Company lists · Data refreshed September 2026
Top 25 For-profit colleges based in the United States
RevenueBase identified 1,279 for-profit colleges headquartered in the United States as of September 2026 and tracks 329,401 professional contacts across them, including 110,347 with verified work emails. New York is the largest hub.
This list covers for-profit colleges headquartered in the United States, matched on what each company actually does as described in its own words. Ranked by team size, largest first. Every row shows the company's own description, its RevenueBase Smart Search rating, and when it was last checked. Data refreshed September 20, 2026.
Published by RevenueBase, a B2B data infrastructure company. This list was built with RevenueBase Smart Search, the natural-language company search RevenueBase customers use to build their own targeted lists and unlock verified emails and direct dials at the companies on them. How these lists are built and judged.
The 25 largest for-profit colleges based in the United States
Ranked by team size| # | Company | Contacts | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14,568 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “University of Phoenix has helped pioneer online education since launching online courses in 1989.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 2 | 9,719 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Founded in 1932, Southern New Hampshire University has grown from a small school of accounting and secretarial science into one of the nation’s largest nonprofit, accredited…” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 3 | 9,254 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “WGU, is an online university for the 21st century.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 4 | 5,303 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Our mission is your success.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 5 | 5,132 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) is the largest public university in the United States.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 6 | 4,465 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Named for Sam Houston, Texas’ greatest hero, SHSU continually strives to honor its historical roots through academic excellence that includes exceptional teaching from faculty…” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 7 | 4,371 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “As the inaugural winner of the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, Valencia College is recognized as one of the best in the nation.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 8 | 3,990 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “The University of North Dakota is the state's flagship institution, with more than students and 225+ online and on campus fields of study.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 9 | 3,679 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “The University of North Florida is a nationally and internationally recognized public university preparing students for meaningful careers through personalized learning, hands-on…” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 10 | 3,354 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “At Keiser University, we are here to help you succeed by providing the professional and academic foundation to meet your educational goals and objectives.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 11 | 3,213 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Weber State is renowned for excellent teaching, accessible educational opportunities and an enduring presence in northern Utah.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 12 | 3,177 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Johnson & Wales University (JWU) has over 100 undergraduate and graduate programs, online and in-person.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 13 | 3,127 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “Begun in 1964, Northern Virginia Community College offers a quality and convenient educational experience at an affordable price.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 14 | 3,073 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Apollo Education Group, Inc.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 15 | 2,991 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “Created by the Florida Legislature in 1959, Broward College is one of 28 institutions that make up the Florida College System.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 16 | 2,745 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “California State University, East Bay is the San Francisco East Bay Area's high-access public university of choice.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 17 | 2,690 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “The mission of Long Island University is to provide access and excellence in private higher education to people from all backgrounds, who seek to expand their knowledge and…” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 18 | 2,676 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “For over 130 years, Strayer University has been at the forefront of change, offering affordable options to help students get ahead and stay ahead.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 19 | 2,631 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Education Management Corporation, with approximately 119,500 students as of April 2014, is among the largest providers of post-secondary education in North America, based on…” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 20 | 2,603 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Founded in 1966, ECPI University is a regionally accredited institution offering career-focused degree programs in technology, health science, business, criminal justice, and…” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 21 | 2,592 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “Wake Tech is North Carolina’s largest community college, serving approximately adults annually, with seven campuses, two training centers, multiple community sites and a…” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 22 | 2,551 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “Unlock your potential at Bryant & Stratton College: A career-focused, private, nonprofit college built differently to serve the needs of students, alumni, employers, and the…” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 23 | 2,525 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Career-focused allied health school built on care.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 24 | 2,506 contacts → | ||||
Indirect evidence “Capella University was built for people whose ambition never stops.” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
| 25 | 2,482 contacts → | ||||
Partial evidence “Founded in 1911, Baker College is committed to embracing technology, sparking innovation, and fostering a supportive learning environment where students can get the real-world…” Source: RevenueBase Database · checked Sep 20, 2026Thanks. The Data Team will review it. | |||||
RevenueBase Smart Search
RevenueBase Smart Search assesses information from a company’s LinkedIn profile, information supplied directly by the company, its website, and other publicly available sources. It uses that information to rate how closely the company relates to this list’s category: for-profit colleges. Every row carries its rating and the description the rating was read from, so each one can be checked rather than taken on trust.
- Strong evidence
- The company's own public description of its business names for-profit colleges.
- Partial evidence
- Its own public description names part of for-profit colleges, so it works in or next to the category without describing itself that way.
