top of the class

8 prestigious Texas colleges score top rankings for entrepreneurship

University of Texas at Dallas scores a place on the list.

Texas is home to some the best business and entrepreneurship programs in the country, according to an annual report.

Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine ranked Houston's Rice University as the No. 1 graduate entrepreneurship program in the United States for 2022, and the University of Houston claimed the top spot on the undergraduate ranking. Both lists ranked the top 50 programs.

While UH and Rice held the top spots, several other Texas schools saw some movement on the lists this year. These Texas schools appeared on the list of the top 50 undergraduate entrepreneurship programs, including a couple in Dallas-Fort Worth:

The University of Texas at Austin, No. 4 (up from No. 24 last year)
Baylor University, No. 9 (down from No. 7 last year)
Texas Tech University, No. 12
University of Texas at Dallas, No. 24 (down from No. 18 last year)
Texas Christian University, No. 37 (down from No. 27 last year)
Texas A&M University-College Station, No. 41 (down from No. 35 last year)

Aside from Rice, these Texas schools made the list of the top 50 graduate entrepreneurship programs:

University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business, No. 5 (up from No. 6 last year)
University of Texas at Dallas, Naveen Jindal School of Management, No. 11 (down from No. 10 last year)
Texas A&M University-College Station, Mays School of Business, No. 26 (same as last year)

The Princeton Review based its 2022 rankings on a survey of leaders at over 300 schools with entrepreneurship studies. More than 40 data points were factored in to develop the rankings, which were released online on November 16 and will be published in the December issue of Entrepreneur magazine.

"The value of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial thinking continues to grow in our daily lives," says Jason Feifer, editor in chief of Entrepreneur magazine, in the press release. "We're now seeing Americans start businesses at the fastest rate in a decade. By sharing this list, we want to continue to provide the much-needed information that people are looking for to forge their path to entrepreneurship. This list is a valuable reference tool for where future leaders can attain the knowledge, community and training grounds to succeed on that path."

It's the third No. 1 ranking for Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University — and the sixth year in the top three and the 13th year in which it has ranked in the top 10 on this prestigious list. The program's graduates have raised more than $693 million in funding for their companies over the past five years, per the report.

---

A version of this story originally appeared on our sister site InnovationMap.

bests lists colleges

women innovators

Here's where Dallas clocks in among best U.S. cities for women in tech

Photo by adam roye on Unsplash

Dallas ranks 32nd on a new list of the best big U.S. cities for women in tech.

North Texas is in the middle of the pack for women in tech, a new report says.

Dallas ranks No. 32 nationwide, sandwiched between Fort Worth (No. 26) and Arlington (No. 38) in SmartAsset's new report, "Best and Worst Cities for Women in Tech — 2026 Study."

The study compared the 50 biggest U.S. cities across four metrics:

Gender pay gap — women's median earnings as a percentage of men’s median earnings in tech
The share of all tech workers that are women
The overall concentration of employment for tech workers, defined as "tech workers as a share of the local workforce"
Women tech workers’ median earnings, adjusted for regional price parity

For the purpose of the study, tech workers are defined as "city residents employed in computer and mathematical occupations."

The study's findings show that nearly 6,500 tech workers in Dallas are women, or 25.5 percent of the total tech workforce in the city. Tech workers in general make up only 3.6 percent of the total Dallas workforce.

Women tech workers in Dallas have a sizeable gap to cross to receive equal pay compared to their male counterparts in the same industry, the study says. Women tech workers make more than $83,000 in median earnings after adjusting for regional price parity, which is about 88 percent of what male tech workers make, SmartAsset found.

There are only two U.S. cities where women in tech earn more than what their male counterparts: Miami and Memphis, Tennessee. Women tech workers in Miami make an adjusted $88,650 in median earnings, or 101.7 percent of what men in tech make. In Memphis, women make $84,718 in adjusted earnings, or 101.5 percent of what men in tech earn.

This is the profile for women tech workers in Fort Worth and Arlington:

Fort Worth:

Women tech workers: 4,622
Women tech workers, share of tech workforce: 28.7 percent
Women tech workers’ estimated median earnings (adjusted): $87,174
Women tech workers’ earnings as a share of men’s: 89.2 percent
Tech workforce concentration: 3.2 percent

Arlington:

Women tech workers: 2,110
Women tech workers, share of tech workforce: 29.9 percent
Women tech workers’ estimated median earnings (adjusted): $76,319
Women tech workers’ earnings as a share of men’s: 83.5 percent
Tech workforce concentration: 3.2 percent

The study asserted that women remain underrepresented in the nation's overall tech sector, despite making up nearly half of the total workforce. Only 22.6 percent of the country's tech labor force is made up of women, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

"Opportunities for women in tech can vary considerably by location, and these differences shape access to jobs, career advancement and earning potential," the report's author wrote. "In some places, women account for a larger share of tech workers, face narrower pay gaps and enjoy a stronger local labor market. In others, they may encounter a more challenging career environment."

The four other Texas cities that earned spots in the report are Austin (No. 6), Houston (No. 15), San Antonio (No. 42), and El Paso (No. 49).

The top 10 best U.S. cities for women in tech are:

No. 1 – San Jose, California
No. 2 – Seattle, Washington
No. 3 – San Francisco, California
No. 4 – Atlanta, Georgia
No. 5 – Baltimore, Maryland
No. 6 – Austin, Texas
No. 7 – Oakland, California
No. 8 – Portland, Oregon
No. 9 – Boston, Massachusetts
No. 10 – Minneapolis, Minnesota

innovation smartasset reports women's equality rankings