Best universities in the United States 2022
Find the best universities in the United States 2022 through Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings data
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Top 10 universities in the US 2022
Scroll down for the full list of best universities in the United States
World University Rank 2022 | US Rank 2022 | University | City | State |
=2 | =1 | California Institute of Technology | Pasadena | California |
=2 | =1 | Harvard University | Cambridge | Massachusetts |
4 | 3 | Stanford University | Stanford | California |
=5 | 4 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Cambridge | Massachusetts |
7 | 5 | Princeton University | Princeton | New Jersey |
8 | 6 | University of California, Berkeley | Berkeley | California |
9 | 7 | Yale University | New Haven | Connecticut |
10 | 8 | The University of Chicago | Chicago | Illinois |
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 2022.
There are 183 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.
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California is the most represented state among the best US universities for 2022, with 15 institutions, followed by 14 universities in New York, 12 universities in Texas and 10 universities in Massachusetts.
The universities ranking at the very top of the table are concentrated in these popular destinations, which are well known for their higher education opportunities; the top four are based in California and Massachusetts.
It’s important to note that we also produce a separate US College Rankings in partnership with the Wall Street Journal that is designed specifically with students in mind. At the heart of the US College Rankings is a student survey, taken by more than 170,000 students across the US and capturing the things that are most important to prospective students, such as teaching quality, learning environment, resources, diversity on campus and whether a student would recommend their institution.
You can see the full US College Rankings here, or scroll all the way down to the bottom of the article see the top 10.
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Top 5 universities in the US 2022
5. 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 well-known for its beautiful campus, with some buildings designed by some of America’s most well-known architects.
Notable alumni who have won a Nobel prize include the physicists Richard Feynman and Robert Hofstadter and chemists Richard Smalley and Edwin McMillan.
Princeton has also 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.
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4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
- Thirty-three per cent of the 11,000 students are international, hailing from 154 countries.
- Famous alumni include astronaut Buzz Aldrin, former UN 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 programmes are the most popular among undergraduates.
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3. 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 region’s tech industry to develop.
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.
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=1. 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 best known university in the world, 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 counts as 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.
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=1. 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 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 house traditions and events are associated with each house.
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Top universities in the United States 2022
Click each institution to view its full World University Rankings 2022 profile
World University Rank 2022 | US Rank 2022 | University | City | State |
=2 | =1 | California Institute of Technology | Pasadena | California |
=2 | =1 | Harvard University | Cambridge | Massachusetts |
4 | 3 | Stanford University | Stanford | California |
=5 | 4 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Cambridge | Massachusetts |
7 | 5 | Princeton University | Princeton | New Jersey |
8 | 6 | University of California, Berkeley | Berkeley | California |
