There are many factors when it comes to choosing a college, like location, graduation rates, borrower debt, and student-faculty ratio — all key indicators used to rank colleges and universities in the recently released U.S. News & World Report 2026 Best Colleges guide.
The 41st edition based its rankings using up to 17 key factors to measure academic quality and graduate success. Some factors include graduation rates, first-year retention rates, borrower debt, peer assessment, financial resources per student, full-time faculty, faculty salaries, and more.
Each indicator is assigned a weight based on U.S. News’ researched judgment about which measures of quality matter most. The colleges are then ranked based on their overall scores.
More than 130 four-year institutions are located in New York. Dozens of colleges are within the State University of New York (SUNY) and City University of New York (CUNY) systems, two of the largest public university systems in the country.
Here are the top 20 colleges ranked in New York state, according to U.S. News and World Report’s 2026 Best Colleges.
20 – St. John Fisher University
Rochester, N.Y.
Ranked 192nd in National Universities (tie)
19 – Hofstra University
Hempstead, N.Y.
Ranked 183rd in National Universities (tie)
18 – SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Syracuse, N.Y.
Ranked 158th in National Universities (tie)
17 – St. John’s University
Queens, N.Y.
Ranked 151st in National Universities (tie)
16 – Touro University
New York, N.Y.
Ranked 143rd in National Universities (tie)
15 – Clarkson University
Potsdam, N.Y.
Ranked 143rd in National Universities (tie)
14 – CUNY-City College
New York, N.Y.
Ranked 132nd in National Universities (tie)
13 – University at Albany-SUNY
Albany, N.Y.
Ranked 127th in National Universities (tie)
12 – Fordham University
New York, N.Y.
Ranked 97th in National Universities (tie)
11 – Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester, N.Y.
Ranked 88th in National Universities (tie)
10 – Yeshiva University
New York, N.Y.
Ranked 84th in National Universities (tie)
9 – University at Buffalo-SUNY
Buffalo, N.Y.
Ranked 75th in National Universities (tie)
8 – Syracuse University
Syracuse, N.Y.
Ranked 75th in National Universities (tie)
7 – Binghamton University-SUNY
Binghamton, N.Y.
Ranked 73rd in National Universities (tie)
6 – Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, N.Y.
Ranked 64th in National Universities (tie)
5 – Stony Brook University-SUNY
Stony Brook, N.Y.
Ranked 59th in National Universities (tie)
4 – University of Rochester
Rochester, N.Y.
Ranked 46th in National Universities (tie)
3 – New York University
New York, N.Y.
Ranked 32nd in National Universities (tie)
2 – Columbia University
New York, N.Y.
Ranked 15th in National Universities (tie)
1 – Cornell University
Ithaca, N.Y.
Ranked 12th in National Universities