How U.S. News Calculated the 2026 Best Colleges Rankings

Overview

For more than four decades, U.S. News & World Report's Best Colleges rankings have guided millions of students and families in their college search. The 2026 edition evaluates more than 1,700 U.S. colleges and universities, using up to 17 factors to measure academic quality and graduate success. This transparent, rigorous methodology offers a foundation for navigating the complex landscape of higher education.

Interpreting the Rankings

The rankings offer a data-driven foundation for college research, but the best school for you is one that aligns with your goals and values. Prospective students should explore U.S. News' profiles alongside other resources to discover the perfect fit.

With more than 400 schools in the National Universities category, small rank changes – especially mid-tier – are often statistically insignificant, reflecting normal data fluctuations rather than shifts in quality. Rankings may shift due to changes in a school's data, peer institutions' data or methodological adjustments. The 2026 edition retains the same ranking factors, weights and placement in categories as the prior year, but changes to how a few ranking factors were treated could impact some schools' rankings.

Ranking Eligibility

To be included in the Best Colleges directory, U.S. institutions must:

• Grant bachelor's degrees

• Hold regional accreditation

• Offer traditional campus-based education

• Actively accept new applicants for first-year, full-time students

To receive an overall ranking, schools must also:

• Offer a broad curriculum under the 2021 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education's Basic Classification system (a system categorizing colleges by mission and degree offerings)

• Enroll at least 100 undergraduates

• Report a six-year bachelor's graduation rate for an entering cohort of at least 25 first-time, full-time bachelor's degree-seeking students

Institutions not meeting these rankings criteria are listed as unranked but have a profile in the Best Colleges directory. Rankings do not depend on participation in U.S. News surveys. For the 2026 edition, 79% of ranked schools provided data, including 99 of the top 100 National Universities and 97 of the top 100 National Liberal Arts Colleges.

Data and Quality Assurance

U.S. News ensures accuracy by combining data supplied directly by schools with third-party sources.

Primary source: Schools submit data via U.S. News statistical surveys, aligned with the U.S. Department of Education's Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the Common Data Set (CDS) initiative. This direct data collection is as critical as ever amid challenges like delays in publishing data in the IPEDS database (a federal repository of higher education statistics). Furthermore, the CDS's faculty definitions are more representative than IPEDS data of who teaches undergraduates and align with standards from The American Association of University Professors (AAUP).

Secondary sources: Data from IPEDS, U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard (including U.S. Treasury earnings data of federal loan recipients), the U.S. Department of Commerce and Elsevier verify and supplement submissions. The following information is provided by Elsevier.

Handling Missing Data

There is no explicit penalty for schools that do not submit a U.S. News statistical survey. Within any given ranking category, the same formula is applied to all eligible schools, regardless of their participation status.

However, non-participating schools are ranked using publicly available data, which is often a year older. This federal government data can be less relevant to bachelor's students, as its definitions for a few metrics – including which faculty are most likely to be in contact with students and the test scores of entering undergraduates – are not as refined as the data U.S. News collects directly from schools.

In addition, because U.S. News does not have their full survey responses, these schools will have a less detailed profile and may appear lower in search visibility. Peer assessment ratings submitted by these schools are also not included in the final calculations.