LANSING, Mich. (WOWO) — Several Michigan community colleges are being recognized among the best in the nation in a new ranking that weighs affordability, educational performance and career opportunities.

WalletHub evaluated 613 community colleges from across the country for its latest ranking, examining schools across three broad areas: cost and financing, education outcomes and career outcomes.

Two Michigan schools landed in the national top 20 according to WLNS.

Gogebic Community College in Ironwood ranked No. 6 overall, giving Michigan one of the highest-ranked community colleges in the country in the report.

Gogebic ranked No. 46 nationally in cost and financing, No. 47 in education outcomes and No. 217 in career outcomes.

Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek ranked No. 17 overall.

Kellogg’s strongest showing came in cost and financing, where it ranked No. 17 nationally. It ranked No. 215 in education outcomes and No. 276 in career outcomes.

WalletHub’s analysis looked at 18 individual measurements to produce an overall score for each school.

Those measurements included the cost of in-state tuition and fees, whether free community college programs are available, graduation rates, the percentage of students who transfer to other institutions and the median salary earned by students after attending.

Each individual metric was scored on a 100-point scale, with 100 representing the strongest performance.

The three major categories — cost and financing, education outcomes and career outcomes — were weighted equally, with each accounting for roughly one-third of the final score.

That means a school could perform particularly well in affordability while receiving a different ranking for its educational or career results.

For Michigan students and families, the rankings highlight the role community colleges can play as a lower-cost pathway into higher education, workforce training or transfer to a four-year university.

Gogebic Community College’s No. 6 overall ranking places the Ironwood school among the highest-performing community colleges included in the national analysis.

Kellogg Community College’s No. 17 ranking also puts it firmly within the top tier of the 613 schools reviewed according to WLNS.

The report does not rank every community college in the United States, but instead evaluates a sample of institutions affiliated with the American Association of Community Colleges.

WalletHub’s methodology combines the individual measurements into a weighted average to determine each school’s final score.

The analysis ultimately provides students with several ways to compare community colleges — not simply by tuition, but also by whether students complete their programs, transfer to other schools and find financially rewarding employment afterward.

For Michigan, the results put two community colleges among the nation’s top 20 and offer a strong showing for the state’s community college system in a ranking focused on both the cost of getting an education and the potential payoff after graduation.