Best universities in the United States 2025

Which is the top college in the US? Use this table of the best universities in the US to find the right institution for you and to gain more information on the costs and application process to study in the US

Best universities in
Rankings for Students

October 9 2024

Top 10 universities in the US 2025

Scroll down for the full list of best universities in the United States

US rank 2025	World University Rank 2025	World University Rank 2024	University	City	State
1	2	3	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Cambridge	Massachusetts
2	3	4	Harvard University	Cambridge	Massachusetts
3	4	6	Princeton University	Princeton	New Jersey
4	6	2	Stanford University	Stanford	California
5	7	7	California Institute of Technology	Pasadena	California
6	8	9	University of California, Berkeley	Berkeley	California
7	10	10	Yale University	New Haven	Connecticut
=8	=14	13	The University of Chicago	Chicago	Illinois
=8	=14	16	University of Pennsylvania	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania
10	16	15	Johns Hopkins University	Baltimore	Maryland

Thinking about studying in the US can be overwhelming because there are so many options. Which US university is the best? Where are the top universities in the United States?

We thought you might like to know the top universities in the US based on the highly respected Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2025.

There are 174 US universities and colleges among the world’s best, so wherever you want to study in the US, a top university will not be far away. Almost all states and about 130 cities are represented in the best US universities list.

New York is the most-represented state among the best US universities for 2025, with 15 institutions, followed by 14 universities in California, 12 universities in Texas and 10 universities in Massachusetts.

For students wishing to study in the US, you can check our our guides on applying to university in the US and on applying for a student visa to study in the US.

There can often be the perception that the US is an expensive place to study; however, there are many scholarships and financial aid options available for international students.

Top 5 universities in the United States 2025

5. California Institute of Technology (CalTech)

Across the six faculties at CalTech, there is a focus on science and engineering.

CalTech has an impressive number of successful graduates and affiliates, including 39 Nobel laureates, six Turing Award winners and four Fields Medallists.

There are about 2,200 students at CalTech, and the primary campus in Pasadena, near Los Angeles, covers 124 acres (about 50 hectares). Almost all undergraduates live on campus.

In addition to Nobel laureates and top researchers, the CalTech graduate community includes a number of politicians and public policy advisers, particularly in the areas of science, technology and energy.

All first-year students belong to one of four houses as part of the university’s alternative model to fraternities and sororities. A number of traditions and events are associated with each house.

4. Stanford University

Many faculty members, students and alumni have founded successful technology companies and start-ups, including Google, Snapchat and Hewlett-Packard.

Of the 16,000 students, most of whom live on campus, 22 per cent are international.

Based in Palo Alto, right beside Silicon Valley, Stanford University has had a prominent role in encouraging the development of the region’s tech industry.

In total, companies founded by Stanford alumni make $2.7 trillion (£2.2 trillion) each year.

The university is often referred to as “the Farm” because the campus was built on the site of the Stanford family’s Palo Alto stock farm. The campus covers 8,180 acres (3,300 hectares), but more than half of the land is not yet developed.

With its distinctive sand-coloured, red-roofed buildings, Stanford’s campus is thought to be one of the most beautiful in the world. It contains a number of sculpture gardens and art museums, as well as a public meditation centre.

As might be expected from one of the best universities in the world, Stanford is highly competitive. The admission rate stands at just over 5 per cent.

3. Princeton University

Princeton University is one of the oldest universities in the US. It is part of the prestigious group of Ivy League universities.

As well as high-quality teaching and research output, the university is known for its beautiful campus, with some buildings designed by some of America’s most well-known architects.

Notable alumni who have won Nobel prizes include the physicists Richard Feynman and Robert Hofstadter and the chemists Richard Smalley and Edwin McMillan.

Princeton has educated two US presidents, James Madison and Woodrow Wilson. Other distinguished graduates include Michelle Obama, actors Jimmy Stewart and Brooke Shields, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Apollo astronaut Pete Conrad.

2. Harvard University

Founded in 1636, Harvard University is the oldest higher education institution in the US.

About 21,000 students are enrolled, a quarter of whom are international.

Harvard University is probably the world’s best-known university, topping the Times Higher Education Reputation Rankings most years.

Although tuition is expensive, Harvard’s financial endowment allows for plenty of financial aid for students.

The Harvard library system is made up of 79 libraries and is the largest academic library in the world.

Among many famous alumni, Harvard can count eight US presidents, 158 Nobel laureates, 14 Turing Award winners and 62 living billionaires.

