US colleges with the highest graduation rate

Among the 167 major US colleges we track, the top by graduation rate are Princeton University, Harvard University, Duke University. Ranked by completion rate (graduating within 150% of normal time). Finishing matters: students who pay for college but don't graduate get the cost with little of the earnings benefit, and face higher loan-default risk.

Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard. Data as of June 2026.

Full ranking

Rank	School	State	Type	Graduation rate
#1	Princeton University	NJ	Private (nonprofit)	97.6%
#2	Harvard University	MA	Private (nonprofit)	97.6%
#3	Duke University	NC	Private (nonprofit)	96.8%
#4	University of Pennsylvania	PA	Private (nonprofit)	96.5%
#5	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	MA	Private (nonprofit)	96.4%
#6	Columbia University in the City of New York	NY	Private (nonprofit)	96.1%
#7	University of Chicago	IL	Private (nonprofit)	95.9%
#8	Yale University	CT	Private (nonprofit)	95.7%
#9	Brown University	RI	Private (nonprofit)	95.7%
#10	University of Virginia-Main Campus	VA	Public	95.6%
#11	Dartmouth College	NH	Private (nonprofit)	95.5%
#12	Cornell University	NY	Private (nonprofit)	95.4%
#13	University of Notre Dame	IN	Private (nonprofit)	95.2%
#14	Northwestern University	IL	Private (nonprofit)	95.1%
#15	Georgetown University	DC	Private (nonprofit)	94.8%
#16	Rice University	TX	Private (nonprofit)	94.6%
#17	California Institute of Technology	CA	Private (nonprofit)	94.4%
#18	Washington University in St Louis	MO	Private (nonprofit)	94.3%
#19	Carnegie Mellon University	PA	Private (nonprofit)	94.1%
#20	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus	GA	Public	94.0%
#21	Johns Hopkins University	MD	Private (nonprofit)	93.8%
#22	Williams College	MA	Private (nonprofit)	93.6%
#23	Vanderbilt University	TN	Private (nonprofit)	93.5%
#24	Tufts University	MA	Private (nonprofit)	93.5%
#25	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	MI	Public	93.2%
#26	Babson College	MA	Private (nonprofit)	93.1%
#27	Barnard College	NY	Private (nonprofit)	93.0%
#28	University of California-Berkeley	CA	Public	92.8%
#29	Wesleyan University	CT	Private (nonprofit)	92.6%
#30	University of California-Los Angeles	CA	Public	92.6%
#31	Stanford University	CA	Private (nonprofit)	91.9%
#32	Harvey Mudd College	CA	Private (nonprofit)	91.9%
#33	Villanova University	PA	Private (nonprofit)	91.9%
#34	University of Southern California	CA	Private (nonprofit)	91.8%
#35	Wellesley College	MA	Private (nonprofit)	91.5%
#36	Middlebury College	VT	Private (nonprofit)	91.4%
#37	Colgate University	NY	Private (nonprofit)	91.2%
#38	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	NC	Public	91.2%
#39	University of Florida	FL	Public	91.1%
#40	Emory University	GA	Private (nonprofit)	91.1%
#41	Vassar College	NY	Private (nonprofit)	91.1%
#42	Boston College	MA	Private (nonprofit)	90.8%
#43	Hamilton College	NY	Private (nonprofit)	90.6%
#44	Northeastern University	MA	Private (nonprofit)	90.5%
#45	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	MA	Private (nonprofit)	89.7%
#46	University of Georgia	GA	Public	89.7%
#47	Carleton College	MN	Private (nonprofit)	89.6%
#48	University of Wisconsin-Madison	WI	Public	89.5%
#49	Wake Forest University	NC	Private (nonprofit)	89.1%
#50	Smith College	MA	Private (nonprofit)	89.0%
#51	The University of Texas at Austin	TX	Public	88.9%
#52	Colby College	ME	Private (nonprofit)	88.8%
#53	Rhode Island School of Design	RI	Private (nonprofit)	88.8%
#54	Boston University	MA	Private (nonprofit)	88.7%
#55	University of Maryland-College Park	MD	Public	88.6%
#56	Santa Clara University	CA	Private (nonprofit)	87.9%
#57	Lehigh University	PA	Private (nonprofit)	87.9%
#58	Ohio State University-Main Campus	OH	Public	87.7%
#59	Colorado College	CO	Private (nonprofit)	87.7%
#60	New York University	NY	Private (nonprofit)	87.6%
#61	College of the Holy Cross	MA	Private (nonprofit)	87.3%
#62	Macalester College	MN	Private (nonprofit)	87.1%
#63	Stevens Institute of Technology	NJ	Private (nonprofit)	86.9%
#64	University of California-Irvine	CA	Public	86.9%
#65	Bentley University	MA	Private (nonprofit)	86.8%
#66	Clemson University	SC	Public	86.6%
#67	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo	CA	Public	86.4%
#68	Bucknell University	PA	Private (nonprofit)	86.3%
#69	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	VA	Public	86.2%
#70	Tulane University of Louisiana	LA	Private (nonprofit)	86.1%
#71	Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus	PA	Public	86.1%
#72	University of California-San Diego	CA	Public	86.1%
#73	University of California-Davis	CA	Public	85.7%
#74	Florida State University	FL	Public	85.6%
#75	University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus	PA	Public	85.5%
#76	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities	MN	Public	85.3%
#77	University of Richmond	VA	Private (nonprofit)	85.2%
#78	University of Washington-Seattle Campus	WA	Public	85.2%
#79	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	IL	Public	85.1%
#80	North Carolina State University at Raleigh	NC	Public	84.8%
#81	Trinity University	TX	Private (nonprofit)	84.0%
#82	Texas A&M University-College Station	TX	Public	83.9%
#83	University of Miami	FL	Private (nonprofit)	83.7%
