UC Berkeley has once again been named the top public university in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, according to rankings released on September 22, 2025. This marks the 16th time in the past 20 years that UC Berkeley has held this position in the annual U.S. News Best Colleges rankings.
Chancellor Rich Lyons responded to the announcement, stating, “We are honored to once again be recognized as the nation’s top public university. The data affirm all that Berkeley does as a powerful engine of economic mobility, and provider of affordable world-class education, accessible to all. We are proud of our pioneering research on society’s top challenges, shaping solutions that directly support our economy and the health, well-being and security of the American people.”
In addition to being ranked first among public universities, UC Berkeley was also named No. 1 for its data analytics/science programs and for its civil engineering and electrical/electronic/communications engineering programs—an improvement from last year’s second-place ranking in these areas.
The 2026 U.S. News rankings assessed over 1,700 colleges and universities across the country using up to 17 different criteria such as graduation rates, peer assessments, financial resources per student, and social mobility metrics. While undergraduate programs form a significant part of these evaluations, aspects related to graduate education and research were also considered.
Overall, UC Berkeley placed within the top five in 23 out of 43 ranked categories. These included fields such as undergraduate economics programs, artificial intelligence studies, theoretical disciplines, and best colleges for veterans.
U.S. News separately evaluates graduate programs annually; earlier this year nine of Berkeley’s professional schools or doctoral programs achieved first place—including English, psychology and computer engineering—and thirty-two were ranked within the top five nationally.
Following UC Berkeley in this year’s list are UCLA at second place among public universities; University of Michigan-Ann Arbor at third; with University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and University of Virginia tied for fourth place. In national rankings including both public and private institutions, UC Berkeley tied with Columbia University for fifteenth place.
UC Berkeley has recently received similar recognition from other organizations: Forbes listed it highly in America’s Top Colleges ranking; U.S. News’ Best Global Universities also highlighted its standing; QS World University Rankings named it North America’s leading public university for 2026; and PitchBook identified it as producing more startups founded by undergraduate alumni than any other institution worldwide.