Unlike some other universities at the top of the list, Harvard is at least equally reputed for arts and humanities as it is for science and technology, if not more so.

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

A third of MIT’s 11,000 students are international, hailing from 154 countries.

Famous alumni include astronaut Buzz Aldrin, former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan and physicist Richard Feynman.

MIT cultivates a strong entrepreneurial culture, which has seen many alumni found notable companies such as Intel and Dropbox.

Unusually, the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes at MIT are not wholly separate; many courses can be taken at either level.

The undergraduate programme is one of the country’s most selective, admitting only 8 per cent of applicants. Engineering and computer science are the most popular courses among undergraduates.

Top universities in the United States 2025

Click each institution to view its full World University Rankings 2025 profile

US rank 2025	World University Rank 2025	World University Rank 2024	University	City	State
1	2	3	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Cambridge	Massachusetts
2	3	4	Harvard University	Cambridge	Massachusetts
3	4	6	Princeton University	Princeton	New Jersey
4	6	2	Stanford University	Stanford	California
5	7	7	California Institute of Technology	Pasadena	California
6	8	9	University of California, Berkeley	Berkeley	California
7	10	10	Yale University	New Haven	Connecticut
=8	=14	13	The University of Chicago	Chicago	Illinois
=8	=14	16	University of Pennsylvania	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania
10	16	15	Johns Hopkins University	Baltimore	Maryland
=11	=18	17	Columbia University	New York City	New York
=11	=18	18	University of California, Los Angeles	Los Angeles	California
13	20	20	Cornell University	Ithaca	New York
14	=22	23	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	Ann Arbor	Michigan
15	24	24	Carnegie Mellon University	Pittsburgh	Pennsylvania
16	25	25	University of Washington	Seattle	Washington
17	27	26	Duke University	Durham	North Carolina
18	31	28	Northwestern University	Evanston	Illinois
19	33	27	New York University	New York City	New York
20	34	34	University of California, San Diego	San Diego	California
21	40	36	Georgia Institute of Technology	Atlanta	Georgia
22	46	42	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	Champaign	Illinois
23	=50	52	University of Texas at Austin	Austin	Texas
24	=56	63	University of Wisconsin-Madison	Madison	Wisconsin
25	=58	=64	Brown University	Providence	Rhode Island
26	=62	59	University of California, Davis	Davis	California
27	=67	69	University of California, Santa Barbara	Santa Barbara	California
28	69	68	Washington University in St Louis	St Louis	Missouri
29	70	72	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	Chapel Hill	North Carolina
30	72	74	University of Southern California	Los Angeles	California
31	75	78	Boston University	Boston	Massachusetts
32	79	86	Purdue University West Lafayette	West Lafayette	Indiana
33	=84	=123	University of Massachusetts	Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, Worcester	Massachusetts
34	=87	85	University of Minnesota	Minneapolis	Minnesota
=35	=90	=92	University of California, Irvine	Irvine	California
=35	=90	=92	Vanderbilt University	Nashville	Tennessee
37	=98	=106	Emory University	Atlanta	Georgia
38	=100	122	Penn State (Main campus)	State College	Pennsylvania
=39	=112	=119	Rice University	Houston	Texas
=39	=112	114	University of Maryland, College Park	College Park	Maryland
41	=116	=99	Ohio State University (Main campus)	Columbus	Ohio
42	122	=116	Michigan State University	East Lansing	Michigan
43	127	133	University of Rochester	Rochester	New York
44	=130	132	University of Florida	Gainesville	Florida
45	=136	=155	University of Arizona	Tucson	Arizona
46	=141	=145	University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh campus	Pittsburgh	Pennsylvania
=47	=143	118	Texas A&M University	College Station	Texas
=47	=143	=138	University of Colorado Boulder	Boulder	Colorado
49	159	=164	Case Western Reserve University	Cleveland	Ohio
50	=163	166	University of Virginia (Main campus)	Charlottesville	Virginia
