2025 Best Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants Associate Degree Schools

If you plan on getting your associate degree in practical nursing & nursing assistants, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #57 in the country in terms of popularity. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 45 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for practical nursing & nursing assistants students pursuing a associate degree. Combined, these schools handed out 2,219 associate degrees in practical nursing & nursing assistants to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Associate Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants School for Your Associate Degree

Your choice of practical nursing & nursing assistants 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

The overall quality of a associate degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

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

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to practical nursing & nursing assistants students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other practical nursing & nursing assistants students want to attend this school to pursue a associate degree.
• Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for practical nursing & nursing assistants to pay back their student loans after receiving their associate degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized practical nursing & nursing assistants related body.

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

One Size Does Not Fit All

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 Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants Associate Degree Schools list to help you make the college decision.

Best Schools for Associate Students to Study Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants in the United States

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

10 Top Schools for an Associate in Practical Nursing

1

Carrington College, Sacramento
Sacramento, CA

94 Annual Graduates

$65,035 Median Starting Salary

Carrington College, Sacramento is a great decision for students pursuing an associate degree in practical nursing & nursing assistants. Located in the large suburb of Sacramento, Carrington College, Sacramento is a private for-profit college with a small student population.

Those practical nursing & nursing assistants students who get their associate degree from Carrington College, Sacramento make $13,940 more than the standard practical nursing student.

More information about a associate in practical nursing & nursing assistants from Carrington College, Sacramento

2

Southwestern College
Chula Vista, CA

25 Annual Graduates

Southwestern College is a great option for individuals interested in an associate degree in practical nursing & nursing assistants. Located in the city of Chula Vista, SWC Chula Vista is a public college with a large student population.More information about a associate in practical nursing & nursing assistants from Southwestern College

3

SOWELA Technical Community College
Lake Charles, LA

26 Annual Graduates

SOWELA Technical Community College is a wonderful choice for individuals pursuing an associate degree in practical nursing & nursing assistants. SOWELA is a small public college located in the small city of Lake Charles.More information about a associate in practical nursing & nursing assistants from SOWELA Technical Community College

4

Riverside City College
Riverside, CA

30 Annual Graduates

Riverside City College is one of the finest schools in the country for getting an associate degree in practical nursing & nursing assistants. Located in the large city of Riverside, Riverside City College is a public college with a very large student population.More information about a associate in practical nursing & nursing assistants from Riverside City College

5

Quinsigamond Community College
Worcester, MA

10 Annual Graduates

Located in the medium-sized city of Worcester, Quinsigamond Community College is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.More information about a associate in practical nursing & nursing assistants from Quinsigamond Community College

6

South Louisiana Community College
Lafayette, LA

82 Annual Graduates

South Louisiana Community College is a medium-sized public college located in the city of Lafayette.More information about a associate in practical nursing & nursing assistants from South Louisiana Community College

7

Allan Hancock College
Santa Maria, CA

30 Annual Graduates

Located in the medium-sized city of Santa Maria, Allan Hancock College is a public college with a large student population.More information about a associate in practical nursing & nursing assistants from Allan Hancock College

8

Butte College
Oroville, CA

27 Annual Graduates

$65,467 Median Starting Salary

Located in the rural area of Oroville, Butte College is a public college with a large student population.

Associate recipients from the practical nursing & nursing assistants degree program at Butte College earn $14,372 above the standard graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.

More information about a associate in practical nursing & nursing assistants from Butte College

9

Cuesta College
San Luis Obispo, CA

17 Annual Graduates

Cuesta College is a fairly large public college located in the rural area of San Luis Obispo.More information about a associate in practical nursing & nursing assistants from Cuesta College

10

Del Mar College
Corpus Christi, TX

128 Annual Graduates

DMC is a medium-sized public college located in the large city of Corpus Christi.More information about a associate in practical nursing & nursing assistants from Del Mar College

Additional Noteworthy Schools

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants Associate Degree Schools award.

Rank	College	Location
11	Mission College	Santa Clara, CA
12	Santa Barbara City College	Santa Barbara, CA
13	Sacramento City College	Sacramento, CA
14	Green River College	Auburn, WA
15	Pacific College	Costa Mesa, CA

Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants by Region

View the Best Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants Associate Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Practical Nursing

One of 34 majors within the Health Professions area of study, Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants has other similar majors worth exploring.

Practical Nursing Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Licensed Practical/Vocational Nurse Training	1,755
Other Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants	390
Nursing Assistant/Aide and Patient Care Assistant/Aide	74

Majors Similar to Practical Nursing

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Nursing	82,967
Allied Health Professions	29,240
Health & Medical Administrative Services	17,166
Allied Health & Medical Assisting Services	16,805
Health Sciences & Services	10,346
Dental Support Services	7,002
Mental & Social Health Services	3,539
Health/Medical Prep Programs	3,280
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science	2,666
Other Health Professions	1,316

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). More about our data sources and methodologies.