There are many factors when it comes to choosing a college, like location, graduation rates, borrower debt, and student-faculty ratio — all key indicators used to rank colleges and universities in the recently released U.S. News & World Report 2026 Best Colleges guide.

The 41st edition based its rankings using up to 17 key factors to measure academic quality and graduate success. Some factors include graduation rates, first-year retention rates, borrower debt, peer assessment, financial resources per student, full-time faculty, faculty salaries, and more.

Each indicator is assigned a weight based on U.S. News’ researched judgment about which measures of quality matter most. The colleges are then ranked based on their overall scores.

More than 130 four-year institutions are located in N

See Full Page