Head of the class

UT Austin racks up 2 new rankings among top schools for entrepreneurship

UT Austin keeps on winning. Photo by Koushik Chowdavarapu on Unsplash

The University of Texas at Austin has earned new accolades for its entrepreneurship programs.

For the second consecutive year, the university appears as No. 2 in a list of the best undergraduate entrepreneurship programs by The Princeton Review, a provider of education services, and Entrepreneur magazine.

UT Austin's McCombs School of Business also shows up at No. 6 in the ranking for the best graduate programs for entrepreneurs, a one place drop from 2022.

The lists identify 50 undergraduate and 50 graduate programs that boast the best entrepreneurship offerings based on factors such as coursework, experiential learning opportunities, and career outcomes. The ranking measures more than 40 data points about the schools’ entrepreneurship programs, faculties, students, and alumni.

Other Texas schools featured in The Princeton Review rankings include:

Rice University, No. 1 for best graduate entrepreneurship program
University of Houston, No. 1 for the best undergraduate entrepreneurship program
Texas Christian University, No. 27 for the best undergraduate entrepreneurship program
The University of Texas at Dallas, No. 15 for the best graduate entrepreneurship program and No. 28 for the best undergraduate entrepreneurship program
Baylor University, No. 42 for the best undergraduate entrepreneurship program
Texas Tech University, No. 43 for the best undergraduate entrepreneurship program

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Amber Heckler contributed to this story. A version of this article originally appeared on our sister site, InnovationMap.

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State of innovation

Texas improves ranking on annual report of most innovative states

Texas network, constellation style us state map.

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Texas ranks above average — but outside the top 10 — in a new index that ranks the most innovative states.

To come up with its Most and Least Innovative States ranking, personal finance website WalletHub looked at 25 key indicators of innovation for the 50 states and the District of Columbia. These include a state’s share of STEM professionals, research and development spending per capita, and the proliferation of tech companies.

With an innovation score of 48.96 out of 100, Texas lands at No. 13 on the list. The District of Columbia stands atop the list, with an innovation score of 69.79, followed by Massachusetts, California, Colorado, and Washington.

Texas has steadily inched up the list — the state was No. 14 on the list in 2024 and has climbed up one spot each year since 2021.

Two components make up each state’s score: human capital and “innovation environment.” Texas ranks 14th in the human capital category and 13th in the innovation environment category.

“The most innovative states are especially attractive to people who have majored in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, as they offer abundant career opportunities and investment dollars, both for jobs at existing companies and for startups,” says WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo. “These states also instill young students with the skills they need to succeed in the current workforce, skills which are useful whether or not they pursue a STEM career.”

Despite not placing in the top 10 of the WalletHub index, Texas continues to produce thousands of jobs.

Citing data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Gov. Greg Abbott says Texas added the most nonfarm jobs in January (27,900) of any state and the most nonfarm jobs from January 2024 to January 2025 (187,700).

“Texas is America’s jobs engine, adding more new jobs in the last year than any other state,” Abbot said in a news release. “Our skilled and growing workforce and our business-friendly climate attract job-creating businesses in diverse industries from across the country and around the world.”

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This story originally appeared on our sister site, InnovationMap.

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