Graduate employability: top universities in the United States ranked by employers 2027

US universities producing the most employable graduates have been ranked by companies around the world in the Global Employability University Ranking 2027. These are the top US universities for preparing graduates for their careers.

October 28 2026

A total of 55 US universities appear in the Global Employability University Ranking 2027, designed by the HR consultancy Emerging and published exclusively by Times Higher Education. The ranking reveals which universities recruiters at top companies think are best at preparing students for the workplace.

The top 10 includes many of the usual suspects – Harvard University, California Institute of Technology and Stanford University – but also Carnegie Mellon University, which is not always found at the top of university rankings.

Tuition fees at US colleges vary widely, particularly for international students, so value for money arguably depends on both the cost of tuition and the likelihood that graduates will succeed in their future careers.

A number of state universities in the US, such as the University of California, Berkeley, which generally have lower tuition fees, do particularly well when evaluated by employers.

Top universities in the world for employability
Top universities in the UK for employability
Top universities in Canada for employability
Top universities in Australia for employability
Top universities in the Netherlands for employability
Top universities in France for employability
Top universities in Germany for employability

Top three universities in the US for graduate employability

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have helped develop some of today’s most innovative technologies, such as 3D printing and bionic prostheses.

Among MIT’s alumni are 89 Nobel laureates, 58 National Medal of Science winners and 48 MacArthur fellows.

2. Stanford University

Stanford University is located in Stanford, California, near the world-renowned Silicon Valley.

In total, companies founded by Stanford affiliates and alumni generate more than $2.7 trillion (£21.5 trillion) in annual revenues, which would be the 10th-largest economy in the world. These firms include Google, Nike, Netflix, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, Instagram and Charles Schwab.

Stanford alumni have also founded non-profit organisations such as Kiva and SIRUM.

3. Harvard University

Harvard is not only one of the most prestigious universities in the world, it is also the top choice for recruiters, for many reasons.

Students are taught by world-leading academics and can take advantage of events on campus outside the core curriculum, on topics ranging from Chilean film to the psychology of prosperity.

Alumni are supplied with a HarvardKey, which gives them access to an alumni directory to help them build a strong professional network.

Top universities in the United States for graduate employability 2027

Click each institution to view its full World University Rankings 2027 results.

US Employability Rank 2027	Graduate Employability Rank 2027	Graduate Employability Rank 2026	University	State
1	1	1	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Massachusetts
2	2	2	Stanford University	California
3	5	7	Harvard University	Massachusetts
4	6	3	California Institute of Technology	California
5	7	14	Princeton University	New Jersey
6	14	18	Columbia University	New York
7	15	6	University of California, Berkeley	California
8	16	22	Yale University	Connecticut
9	20	15	Carnegie Mellon University	Pennsylvania
10	21	29	The University of Chicago	Illinois
11	23	32	Duke University	North Carolina
12	26	28	New York University	New York
13	34	34	Boston University	Massachusetts
14	35	37	Arizona State University (Tempe)	Arizona
15	48	53	Dartmouth College	New Hampshire
16	49	48	Georgia Institute of Technology	Georgia
17	51	52	Johns Hopkins University	Maryland
18	53	64	University of Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania
19	61	66	Cornell University	New York
20	64	69	Brown University	Rhode Island
21	71	81	Northwestern University	Illinois
22	75	79	University of California, Los Angeles	California
23	87	93	University of Texas at Austin	Texas
24	104	91	Florida Institute of Technology	Florida
25	106	112	Northeastern University	Illinois
26	108	104	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	Michigan
27	113	124	Texas A&M University	Texas
28	116	95	Rice University	Texas
29	135	137	University of California, San Diego	California
30	136	146	University of Southern California	California
31	139	143	Boston College	Massachusetts
32	141	149	Babson College	Massachusetts
33	143	151	Michigan State University	Michigan
34	145	136	Tufts University	Massachusetts
35	148	152	Georgetown University	Washington DC
36	162	161	Emory University	Georgia
37	166	175	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	North Carolina
38	167	177	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	Illinois
39	173	179	Purdue University West Lafayette	Indiana
40	179	180	University of Florida	Florida
41	181	183	University of California, San Francisco	California
42	182	185	Vanderbilt University	Tennessee
43	187	192	Case Western Reserve University	Ohio
44	190	187	Penn State (Main campus)	Pennsylvania
45	193	197	George Washington University	Washington DC
46	199	219	University of Washington	Washington
47	201	203	Rutgers University – New Brunswick	New Jersey
48	210	214	Washington University in Saint Louis	Washington
49	215	0	Brigham Young University	Utah
50	226	229	University of Notre Dame	Indiana
51	227	230	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	New Jersey
52	243	247	New Jersey Institute of Technology	New Jersey
53	248	235	Brandeis University	Massachusetts
54	283	0	California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo	California
55	284	0	Illinois Institute of Technology	Illinois