2025 Best Nursing Associate Degree Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region

Nursing is of the hottest associate degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #2 most popular major in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 38 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Nursing Associate Degree Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 3,131 associate degrees in nursing to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Associate Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Nursing School for Your Associate Degree

Your choice of nursing for getting your associate degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To take this into account we consider a school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a collection of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Average Early-Career Salaries

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their associate degree from the school. After all, your associate degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to nursing students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other nursing 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 nursing to pay back their student loans after receiving their associate degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized nursing related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for nursing students working on their associate degree.

More Ways to Rank Nursing Schools

When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Nursing Associate Degree Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region list to help you make the college decision.

Best Schools for Associate Students to Study Nursing in the Rocky Mountains Region

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing an associate degree in nursing.

10 Top Rocky Mountains Region Schools for an Associate in Nursing

1

Weber State University
Ogden, UT

435 Annual Graduates

$61,785 Median Starting Salary

It is difficult to beat Weber State University if you want to pursue an associate degree in nursing. Located in the small city of Ogden, WSU is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Soon after graduation, nursing associate recipients typically make around $61,785 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a associate in nursing from Weber State University

2

AmeriTech College - Draper
Draper, UT

584 Annual Graduates

$63,117 Median Starting Salary

$20,577 Median Student Debt

AmeriTech College - Draper is a good option for individuals pursuing an associate degree in nursing. AmeriTech College - Draper is a small private for-profit college located in the large suburb of Draper.

After graduation, nursing associate recipients usually make around $63,117 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a associate in nursing from AmeriTech College - Draper

3

Pueblo Community College
Pueblo, CO

137 Annual Graduates

$72,520 Median Starting Salary

Pueblo Community College is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting an associate degree in nursing. Pueblo Community College is a medium-sized public college located in the midsize city of Pueblo.

Nursing associate degree recipients from Pueblo Community College earn a boost of about $3,895 above the average income of nursing graduates.

More information about a associate in nursing from Pueblo Community College

4

Denver College of Nursing
Denver, CO

26 Annual Graduates

$70,197 Median Starting Salary

Denver College of Nursing is one of the finest schools in the country for getting an associate degree in nursing. Denver College of Nursing is a small private for-profit college located in the city of Denver.

Students who graduate with their associate from the nursing program report average early career wages of $70,197.

More information about a associate in nursing from Denver College of Nursing

5

Front Range Community College
Westminster, CO

125 Annual Graduates

$76,014 Median Starting Salary

Located in the suburb of Westminster, FRCC is a public college with a very large student population.

Associate recipients from the nursing major at Front Range Community College earn $7,389 above the typical college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.

More information about a associate in nursing from Front Range Community College

6

North Idaho College
Coeur d'Alene, ID

73 Annual Graduates

$81,741 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of Coeur d'Alene, NIC is a public college with a small student population.

Nursing associate degree recipients from North Idaho College get an earnings boost of around $13,116 over the typical income of nursing graduates.

More information about a associate in nursing from North Idaho College

7

Trinidad State Junior College
Trinidad, CO

45 Annual Graduates

$66,009 Median Starting Salary

Located in the town of Trinidad, Trinidad State Junior College is a public college with a small student population.

Students who graduate with their associate from the nursing program state that they receive average early career wages of $66,009.

More information about a associate in nursing from Trinidad State Junior College

8

Idaho State University
Pocatello, ID

27 Annual Graduates

$73,524 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of Pocatello, ISU is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Associate recipients from the nursing program at Idaho State University make $4,899 more than the standard graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

More information about a associate in nursing from Idaho State University

9

Salt Lake Community College
Salt Lake City, UT

239 Annual Graduates

$64,223 Median Starting Salary

Salt Lake Community College is a very large public college located in the large suburb of Salt Lake City.

After graduation, nursing associate recipients typically make about $64,223 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a associate in nursing from Salt Lake Community College

10

Arapahoe Community College
Littleton, CO

72 Annual Graduates

$73,926 Median Starting Salary

Arapahoe Community College is a fairly large public college located in the large suburb of Littleton.

Those nursing students who get their associate degree from Arapahoe Community College make $5,301 more than the average nursing grad.

More information about a associate in nursing from Arapahoe Community College

Best Nursing Colleges by State

Explore the best nursing colleges for a specific state in the Rocky Mountains Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Utah	147	1,418
Idaho	143	366
Wyoming	128	252
Colorado	102	681
Montana	92	221

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Nursing

Nursing is one of 34 different types of Health Professions programs to choose from.

Nursing Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Registered Nursing	3,131

Most Popular Related Majors

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Allied Health Professions	1,058
Health & Medical Administrative Services	656
Health Sciences & Services	640
Allied Health & Medical Assisting Services	635
Dental Support Services	348
Other Health Professions	132
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science	130
Mental & Social Health Services	59
Health/Medical Prep Programs	57
Public Health	44

Notes and References

• 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).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to Aleksahgabrielle. More about our data sources and methodologies.