9 | 7 | Yale University | New Haven | Connecticut |
10 | 8 | The University of Chicago | Chicago | Illinois |
11 | 9 | Columbia University | New York City | New York |
=13 | =10 | Johns Hopkins University | Baltimore | Maryland |
=13 | =10 | University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia | Pennsylvania |
20 | 12 | University of California, Los Angeles | Los Angeles | California |
22 | 13 | Cornell University | Ithaca | New York |
23 | 14 | Duke University | Durham | North Carolina |
=24 | =15 | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | Ann Arbor | Michigan |
=24 | =15 | Northwestern University | Evanston | Illinois |
26 | 17 | New York University | New York City | New York |
28 | 18 | Carnegie Mellon University | Pittsburgh | Pennsylvania |
29 | 19 | University of Washington | Seattle | Washington |
34 | 20 | University of California, San Diego | San Diego | California |
45 | 21 | Georgia Institute of Technology | Atlanta | Georgia |
47 | 22 | University of Texas at Austin | Austin | Texas |
48 | 23 | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Champaign | Illinois |
51 | 24 | Washington University in St Louis | St. Louis | Missouri |
52 | 25 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | Chapel Hill | North Carolina |
=58 | 26 | University of Wisconsin -Madison | Madison | Wisconsin |
62 | 27 | Boston University | Boston | Massachusetts |
63 | 28 | University of Southern California | Los Angeles | California |
64 | 29 | Brown University | Providence | Rhode Island |
67 | 30 | University of California, Davis | Davis | California |
68 | 31 | University of California, Santa Barbara | Santa Barbara | California |
82 | 32 | Emory University | Atlanta | Georgia |
85 | 33 | Ohio State University (Main campus) | Columbus | Ohio |
=86 | 34 | University of Minnesota | Minneapolis | Minnesota |
=93 | =35 | University of Maryland, College Park | College Park | Maryland |
=93 | =35 | Michigan State University | East Lansing | Michigan |
98 | 37 | University of California, Irvine | Irvine | California |
=99 | 38 | Dartmouth College | Hanover | New Hampshire |
=105 | 39 | Purdue University West Lafayette | West Lafayette | Indiana |
=113 | 40 | Vanderbilt University | Nashville | Tennessee |
=119 | 41 | Penn State (Main campus) | State College | Pennsylvania |
126 | 42 | Case Western Reserve University | Cleveland | Ohio |
=127 | 43 | University of Virginia (Main campus) | Charlottesville | Virginia |
130 | 44 | Georgetown University | Washington D.C. | |
=132 | 45 | Arizona State University (Tempe) | Tempe | Arizona |
136 | 46 | Rice University | Houston | Texas |
140 | 47 | University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh campus | Pittsburgh | Pennsylvania |
142 | 48 | University of Rochester | Rochester (NY) | New York |
150 | 49 | University of Arizona | Tucson | Arizona |
154 | 50 | University of Florida | Gainesville | Florida |
=158 | 51 | University of Colorado Boulder | Boulder | Colorado |
167 | 52 | Indiana University | Bloomington | Indiana |
168 | 53 | Northeastern University | Boston | Massachusetts |
=172 | 54 | Tufts University | Medford | Massachusetts |
=183 | 55 | University of Notre Dame | Notre Dame | Indiana |
=190 | 56 | Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey | New Brunswick | New Jersey |
=193 | 57 | Texas A&M University | College Station | Texas |
201–250 | =58 | University of California, Santa Cruz | Santa Cruz | California |
201–250 | =58 | George Washington University | Washington D.C. | |
201–250 | =58 | University of Massachusetts | Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, Worcester | Massachusetts |
201–250 | =58 | University of Miami | Coral Gables | Florida |
201–250 | =58 | University of South Florida | Tampa | Florida |
251–300 | =63 | Boston College | Boston | Massachusetts |
251–300 | =63 | Brandeis University | Waltham | Massachusetts |
251–300 | =63 | University at Buffalo | Buffalo | New York |
251–300 | =63 | University of California, Riverside | Riverside | California |
251–300 | =63 | University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus | Denver | Colorado |
251–300 | =63 | Florida State University | Tallahassee | Florida |
251–300 | =63 | George Mason University | Fairfax | Virginia |
251–300 | =63 | University of Hawai’i at Mānoa | Honolulu | Hawai’i |
