Which college is the best in Ohio? You could look to the latest U.S. News & World Report 2026 college rankings as one way to find out. But some question the list’s validity.
Critics say the list wrongly values prestige more than social mobility. All the while, students and parents often lean on the rankings to help determine what college is right for them, and universities tout the annual recognition as a potential selling point.
U.S. News & World Report published its annual college rankings on Sept. 23, ranking more than 1,500 four-year colleges and universities nationwide in categories like geographic region, academic major and the best bang for your buck.
To see rankings for Greater Cincinnati and Ohio colleges and universities, scroll to the bottom of this story.
The for-profit magazine’s annual rankings have been the target of backlash for years. Critics say the rankings, which began in 1983 and have long been considered the gold standard, are biased toward selective private universities, are too easily manipulated by the schools themselves and fail to capture the breadth of a school’s offerings.
More recently, several elite universities publicly stepped away from U.S. News & World Report’s rankings. Columbia University, one of the few undergraduate schools to abstain, said in 2023 that concern about the rankings’ “outsized influence” in the undergraduate admissions process was a major factor in their decision.
U.S. News & World Report adjusted its methodology for ranking schools over the last couple of years, increasing the weight of a schools’ success in graduating students from different backgrounds, and eliminating factors like alumni giving, class size and high school standing.
What factors determine a school’s ranking?
The 2026 rankings use 17 factors, all weighted slightly differently, to determine this year’s lists. The factors are the same used in last year’s rankings, though a few were calculated differently this year, U.S. News & World Report said.
The national universities list is the main feature of the annual rankings, in which the following factors carry the most weight:
These factors join 10 others in determining a school’s overall ranking.
This data is missing from the 2026 rankings
This year, the rankings will “reflect greater stability” than recent editions, U.S. News & World Report said. That’s in part because the College Scorecard – a U.S. Department of Education dashboard that provides data to help students and families compare colleges and universities – did not update its institutional graduate earnings and debt data in time for the annual analysis.
“As a result, we will reuse the same data from the previous edition for the 10% of our formula that these factors represent in total,” U.S. News & World Report announced. “We anticipate future updates to this data, especially with recent legislative changes and our ongoing communication with the College Scorecard.”
With so much tumult across the higher education sector over the last year, some things don’t change. Princeton University again claimed the No. 1 spot among national universities, followed by M.I.T in second, and Harvard in third.
Where Greater Cincinnati schools rank according to U.S. News & World Report
A number of schools in the Cincinnati area and around Ohio landed a spot on one of U.S. News and World Report’s lists, including best national universities, best national liberal arts colleges, best historically Black colleges and universities, and best regional universities in the Midwest.
Here’s where Greater Cincinnati’s colleges fall in this year’s rankings:
UC fell 6 points from its ranking last year while Miami also saw a drop, from No. 136 last year to No. 143 this year.
Meanwhile, Xavier saw improvement, moving up one rank this year to reach No. 208. NKU also improved, earning the No. 384 rank among all national universities after sitting at the lowest No. 392-434 range last year.
How did Ohio schools rank according to U.S. News & World Report?
Among Ohio’s national universities, Ohio State University found itself once again on the top 50 best national universities.
Ohio State landed at the 41st slot, followed closely by two universities tied for No. 42: Boston University and Rutgers University.
Ohio’s regional colleges and universities also had a good showing on their respective lists. Ohio Northern University ranked No. 1 for best regional college in the Midwest, and John Carroll University tied with the Milwaukee School of Engineering for the Midwest’s No. 2 best regional university.
Here’s how other Ohio colleges and universities ranked this year:
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: UC, Miami University drop in U.S. News & World Report rankings. See the full list
Reporting by Grace Tucker and Sheridan Hendrix, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