51	=168	=161	Dartmouth College	Hanover	New Hampshire
52	179	=191	Tufts University	Medford	Massachusetts
53	=189	198	Indiana University	Bloomington	Indiana
=54	=196	201–250	University of California, Santa Cruz	Santa Cruz	California
=54	=196	=199	University of Notre Dame	Notre Dame	Indiana
=56	201–250	182	Arizona State University (Tempe)	Tempe	Arizona
=56	201–250	=187	Georgetown University		Washington DC
=56	201–250	201–250	George Washington University		Washington DC
=56	201–250	201–250	Northeastern University, US	Boston	Massachusetts
=56	201–250	201–250	University of Illinois Chicago	Chicago	Illinois
=56	201–250	201–250	University of Miami	Coral Gables	Florida
=56	201–250	201–250	University of Utah	Salt Lake City	Utah
=63	251–300	251–300	Boston College	Boston	Massachusetts
=63	251–300	251–300	North Carolina State University	Raleigh	North Carolina
=63	251–300	251–300	Stony Brook University	Stony Brook	New York
=63	251–300	301–350	University at Buffalo	Buffalo	New York
=63	251–300	251–300	University of California, Riverside	Riverside	California
=63	251–300	201–250	University of Hawai’i at Mānoa	Honolulu	Hawai’i
=63	251–300	201–250	University of Iowa	Iowa City	Iowa
=63	251–300	251–300	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	Blacksburg	Virginia
=71	301–350	251–300	Florida State University	Tallahassee	Florida
=71	301–350	301–350	Oregon Health and Science University	Portland	Oregon
=71	301–350	201–250	Rutgers University – New Brunswick	New Brunswick	New Jersey
=71	301–350	301–350	The University of Tennessee-Knoxville	Knoxville	Tennessee
=71	301–350	351–400	University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus	Denver	Colorado
=71	301–350	351–400	University of Connecticut	Mansfield	Connecticut
=77	351–400	301–350	Drexel University	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania
=77	351–400	351–400	Illinois Institute of Technology	Chicago	Illinois
=77	351–400	351–400	Temple University	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania
=77	351–400	401–500	University of Delaware	Newark	Delaware
=77	351–400	351–400	University of Georgia (USA)	Athens	Georgia
=77	351–400	351–400	University of Kansas	Lawrence	Kansas
=77	351–400	251–300	University of South Florida	Tampa	Florida
=84	401–500	251–300	Brandeis University	Waltham	Massachusetts
=84	401–500	NR	Colorado School of Mines	Golden	Colorado
=84	401–500	401–500	Colorado State University, Fort Collins	Fort Collins	Colorado
=84	401–500	401–500	Florida International University	Miami	Florida
=84	401–500	401–500	George Mason University	Fairfax	Virginia
=84	401–500	351–400	Iowa State University	Ames	Illinois
=84	401–500	401–500	Missouri University of Science and Technology	Rolla	Missouri
=84	401–500	401–500	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	Troy	New York
=84	401–500	401–500	Saint Louis University	Saint Louis	Missouri
=84	401–500	401–500	Stevens Institute of Technology	Hoboken	New Jersey
=84	401–500	401–500	Syracuse University	Syracuse	New York
=84	401–500	401–500	Tulane University	New Orleans	Louisiana
=84	401–500	401–500	University of California, Merced	Merced	California
=84	401–500	401–500	University of Central Florida	Orlando	Florida
=84	401–500	501–600	University of Houston	Houston	Texas
=84	401–500	401–500	University of Kentucky	Lexington	Kentucky
=84	401–500	401–500	University of Nebraska-Lincoln	Lincoln	Nebraska
=84	401–500	401–500	University of Oregon	Eugene	Oregon
=84	401–500	401–500	University of South Carolina-Columbia	Columbia	Colorado
=84	401–500	351–400	University of Texas at Dallas	Richardson	Texas
=84	401–500	401–500	Virginia Commonwealth University	Richmond	Virginia
=84	401–500	401–500	Wake Forest University	Winston-Salem	North Carolina
=84	401–500	301–350	Washington State University	Pullman	Washington
=107	501–600	401–500	Georgia State University	Atlanta	Georgia
=107	501–600	401–500	Mizzou - University of Missouri	Columbia	Missouri
=107	501–600	401–500	New Jersey Institute of Technology	Newark	New Jersey
=107	501–600	501–600	Rush University	Chicago	Illinois
=107	501–600	NR	SUNY University at Albany	Albany	New York
=107	501–600	501–600	The University of Tulsa	Tulsa	Oklahoma
=107	501–600	601–800	University of Arkansas	Fayetteville	Arkansas