251–300 | =63 | Howard University | Washington D.C. | |
251–300 | =63 | University of Iowa | Iowa City | Iowa |
251–300 | =63 | University of New Mexico (Main campus) | Albuquerque | New Mexico |
251–300 | =63 | Oregon Health and Science University | Portland | Oregon |
251–300 | =63 | University of Utah | Salt Lake City | Utah |
251–300 | =63 | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | Blacksburg | Virginia |
301–350 | =77 | University of California, Merced | Merced | California |
301–350 | =77 | University of Delaware | Newark (DE) | Delaware |
301–350 | =77 | Hofstra University | Hempstead | New York |
301–350 | =77 | University of Illinois at Chicago | Chicago | Illinois |
301–350 | =77 | North Carolina State University | Raleigh | North Carolina |
301–350 | =77 | Nova Southeastern University | Fort Lauderdale | Florida |
301–350 | =77 | Rush University | Chicago | Illinois |
301–350 | =77 | Stony Brook University | Stony Brook | New York |
301–350 | =77 | Temple University | Philadelphia | Pennsylvania |
301–350 | =77 | The University of Tennessee-Knoxville | Knoxville | Tennessee |
301–350 | =77 | Wake Forest University | Winston-Salem | North Carolina |
301–350 | =77 | William & Mary | Williamsburg | Virginia |
351–400 | =89 | Colorado State University, Fort Collins | Fort Collins | Colorado |
351–400 | =89 | Drexel University | Philadelphia | Pennsylvania |
351–400 | =89 | University of Georgia | Athens | Georgia |
351–400 | =89 | Illinois Institute of Technology | Chicago | Illinois |
351–400 | =89 | University of Oregon | Eugene | Oregon |
351–400 | =89 | SUNY University at Albany | Albany | New York |
351–400 | =89 | Syracuse University | Syracuse | New York |
351–400 | =89 | University of Texas at Dallas | Richardson | Texas |
351–400 | =89 | Washington State University | Pullman | Washington |
401–500 | =98 | University of Alaska Fairbanks | Fairbanks | Alaska |
401–500 | =98 | Colorado School of Mines | Golden | Colorado |
401–500 | =98 | University of Connecticut | Mansfield | Connecticut |
401–500 | =98 | University of Denver | Denver | Colorado |
401–500 | =98 | Georgia State University | Atlanta | Georgia |
401–500 | =98 | Iowa State University | Ames | Iowa |
401–500 | =98 | University of Kansas | Lawrence | Kansas |
401–500 | =98 | Missouri University of Science and Technology | Rolla | Missouri |
401–500 | =98 | University of Nebraska-Lincoln | Lincoln | Nebraska |
401–500 | =98 | University of South Carolina-Columbia | Columbia | South Carolina |
401–500 | =98 | Tulane University | New Orleans | Louisiana |
401–500 | =98 | Wayne State University | Detroit | Michigan |
501–600 | =110 | American University | Washington D.C. | |
501–600 | =110 | Clark University | Worcester | Massachusetts |
501–600 | =110 | Florida International University | Miami | Florida |
501–600 | =110 | University of Kentucky | Lexington | Kentucky |
501–600 | =110 | Mizzou - University of Missouri | Columbia | Missouri |
501–600 | =110 | University of Montana | Missoula | Montana |
501–600 | =110 | University of Nebraska Medical Center | Omaha | Nebraska |
501–600 | =110 | New Jersey Institute of Technology | Newark (NJ) | New Jersey |
501–600 | =110 | Northern Arizona University | Flagstaff | Arizona |
501–600 | =110 | Oklahoma State University | Stillwater | Oklahoma |
501–600 | =110 | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | Troy | New York |
501–600 | =110 | Saint Louis University | Saint Louis | Missouri |
601–800 | =122 | The University of Alabama | Tuscaloosa | Alabama |
601–800 | =122 | University of Alabama in Huntsville | Huntsville | Alabama |
601–800 | =122 | University of Arkansas | Fayetteville | Arkansas |
601–800 | =122 | Auburn University | Auburn | Alabama |
601–800 | =122 | University of Central Florida | Orlando | Florida |
601–800 | =122 | University of Houston | Houston | Texas |
601–800 | =122 | University of Idaho | Moscow | Idaho |
601–800 | =122 | Lehigh University | Bethlehem | Pennsylvania |
601–800 | =122 | Louisiana State University | Baton Rouge | Louisiana |
601–800 | =122 | University of Maryland, Baltimore County | Baltimore | Maryland |
601–800 | =122 | University of Missouri-St Louis | St. Louis | Maryland |
601–800 | =122 | Montana State University | Bozeman | Montana |
