Best Occupational Therapy Assistant programs in Texas, ranked by enrollment
Assist occupational therapists in providing occupational therapy treatments and procedures.
17 schools in Texas run programs that feed this job, graduating 323 people a year. The job pays a median of $81,500 in Texas across about 5,610 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in Texas that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
1 programs in Texas that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in Texas (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Texas page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 51.0803In Texas → | 323 | 100.0% | 17 | $29,507 | $11,000 |
Top 17 schools in Texas
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 15 of the 17 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lone Star College System The Woodlands, TX Public · 1 feeder programs | 39 | Occupational Therapist Assistant | $33,233 | 21% | — | — |
| 2 | Pima Medical Institute - El Paso El Paso, TX Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 36 | Occupational Therapist Assistant | $31,915 | 57% | $23,813 | — |
| 3 | Navarro College Corsicana, TX Public · 1 feeder programs | 32 | Occupational Therapist Assistant | $51,543 | 23% | — | — |
| 4 | Pima Medical Institute - Houston Houston, TX Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 29 | Occupational Therapist Assistant | $31,915 | 71% | $20,583 | — |
| 5 | Houston City College Houston, TX Public · 1 feeder programs | 21 | Occupational Therapist Assistant | $35,469 | 17% | — | — |
| 6 | Panola College Carthage, TX Public · 1 feeder programs | 21 | Occupational Therapist Assistant | — | 43% | — | — |
| 7 | St Philip's College San Antonio, TX Public · 1 feeder programs | 21 | Occupational Therapist Assistant | $46,461 | 28% | — | — |
| 8 | Austin Community College District Austin, TX Public · 1 feeder programs | 17 | Occupational Therapist Assistant | $49,448 | 20% | — | — |
| 9 | Tyler Junior College Tyler, TX Public · 1 feeder programs | 17 | Occupational Therapist Assistant | $46,586 | 27% | — | — |
| 10 | Del Mar College Corpus Christi, TX Public · 1 feeder programs | 16 | Occupational Therapist Assistant | $42,057 | 11% | — | — |
| 11 | McLennan Community College Waco, TX Public · 1 feeder programs | 15 | Occupational Therapist Assistant | — | 39% | — | — |
| 12 | South Texas College McAllen, TX Public · 1 feeder programs | 12 | Occupational Therapist Assistant | $32,084 | 27% | — | — |
| 13 | Amarillo College Amarillo, TX Public · 1 feeder programs | 11 | Occupational Therapist Assistant | $49,025 | 32% | — | — |
| 14 | San Jacinto Community College Pasadena, TX Public · 1 feeder programs | 11 | Occupational Therapist Assistant | $29,833 | 30% | — | — |
| 15 | Parker University Dallas, TX Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 10 | Occupational Therapist Assistant | $38,994 | 74% | $27,144 | — |
| 16 | Weatherford College Weatherford, TX Public · 1 feeder programs | 10 | Occupational Therapist Assistant | $51,083 | 35% | — | — |
| 17 | Dallas College Dallas, TX Public · 1 feeder programs | 5 | Occupational Therapist Assistant | $27,898 | 32% | — | — |
All 17 schools in Texas
Every school in Texas with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lone Star College System | The Woodlands | Public | 39 | 1 |
| Pima Medical Institute - El Paso | El Paso | Private for-profit | 36 | 1 |
| Navarro College | Corsicana | Public | 32 | 1 |
| Pima Medical Institute - Houston | Houston | Private for-profit | 29 | 1 |
| Houston City College | Houston | Public | 21 | 1 |
| Panola College | Carthage | Public | 21 | 1 |
| St Philip's College | San Antonio | Public | 21 | 1 |
| Austin Community College District | Austin | Public | 17 | 1 |
| Tyler Junior College | Tyler | Public | 17 | 1 |
| Del Mar College | Corpus Christi | Public | 16 | 1 |
| McLennan Community College | Waco | Public | 15 | 1 |
| South Texas College | McAllen | Public | 12 | 1 |
| Amarillo College | Amarillo | Public | 11 | 1 |
| San Jacinto Community College | Pasadena | Public | 11 | 1 |
| Parker University | Dallas | Private not-for-profit | 10 | 1 |
What occupational therapy assistants earn in Texas
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $72,300. Texas pays above the national figure.
Concentrated here: Texas employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.
Metro areas in Texas
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.
How to get in
The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Occupational Therapy Assistants page.
How to become a Occupational Therapy Assistant
Job zone 3 of 5 · SVP 6.0 to < 7.0- Typical entry education
- Associate's degree
Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.
Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.
Top skills
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in Texas
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 1 majors mapped to Occupational Therapy Assistants1 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 51.0803Occupational Therapist Assistant
Common questions
Answers for people weighing occupational therapy assistants programs in Texas.
What degree do you need to become an Occupational Therapy Assistant?+
Associate's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Occupational Therapist Assistant, which awarded 323 degrees in Texas in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming an Occupational Therapy Assistant?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Allied Health and Medical Assisting Services. Together they graduate about 323 people a year in Texas.
How much do occupational therapy assistants earn in Texas?+
The median is $81,500 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 12.7% above the U.S. median of $72,300. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.
Is demand for occupational therapy assistants growing?+
BLS projects a +19.2% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, much faster than average, with roughly 7,200 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in Texas?+
17 institutions in Texas reported graduates from at least one of the 1 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.
What other job titles do occupational therapy assistants work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA), Licensed Occupational Therapy Assistant (LOTA), Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant (COTA), Certified Occupational Therapist Assistant (COTA) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 31-2011.
About the data on this page
Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).
BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics
May 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.
IPEDS Completions
2024-25 (provisional)Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.
College Scorecard, Field of Study
2020-21 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.
Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA
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