credit scores, the share of people with "accounts in distress" (meaning an account that's in forbearance or has deferred payments), the one-year change in bankruptcy filings from March 2025, and search interest indexes for "debt" and "loans."

Despite improving in the overall ranking, the study found Texas has had the fourth-biggest spike in bankruptcy filings nationally from March 2025 to March 2026. Texas residents also have the 10th worst average credit scores in the country, according to the findings.

This is how Texas ranked across the study's six key dimensions, where No. 1 means "most distressed:"

No. 4 – Change in bankruptcy filings from March 2024 to March 2025 rank
No. 5 – Average number of accounts in distress rank
No. 8 – "Loans" search interest index rank
No. 8 – People with accounts in distress rank
No. 12 – Credit score rank
No. 13 – “Debt” search interest index rank

It feels like inflation and affordability are top-of-mind for many Americans over recent years, and uncertainty around the national economy also adds another level of distress. That's especially true for Dallas residents, which were dubbed the fourth most financially distressed people in America earlier in 2026.

"Americans have faced significant financial challenges in recent years, as inflation, shifting unemployment levels, public health emergencies, and natural disasters have made it more difficult for many households to stay on top of their bills," the report said.

The top three states that have the least financially distressed residents are Maine (No. 50), Rhode Island (No. 49), and Hawaii (No. 48).

The top 10 most financially distressed states in America for 2026 are:

No. 1 – Kansas
No. 2 – Lousiana
No. 3 – Florida
No. 4 – Texas
No. 5 – South Carolina
No. 6 – Wyoming
No. 7 – Georgia
No. 8 – California
No. 9 – North Carolina
No. 10 – Kentucky