Head of the class

Houston's Rice University tops Texas list of best colleges for 2027

Rice has topped a new list of the best universities in the Lone Star State for 2027.

Rice University/Facebook

With early application season in full swing, a local university is racking up accolades on a new list of the 10 best Texas colleges for 2027.

Rice University topped the list as the No. 1 best university in Texas in WalletHub's annual "College & University Rankings" report, showing Houston students don't have to travel out of state to earn a top-notch degree.

WalletHub analyzed 738 colleges and universities in the U.S. using 30 relevant metrics, including factors like student-faculty ratios, graduation rates, and many more. Universities were ranked nationally, regionally, and across seven key dimensions: student selectivity; cost and financing; faculty resources; campus safety; campus experience; educational outcomes; and career outcomes.

Rice also ranked No. 2 in the regional comparison of best universities in the south, and appeared No. 11 nationwide.

Across the seven main categories, the university performed best for its faculty resources (No. 4), education outcomes (No. 11), and student selectivity (No. 16), and earned top-100 rankings for its career outcomes (No. 28) and campus experience (No. 58).

Rice only lagged behind in the national rankings for campus safety (No. 632) and cost and financing (No. 666), but neither category swayed the university's top-performing overall position.

Meanwhile, the University of Houston ranked 75th regionally and 339th nationally. UH's cost and financing rank among the top 200 nationally, landing 177th, and it ranked 284th for its campus safety.

This is how the report ranked UH in the five remaining categories out of all 738 schools:

No. 306 – Career outcomes
No. 324 – Student selectivity
No. 343 – Education outcomes
No. 383 – Campus experience
No. 715 – Faculty resources

Four more local schools ranked among the best universities in the South: Houston Christian University (No. 204), Prairie View A&M University (No. 245), University of Houston-Downtown (No. 251), and Texas Southern University (No. 254).

The Houston-area universities, including their graduate and online programs, have earned heaps of national and worldwide praise this year from prestigious educational reviewing authorities U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Rice University also topped Niche's list of the best Texas universities for 2027.

These are WalletHub's top 10 best colleges and universities in Texas for 2027:

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

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women innovators

Houston declared a top hotspot for women in tech, per report

Photo by Albert Canite on Unsplash

Houston is the 15th best city for women in tech.

Houston and six more Texas cities are soaring among the best places in the U.S. for women in tech, a new report says.

H-Town ranked No. 15 nationwide in SmartAsset's new report, "Best and Worst Cities for Women in Tech — 2026 Study," which 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 fewer than 9,500 tech workers in Houston are women, or 25.6 percent of the total tech workforce in the city. Surprisingly, tech workers in general make up less than 3 percent of the total Houston workforce.

However, women tech workers in Houston have a sizeable gap to cross to receive equal pay compared to their male counterparts in the same industry. Women tech workers make just over $97,000 in median earnings after adjusting for regional price parity, which is only 93 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.

The findings also assert 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 six other Texas cities that earned spots in the report are Austin (No. 6), Fort Worth (No. 26), Dallas (No. 32), Arlington (No. 38), 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

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