Tau Kappa Epsilon is a social college fraternity founded on January 10, 1899, at Illinois Wesleyan University. Its chapters and colonies are individual organizations of initiated members of Tau Kappa Epsilon associated with a university or college. After the first, or single-letter Alpha series, chapters are named with a two-letter Greek letter combination in alphabetical order of the Greek alphabet, such as Alpha-Alpha, Beta-Alpha, etc. The Greek letter Eta was skipped over as a named series. Naming occurs according to the date when the chapter's charter was granted. In one exception to this general rule, the group that would have been the Sigma chapter received special permission to be referred to as the Scorpion chapter, honoring the name of a long-standing local affiliate into the fraternity.
A colony is defined as unit of the fraternity awaiting its official charter by the Grand Council, which is the fraternity's board of directors. Once a colony has obtained at least twenty qualified members and has petitioned for a charter, the Grand Council may grant a charter by a two-thirds vote. As of 2022, colonies are officially referred to as "emerging chapters" by the fraternity.
Chapters may have become inactive after being granted a charter, due to membership decline, misconduct, or school closure. In some cases, the Fraternity and alumni volunteers may restore a dormant chapter using the same chapter name. Numerous chapters that were once closed have been reorganized and have successfully reestablished themselves in their school and community.
The following is a list of Tau Kappa Epsilon chapters in order of their chapter number, with active chapters indicated in bold and inactive chapters and institutions in italics.