=107	501–600	501–600	University of Nebraska Medical Center	Omaha	Nebraska
=107	501–600	501–600	Wayne State University	Detroit	Michigan
=116	601–800	601–800	American University		Washington DC
=116	601–800	501–600	Auburn University	Auburn	Alabama
=116	601–800	601–800	Baylor University	Waco	Texas
=116	601–800	601–800	Clark University	Worcester	Massachusetts
=116	601–800	801–1000	Florida Atlantic University	Boca Raton	Florida
=116	601–800	601–800	Kansas State University	Lawrence	Kansas
=116	601–800	601–800	Lehigh University	Bethlehem	Pennsylvania
=116	601–800	601–800	Louisiana State University	Baton Rouge	Louisiana
=116	601–800	601–800	Mississippi State University	Starkville	Mississippi
=116	601–800	601–800	Ohio University (Main campus)	Athens	Ohio
=116	601–800	601–800	Oklahoma State University	Stillwater	Oklahoma
=116	601–800	801–1000	Rochester Institute of Technology	Rochester	New York
=116	601–800	601–800	SUNY Binghamton University	Binghamton	New York
=116	601–800	601–800	Texas Tech University	Lubbock	Texas
=116	601–800	601–800	The Catholic University of America		Washington DC
=116	601–800	501–600	The University of Texas at San Antonio	San Antonio	Texas
=116	601–800	501–600	University of Alaska Fairbanks	Fairbanks	Alaska
=116	601–800	501–600	University of Denver	Denver	Colorado
=116	601–800	601–800	University of Maryland, Baltimore County	Baltimore	Maryland
=116	601–800	601–800	University of Nevada, Las Vegas	Las Vegas	Nevada
=116	601–800	601–800	University of North Carolina at Charlotte	Charlotte	North Carolina
=116	601–800	601–800	University of Texas at Arlington	Arlington	Texas
=116	601–800	601–800	University of Toledo	Toledo	Ohio
=116	601–800	601–800	University of Wyoming	Laramie	Wyoming
=116	601–800	601–800	William & Mary	Williamsburg	Virginia
=116	601–800	601–800	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	Worcester	Massachusetts
=142	801–1000	801–1000	Florida Institute of Technology	Melbourne	Florida
=142	801–1000	801–1000	New Mexico State University (Main campus)	Albuquerque	New Mexico
=142	801–1000	601–800	Northern Illinois University	DeKalb	Illinois
=142	801–1000	601–800	Old Dominion University	Norfolk	Virginia
=142	801–1000	801–1000	Portland State University	Portland	Oregon
=142	801–1000	NR	Southern Illinois University Carbondale	Carbondale	Illinois
=142	801–1000	601–800	The University of Alabama	Tuscaloosa	Alabama
=142	801–1000	801–1000	University of Memphis	Memphis	Tennessee
=142	801–1000	601–800	University of Rhode Island	South Kingstown	Rhode Island
=142	801–1000	801–1000	University of Texas at El Paso	El Paso	Texas
=152	1001–1200	1001–1200	Bowling Green State University	Bowling Green	Ohio
=152	1001–1200	1001–1200	Central Michigan University	Mount Pleasant	Michigan
=152	1001–1200	801–1000	Clarkson University	Potsdam	New York
=152	1001–1200	1001–1200	Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University	Tallahassee	Florida
=152	1001–1200	801–1000	Montana State University	Bozeman	Montana
=152	1001–1200	1001–1200	Oakland University	Rochester	Michigan
=152	1001–1200	1001–1200	Rowan University	Glassboro	New Jersey
=152	1001–1200	801–1000	San Diego State University	San Diego	California
=152	1001–1200	NR	South Dakota State University	Brookings	South Dakota
=152	1001–1200	801–1000	The New School	New York City	New York
=152	1001–1200	1001–1200	University of South Dakota	Vermillion	South Dakota
=163	1201–1500	801–1000	Nova Southeastern University	Fort Lauderdale	Florida
=163	1201–1500	1001–1200	Texas State University	San Marcos	Texas
=163	1201–1500	NR	University of Nebraska Omaha	Omaha	Nebraska
=163	1201–1500	1201–1500	University of Texas Rio Grande Valley	Brownsville	Texas
=163	1201–1500	1001–1200	Western Michigan University	Kalamazoo	Michigan
=168	1501+	1501+	Adelphi University	Garden City	New York
=168	1501+	1501+	College of Charleston	Charleston	South Carolina
=168	1501+	1201–1500	Georgia Southern University	Statesboro	Georgia
=168	1501+	NR	Grand Valley State University	Allendale	Michigan
=168	1501+	NR	Loyola Marymount University	Los Angeles	California
=168	1501+	1201–1500	Morgan State University	Baltimore	Maryland
=168	1501+	NR	Pace University-New York	New York City	New York