- Indirect evidence
- The description shown does not name for-profit colleges. The match rests on the rest of the company's public profile rather than the one sentence quoted here, so this is the rating to check first.
RevenueBase Smart Search is how these lists are built: RevenueBase's data engine and AI assemble the companies that match a category defined in a user's own words, so a list can be about what companies actually do rather than about whichever industry code they were filed under.
Showing 25 of 1,279 for-profit colleges based in the United States
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For-profit colleges based in the United States at a glance
As of Sep 20, 2026Companies by employee count
Email recency for this list is measured worldwide rather than for United States, so it is reported there. Company counts and contact totals on this page are exact for United States, over 1,279 companies.
How this list was built
Company categories are rarely black and white. RevenueBase reads each company's own description of its business to decide whether it belongs among for-profit colleges, so some rows will be adjacent to the category rather than pure plays. The description and RevenueBase Smart Search rating on every row are there so you can check each match yourself.
- Source
- The RevenueBase company graph: 60 million companies and 398.9 million professional contacts resolved from primary sources, queried with RevenueBase Smart Search, the natural-language company search available to every RevenueBase user.
- What qualifies
- Companies headquartered in the United States whose own description of what they do matches “for-profit colleges”. Matching reads each company's description, not its industry code or its name.
- RevenueBase Smart Search
- RevenueBase Smart Search is how this list is assembled and how each row is rated. RevenueBase's data engine and AI assess a company's LinkedIn profile, information supplied directly by the company, its website and other publicly available information, then relate it to a category defined in a user's own words. Each row is rated strong evidence (its own description names for-profit colleges), partial evidence (it names part of the category) or indirect evidence (the description shown names none of it and the match rests on the rest of the company's profile). The description supporting each rating is quoted on the row.
- What we exclude
- Companies whose own description does not clearly place them among for-profit colleges, and records with no verified work email. Companies headquartered outside United States are excluded even when they keep an office there.
- Match quality
- In blind human judging of this matching method, 86% of matched companies were on target. Expect roughly 1 in 7 rows to be adjacent to the category rather than a pure play. Every row shows the company's own description and its RevenueBase Smart Search rating so you can judge each match yourself. Read the full methodology: how the lists are built, how the judging worked, and what the figure means.
- Ranking
- Team size, largest first: companies are ordered by the number of professionals RevenueBase tracks at each one. Employee ranges shown are reported bands, for context.
- Verification
- Every listed company carries at least one verified work email, 110,347 across the full list. Contacts re-verify on a rolling cadence, and each contact's own verification date is shown inside RevenueBase.
- Refresh
- This page's figures were pulled from the company graph on September 20, 2026. Lists refresh periodically as the graph is re-checked.
- Corrections
- Wrong category, wrong headquarters, or a company that has closed? Use “Report an issue” on any row. Reports go to the RevenueBase Data Team and feed back into the company graph.
Frequently asked
What is RevenueBase Smart Search?
RevenueBase Smart Search is how RevenueBase decides which companies belong on this list and how strongly each one fits. Its data engine and AI assess a company's LinkedIn profile, information supplied directly by the company, its website and other publicly available information, then relate it to the category the list is about. Each row is rated strong evidence when the company's own description names for-profit colleges, partial evidence when it names part of the category, and indirect evidence when the description shown names none of it and the match rests on the rest of the company's profile.
How many for-profit colleges are there based in the United States?
RevenueBase identified 1,279 for-profit colleges headquartered in the United States as of September 2026, matched on each company's own description of what it does rather than its industry code.
What is the largest company on this list?
University Of Phoenix, headquartered in Phoenix, tops this list with the largest team on record.
Which city has the most for-profit colleges?
New York leads with 21 headquartered companies, followed by Chicago (16) and Miami (16).
How do I get contact information for these companies?
A free RevenueBase account lets you run this exact search and work the top results, verified emails and direct dials included. Upgrading unlocks all 110,347 verified decision-maker contacts tracked across these 1,279 companies.
How current is this list?
The list refreshes periodically as the company graph is re-checked. This page's figures were pulled on September 20, 2026.
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About this data
RevenueBase is a B2B data infrastructure company. Its company graph covers 60 million companies and 398.9 million professional contacts, with emails verified on a rolling cadence rather than scraped once and left to decay. These company lists are generated directly from that graph with RevenueBase Smart Search, the same natural-language company search every RevenueBase user has: describe a market in plain words, get the companies that match, and add verified emails and direct dials for the people at them. It is the same data that powers RevenueBase's B2B data products, and a free account includes 500 credits to start. How these lists are built and judged.