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2023 Best Trade Schools
There are so many trade school programs in today's world that it can tough to figure out which one is the right one for you. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house.
To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Trade College Search has developed this Best Trade Schools ranking. Our analysis looked at 1,440 schools in the United States to see which programs offered the best educational experiences for trade school students.
View our full ranking methodology.
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Top Trade Schools in the United States
Learn more about these excellent schools below:
Our analysis found Highlands College of Montana Tech to be the best school for trade school students in the United States. This very small public school is located in Butte, Montana, and it awarded 139 degrees in 2021-2022.
Out of the 1,440 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Columbia Southern University landed the # 2 spot on the list. Located in Orange Beach, Alabama, the fairly large private for-profit school handed out 5,998 degrees in 2021-2022.
Out of the 1,440 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Stephens College landed the # 3 spot on the list. This very small private not-for-profit school is located in Columbia, Missouri, and it awarded 152 degrees in 2021-2022.
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Providence. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Trade Schools list. University of Providence is a private not-for-profit institution located in Great Falls, Montana. The school has a very small population, and it awarded 391 degrees in 2021-2022.
Out of the 1,440 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Ottawa University - Online landed the # 5 spot on the list. Ottawa, Kansas is the setting for this very small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out degrees to 95 students in 2021-2022.
Waldorf University ranked #6 on this year’s Best Trade Schools list. Located in Forest City, Iowa, the small private for-profit school handed out 919 degrees in 2021-2022.
With a ranking of #7, Dakota State University did quite well on this year’s best schools for trade school students working. Located in Madison, South Dakota, the small public school awarded 583 diplomas to qualifed students in 2021-2022.
Elizabethtown College landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best trade school programs. Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out degrees to 585 students in 2021-2022.
With a ranking of #9, Miami University - Hamilton did quite well on this year’s best schools for trade school students working. Located in Hamilton, Ohio, the small public school handed out 524 degrees in 2021-2022.
University of St Francis ranked #10 on this year’s Best Trade Schools list. This small private not-for-profit school is located in Joliet, Illinois, and it awarded 980 degrees in 2021-2022.
Northwestern University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for trade school students. It came in at #11 on the list. Northwestern is located in Evanston, Illinois and has a large student population. In 2021-2022, this school awarded 9,725 degrees to qualified students.
University of Pennsylvania came in at #12 in this year’s edition of the Best Trade Schools ranking. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the large private not-for-profit school awarded 10,067 diplomas to qualifed students in 2021-2022.
Ottawa University - Kansas City landed the #13 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best trade school programs. Ottawa University - Kansas City is a very small private not-for-profit school situated in Overland Park, Kansas. It awarded 185 degrees in 2021-2022.
With a ranking of #14, Trine University-Regional/Non-Traditional Campuses did quite well on this year’s best schools for trade school students working. Trine is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Angola, Indiana. It awarded 405 degrees in 2021-2022.
New Jersey Institute of Technology came in at #15 in this year’s edition of the Best Trade Schools ranking. Located in Newark, New Jersey, the fairly large public school handed out 2,792 degrees in 2021-2022.
With a ranking of #16, Clemson University did quite well on this year’s best schools for trade school students working. Located in Clemson, South Carolina, the large public school handed out 7,469 degrees in 2021-2022.
Ottawa University - Phoenix did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for trade school students. It came in at #17 on the list. Phoenix, Arizona is the setting for this very small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out degrees to 389 students in 2021-2022.
Purdue University - Main Campus ranked #18 on this year’s Best Trade Schools list. Located in West Lafayette, Indiana, the large public school handed out 13,356 degrees in 2021-2022.
Wagner College did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for trade school students. It came in at #19 on the list. Wagner is a private not-for-profit institution located in Staten Island, New York. The school has a small population, and it awarded 554 degrees in 2021-2022.
University of Wisconsin - Stout came in at #20 in this year’s edition of the Best Trade Schools ranking. UW - Stout is located in Menomonie, Wisconsin and has a medium-sized student population. In 2021-2022, this school awarded 1,737 degrees to qualified students.
Excelsior University came in at #21 in this year’s edition of the Best Trade Schools ranking. Located in Albany, New York, the fairly large private not-for-profit school awarded 4,461 diplomas to qualifed students in 2021-2022.
University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee Flex ranked #22 on this year’s Best Trade Schools list. Located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the very small public school awarded 132 diplomas to qualifed students in 2021-2022.
With a ranking of #24, Washington State University did quite well on this year’s best schools for trade school students working. Wazzu is a public institution located in Pullman, Washington. The school has a large population, and it awarded 9,043 degrees in 2021-2022.
Texas A&M University - College Station ranked #25 on this year’s Best Trade Schools list. Texas A&M College Station is located in College Station, Texas and has a large student population. In 2021-2022, this school awarded 20,117 degrees to qualified students.
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Notes and References
Footnotes
*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.
References
- Read more about our ranking methodology.
- The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of our data about colleges.
- Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
- Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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