General Business/Commerce is of the hottest associate degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #9 most popular major in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 24 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best General Business/Commerce Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 3,842 associate degrees in general business/commerce during the 2022-2023 academic year.
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Choosing a Great General Business/Commerce School for Your Associate Degree
The general business associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To account for this we consider a school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a combination of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Early-Career Earnings
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their associate degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. That is, everyone wants their associate degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on general business/commerce students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other general business/commerce students want to attend this school to pursue a associate degree.
Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
Student Debt - How easy is it for general business/commerce to pay back their student loans after receiving their associate degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized general business/commerce related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for general business/commerce students working on their associate degree.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best General Business/Commerce Associate Degree Schools in the Southwest Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
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South Texas College is a wonderful choice for individuals interested in an associate degree in general business/commerce. Located in the city of McAllen, South Texas College is a public college with a very large student population.
Soon after graduating, general business associate recipients typically earn about $24,738 in their early careers.
It's hard to beat El Centro College if you want to pursue an associate degree in general business/commerce. Located in the large city of Dallas, El Centro College is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Associate students who receive their degree from the general business program make about $34,095 in their early career salary.
It's difficult to beat Austin Community College District if you want to pursue an associate degree in general business/commerce. Located in the large city of Austin, Austin Community College District is a public college with a very large student population.
General Business/Commerce associate degree recipients from Austin Community College District earn a boost of approximately $10,191 over the typical income of general business/commerce graduates.
OCCC is a fairly large public college located in the large city of Oklahoma City.
Those general business/commerce students who get their associate degree from Oklahoma City Community College receive $3,427 more than the standard general business student.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
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 the rest 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).
The general business associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
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