Forbes Magazine's List of America's Best Colleges

In 2008, Forbes.com began publishing an annual list of America's Top Colleges. Post-graduate success (alumni salaries from PayScale and data from the federal Department of Education) constitutes 35% of the score. Student debt levels constitute 20% of the score. Student experience (retention rates reported by the Department of Education and data from Niche) constitutes 20% of the score. Graduation rates constitute 12.5% of the score. Academic success (using both the percentage of a school's student body that goes on to obtain doctorate degrees, and those students who have won one of a diverse array of prestigious academic awards) constitutes 12.5%. Public reputation is not considered, which causes some colleges to score lower than in other lists. A three-year moving average is used to smooth out the scoring.

Starting in 2013, four schools that had admitted to misreporting admissions data were removed from the list for two years. The four removed colleges were Bucknell University, Claremont McKenna College, Emory University, and Iona College.

Rankings

Forbes rated Princeton University the country’s best college in its inaugural (2008) list. West Point took the top honor the following year. Williams College was ranked first both in 2010 and 2011, and Princeton returned to the top spot in 2012. In 2013 and 2016, Stanford University occupied the No. 1 spot, with elite liberal arts schools Williams and Pomona College topping the rankings in the intervening years. The magazine ranked Harvard University as America's best college from 2017 until 2021, when the University of California, Berkeley topped the list, becoming the first public school to ever do so.

America’s Top Colleges (Top 100)

Institution	2021	2019	2018
University of California, Berkeley	1	13	14
Yale University	2	3	2
Princeton University	3	5	5
Stanford University	4	2	3
Columbia University	5	14	15
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	6	4	4
Harvard University	7	1	1
University of California, Los Angeles	8	38	48
University of Pennsylvania	9	6	7
Northwestern University	10	17	20
Dartmouth College	11	10	9
Duke University	12	9	10
Cornell University	13	11	13
Vanderbilt University	14	27	32
University of California, San Diego	15	79	81
Amherst College	16	28	16
University of Southern California	17	30	30
Williams College	18	19	11
Pomona College	19	12	19
University of California, Davis	20	88	94
Georgetown University	21	15	12
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	22	20	22
University of Chicago	23	16	18
Rice University	24	21	28
University of Florida	25	70	68
Brown University	26	7	8
University of Washington-Seattle	27	64	72
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	28	45	47
US Military Academy	29	32	27
University of Virginia	30	33	34
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	31	68	56
Wellesley College	32	44	44
Washington University in St. Louis	33	31	36
Georgia Institute of Technology	34	65	88
Emory University	35	55	52
Bowdoin College	36	26	17
Johns Hopkins University	37	22	25
Tufts University	38	34	33
University of California, Santa Barbara	39	84	85
California Institute of Technology	40	8	6
University of Notre Dame	41	18	21
University of Maryland, College Park	42	63	61
Swarthmore College	43	25	24
Middlebury College	44	36	34
University of Texas at Austin	45	76	74
Claremont McKenna College	46	29	26
University of California, Irvine	47	87	96
Colgate University	48	46	45
Carnegie Mellon University	49	37	63
Texas A&M University	50	103	108
College of William and Mary	51	47	43
Barnard College	52	50	57
Brigham Young University	53	95	86
Wesleyan University	54	40	37
United States Naval Academy	55	24	31
Boston College	56	41	50
Davidson College	57	48	41
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo	58	115	137
University of Wisconsin, Madison	59	69	75
Cooper Union	60	58	53
Purdue University	61	118	126
Stony Brook University, SUNY	62	176	182
Washington and Lee University	63	42	39
CUNY, Baruch College	64	174	178
Lehigh University	65	67	67
United States Air Force Academy	66	43	40
San Diego State University	67	181	219
Lafayette College	68	57	58
University of Georgia	69	99	103
University of Connecticut	70	130	144
Santa Clara University	71	51	76
George Washington University	72	78	90
Vassar College	73	61	51
Wake Forest University	74	56	62
Virginia Tech	75	108	110
Northeastern University	76	182	217
Binghamton University, SUNY	77	145	123
University of Rochester	78	82	83
North Carolina State University, Raleigh	79	139	141
New York University	80	35	48
Babson College	81	62	64
Trinity College (CT)	82	109	89
Boston University	83	74	78
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities	84	98	106
California State University, Long Beach	85	272	286
Hamilton College	86	59	60
University of Miami (FL)	87	90	100
Bucknell University	88	73	73
Harvey Mudd College	89	23	23
Indiana University, Bloomington	90	131	132
George Mason University	91	177	169
Colby College	92	75	80
Michigan State University	93	159	135
Florida State University	94	151	163
University of Utah	95	187	212
James Madison University	96	136	143
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	97	113	111
California State University, Fullerton	98	300	317
University of California, Santa Cruz	99	183	185
Villanova University	100	72	70