Best colleges in the US revealed in new ranking — and four are in California

A new analysis from WalletHub ranks the best colleges and universities in the country for 2027 — and four elite California schools were right near the top of the list.

The California Institute of Technology (Cal Tech) in Pasadena was ranked the fourth-best school in the country. The highly selective school has both the lowest admission rate and student-to-teacher ratio of any school ranked.It also ranked number one in student selectivity, faculty resources, and career outcomes.

Stanford University in Palo Alto also made it into the top 10, coming in at No. 9. The Bay Area institution ranked in the top five of the lowest admission rate and highest return on investment.

Harvey Mudd College in Claremont ranked 26th on the list, tying with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cal Tech, Stanford, and Bentley University for the highest median post-attendance salary.

Pomona College edged past its neighbor to take 21st best institution overall.

Pomona has an acceptance rate of just 7%, and for the upcoming school year, 85% of enrolled students graduated in the top 10% of their high school classes, according to the study.

The good news comes as a separate analysis from the HEA Group found that an undergraduate degree in Computer Science from Pomona is one of the most lucrative degrees in the country, with graduates from the program earning a median salary of $217,051.

The average annual cost to attend Pomona is around $39,000. Overall, the school’s graduates earn an average of around $78,000 per year, according to the study.

Other California’s schools also excelled in return on investment, or ROI. Harvey Mudd College ranked number one, while Cal Tech ranked third and Stanford ranked fourth.

WalletHub defines the “best” schools as the top-performing schools at the lowest possible cost to students. To determine their ranking, the company compared nearly 740 higher-education institutions in the U.S. across 30 measures, and grouped them into seven categories, including student selectivity, cost, and career outcomes.

“In general, universities tend to rank higher than colleges due to their inclusion of graduate-level programs, greater on-campus opportunities and higher earnings for students post-graduation. In fact, the top 10 places for higher education in the U.S. are all universities,” said Chip Lupo, an analyst with WalletHub.

“There are still tons of high-ranking colleges, though, which offer their own advantages like smaller class sizes, more personalized learning and often safer campuses.”

The analysis used data from the National Center for Education Statistics, Council for Community and Economic Research, U.S. Department of Education, COLLEGEdata and PayScale.

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