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.

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

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kick off your career

3 Dallas neighbors hustle onto list of top 20 U.S. career hotspots

Photo by Nancy Jo Lambert on Unsplash

Frisco was the highest-ranked city in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Dallas has already proven to be a major hub for business, and now three of its neighbors – Frisco, Flower Mound, and McKinney – are rising up among the best small U.S. cities for big career opportunities.

A new nationwide survey from CoworkingCafe ranked the three Dallas-Fort Worth cities among its top-20 career hotspots with populations under 250,000 residents.

According to the study, these standout U.S. suburbs "combine economic acceleration with day-to-day livability, offering residents both upward mobility and stable community fundamentals."

Frisco ranked the highest, climbing up into No. 11, and CoworkingCafe said the suburb has a "highly engaged" workforce whose wages have surged 33 percent since 2019. Frisco households make a median income of $145,444 a year, the report added.

"The labor force is highly engaged (74.2 percent) with low unemployment and a strong employer base supported by 3,050 establishments per 100[,000] residents," the report said. "With 95 percent [of residents having] fiber access, excellent healthcare and top-tier safety, Frisco backs its economic strength with day-to-day comfort."

Frisco's high income and fast Wi-FI speeds also make it a highly desirable place to live for remote workers.

Affluent Flower Mound, which was crowned the best place to live in the U.S. in 2025, followed after Frisco in the No. 15 spot. CoworkingCafe said the suburb's $166,624 median household income has grown 25 percent from 2019 to 2024, and the city's "affordability remains favorable relative to income levels." Career-focused Flower Mound residents aren't shy about being big spenders.

If North Texans are seeking affordability over all other factors, No. 20-ranking McKinney is the place to be. The report said McKinney offers the perfect balance between "affordability, opportunity and amenities." It doesn't hurt that households earn a median annual income of $124,177, a figure that has ballooned 24 percent over the last five years.

"The findings reveal two clear paths to success: fast-growing suburban hubs buzzing with innovation and more established tech-driven economies that already have a global reach," the report said. "Together, they show that even smaller places can give you big advantages professionally, sometimes even more than the big metros."

Elsewhere in Dallas-Fort Worth, other career hotspots with populations under 250,000 residents that made it into the top 100 include Mansfield (No. 37), Allen (No. 43), Richardson (No. 58), and Lewisville (No. 80).

Here's how other Texas suburbs fared among CoworkingCafe's top 100 best career hotspots in 2026:

No. 17 – Pflugerville
No. 22 – Cedar Park
No. 31 – Round Rock
No. 59 – Pearland
No. 73 – League City
No. 76 – Sugar Land
No. 89 – Temple
No. 90 – Georgetown
No. 97 – Amarillo

suburbs dallas frisco mckinney flower mound innovation