601–800 | =122 | Northern Illinois University | DeKalb | Illinois |
601–800 | =122 | Ohio University (Main campus) | Athens | Ohio |
601–800 | =122 | University of Rhode Island | South Kingstown | Rhode Island |
601-800 | =122 | San Diego State University | San Diego | California |
601-800 | =122 | Stevens Institute of Technology | Hoboken | New Jersey |
601–800 | =122 | SUNY Binghamton University | Binghamton | New York |
601–800 | =122 | University of Texas at Arlington | Arlington | Texas |
601–800 | =122 | The University of Texas at San Antonio | San Antonio | Texas |
601–800 | =122 | Texas Tech University | Lubbock | Texas |
601–800 | =122 | University of Toledo | Toledo | Ohio |
601–800 | =122 | University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee | Milwaukee | Wisconsin |
601–800 | =122 | Worcester Polytechnic Institute | Worcester | Massachusetts |
601–800 | =122 | University of Wyoming | Laramie | Wyoming |
801-1000 | =147 | University of Texas Rio Grande Valley | Brownsville | Texas |
801–1000 | =147 | Baylor University | Waco | Texas |
801–1000 | =147 | Chapman University | Orange | California |
801–1000 | =147 | Clarkson University | Potsdam | New York |
801–1000 | =147 | Clemson University | Clemson | South Carolina |
801–1000 | =147 | Creighton University | Omaha | Nebraska |
801–1000 | =147 | Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University | Tallahassee | Florida |
801–1000 | =147 | Florida Atlantic University | Boca Raton | Florida |
801–1000 | =147 | Florida Institute of Technology | Melbourne | Florida |
801–1000 | =147 | Kansas State University | Lawrence | Kansas |
801–1000 | =147 | Kent State University | Kent | Ohio |
801–1000 | =147 | Marquette University | Milwaukee | Wisconsin |
801–1000 | =147 | University of Memphis | Memphis | Tennessee |
801–1000 | =147 | University of Nevada, Las Vegas | Las Vegas | Nevada |
801–1000 | =147 | The New School | New York City | New York |
801–1000 | =147 | New Mexico State University (Main campus) | Albuquerque | New Mexico |
801–1000 | =147 | University of North Carolina at Charlotte | Charlotte | North Carolina |
801–1000 | =147 | University of North Carolina at Greensboro | Greensboro | North Carolina |
801–1000 | =147 | Old Dominion University | Norfolk | Virginia |
801–1000 | =147 | Portland State University | Portland | Oregon |
801–1000 | =147 | Rochester Institute of Technology | Rochester (NY) | New York |
801–1000 | =147 | University of South Dakota | Vermillion | South Dakota |
801–1000 | =147 | University of Texas at El Paso | El Paso | Texas |
1001–1200 | =170 | Bowling Green State University | Bowling Green | Ohio |
1001–1200 | =170 | Georgia Southern University | Statesboro | Georgia |
1001–1200 | =170 | Mississippi State University | Starkville | Mississippi |
1001–1200 | =170 | Morgan State University | Baltimore | Maryland |
1001–1200 | =170 | Oakland University | Rochester | Michigan |
1001–1200 | =170 | Rowan University | Glassboro | New Jersey |
1001–1200 | =170 | San Jose State University | San Jose | California |
1001–1200 | =170 | Texas State University | San Marcos | Texas |
1201+ | =178 | University of Colorado Colorado Springs | Colorado Springs | Colorado |
1201+ | =178 | Grand Valley State University | Allendale | Michigan |
1201+ | =178 | University of North Carolina Wilmington | Wilmington | North Carolina |
1201+ | =178 | Purdue University Northwest | Hammond | Indiana |
1201+ | =178 | Western Kentucky University | Bowling Green | Kentucky |
1201+ | =178 | Western Michigan University | Kalamazoo | Michigan |
Top 10 universities in the US (THE/WSJ US College Ranking 2022)
2022 rank | 2021 rank | Institution | City | State |
1 | 1 | Harvard University | Cambridge | Massachusetts |
2 | 4 | Stanford University | Stanford | California |
3 | 2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Cambridge | Massachusetts |
4 | 3 | Yale University | New Haven | Connecticut |
5 | =5 | Duke University | Durham | North Carolina |
6 | =5 | Brown University | Providence | Rhode Island |
7 | =7 | California Institute of Technology | Pasadena | California |
8 | =7 | Princeton University | Princeton | New Jersey |
=9 | 11 | Johns Hopkins University | Baltimore | Maryland |
=9 | 10 | Northwestern University | Evanston | Illinois |