#84	Rutgers University-New Brunswick	NJ	Public	83.6%
#85	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	NY	Private (nonprofit)	83.6%
#86	University of Connecticut	CT	Public	83.3%
#87	University of Massachusetts-Amherst	MA	Public	83.3%
#88	Purdue University-Main Campus	IN	Public	83.1%
#89	University of California-Santa Barbara	CA	Public	83.0%
#90	Skidmore College	NY	Private (nonprofit)	82.6%
#91	Auburn University	AL	Public	82.0%
#92	Colorado School of Mines	CO	Public	81.7%
#93	Brigham Young University	UT	Private (nonprofit)	81.0%
#94	Michigan State University	MI	Public	80.7%
#95	University of Delaware	DE	Public	80.5%
#96	Indiana University-Bloomington	IN	Public	80.2%
#97	James Madison University	VA	Public	79.7%
#98	Denison University	OH	Private (nonprofit)	78.9%
#99	University of South Carolina-Columbia	SC	Public	78.8%
#100	Spelman College	GA	Private (nonprofit)	78.5%
#101	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology	IN	Private (nonprofit)	78.2%
#102	University of Central Florida	FL	Public	78.0%
#103	University of South Florida	FL	Public	76.8%
#104	San Diego State University	CA	Public	76.4%
#105	University of California-Riverside	CA	Public	76.0%
#106	The University of Texas at Dallas	TX	Public	75.7%
#107	Stony Brook University	NY	Public	75.6%
#108	University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus	OK	Public	75.3%
#109	Iowa State University	IA	Public	75.3%
#110	University at Buffalo	NY	Public	75.2%
#111	University of California-Santa Cruz	CA	Public	75.1%
#112	Temple University	PA	Public	75.0%
#113	University of Cincinnati-Main Campus	OH	Public	75.0%
#114	University of Missouri-Columbia	MO	Public	74.9%
#115	University of Iowa	IA	Public	74.6%
#116	Appalachian State University	NC	Public	74.5%
#117	Florida International University	FL	Public	74.4%
#118	University of Colorado Boulder	CO	Public	74.2%
#119	The University of Tennessee-Knoxville	TN	Public	73.9%
#120	The University of Alabama	AL	Public	73.4%
#121	University of Mississippi	MS	Public	71.7%
#122	University of Oregon	OR	Public	71.7%
#123	University of Kentucky	KY	Public	71.4%
#124	University of Arkansas	AR	Public	70.5%
#125	California State University-Fullerton	CA	Public	70.2%
#126	Oregon State University	OR	Public	70.1%
#127	San Jose State University	CA	Public	69.2%
#128	University of North Carolina at Charlotte	NC	Public	69.0%
#129	California State University-Long Beach	CA	Public	68.9%
#130	Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College	LA	Public	68.8%
#131	University of Kansas	KS	Public	68.8%
#132	Texas Tech University	TX	Public	68.7%
#133	Oklahoma State University-Main Campus	OK	Public	68.2%
#134	Arizona State University Campus Immersion	AZ	Public	68.0%
#135	George Mason University	VA	Public	67.8%
#136	University of Arizona	AZ	Public	67.5%
#137	Grand Valley State University	MI	Public	67.0%
#138	University of Nebraska-Lincoln	NE	Public	67.0%
#139	Mississippi State University	MS	Public	66.7%
#140	Colorado State University-Fort Collins	CO	Public	66.5%
#141	Liberty University	VA	Private (nonprofit)	65.3%
#142	University of Utah	UT	Public	65.0%
#143	Montclair State University	NJ	Public	64.7%
#144	West Virginia University	WV	Public	64.7%
#145	University of Houston	TX	Public	64.6%
#146	Illinois State University	IL	Public	64.5%
#147	Kent State University at Kent	OH	Public	63.7%
#148	Virginia Commonwealth University	VA	Public	63.2%
#149	East Carolina University	NC	Public	62.6%
#150	University of Illinois Chicago	IL	Public	61.6%
#151	Northern Arizona University	AZ	Public	61.3%
#152	University of North Texas	TX	Public	60.7%
#153	Washington State University	WA	Public	60.5%
#154	Boise State University	ID	Public	60.2%
#155	Utah State University	UT	Public	59.1%
#156	Texas State University	TX	Public	55.3%
#157	Sam Houston State University	TX	Public	54.8%
#158	University of New Mexico-Main Campus	NM	Public	54.7%
#159	Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University	FL	Public	53.3%
#160	Georgia State University	GA	Public	53.1%
#161	The University of Texas at San Antonio	TX	Public	52.6%
#162	Kennesaw State University	GA	Public	52.2%
#163	University of Nevada-Las Vegas	NV	Public	50.5%
#164	San Francisco State University	CA	Public	50.4%
#165	Old Dominion University	VA	Public	46.3%
#166	Utah Valley University	UT	Public	45.1%
#167	Grand Canyon University	AZ	Private (nonprofit)	43.5%

Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard. Data as of June 2026.

Showing all 167 schools with a reported value. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard (Public domain (U.S. Government work)), snapshot June 2026. derived figures are explained on the methodology page. Estimates — verify before relying on them.

Frequently asked questions

What does the graduation rate measure?

It is the share of students who complete their degree within 150% of the program's normal length (e.g. within six years for a four-year degree), as reported to the College Scorecard.

Why does graduation rate matter for cost?

Not finishing is the worst financial outcome: you pay tuition and often take loans, but miss most of the earnings premium a completed degree brings. A high graduation rate lowers that risk.

Other rankings

Last updated: 2026-06-20