The USA is a superpower of education with many of the best universities in the world. However, most of the very highest ranked universities in the country are private. Check out this article covering the best public universities in the USA…
In the US, universities are divided into private and public. Private ones receive most of their funding from endowments and tuition, while public universities also get funding from the government. This means public universities tend to be cheaper to attend, especially for in-state students. Public universities also typically offer a larger variety of degree programs.
If you’re interested to know where you can get an excellent education without paying those private fees, continue reading for the best public universities in the US, based on the latest edition of the QS World University Rankings.
Want to know about the best private institutions, too? We also have an article on the best US universities.
1. University of California, Berkeley
Location: Berkeley, California
Global university rank: 12th
The best public university in the US, and the 12th best university in the world overall, the University of California, Berkeley (also known as UC Berkeley or simply Cal) is located in the San Francisco Bay Area, in the small town of Berkeley.
Established in 1868, it was the founding campus of the vast University of California system. Public universities typically offer more degree programs and have a higher number of students than private universities, and Cal is no exception: it offers more than 350 different degree programs to its 45,000 students.
Berkeley has more Nobel Prize winners, Turing Award winners and Fields Medalists than any other public university in the US. It’s also affiliated with 34 Pulitzer Prizes and 19 Academy Awards. UCB’s alumni have also won a total of 223 medals in the Olympic Games, ranking it fourth in the US universities’ medal table.
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2. University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Location: Los Angeles, California
Global university rank: 42nd
Another member of the University of California system, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) can trace its roots to the founding of the Los Angeles branch of the California State Normal School in 1881.
It became a part of the University of California system in 1919 and today offers more than 330 different degree programs to almost 50,000 students. UCLA is considered a Public Ivy, a public university considered to offer a college experience at the level of the private Ivy League schools.
In addition to great education, UCLA is also a powerhouse in sports. The university’s sports teams have won more NCAA national championships than any other public university, and UCLA alumni have won a total of 270 Olympic medals. With a campus in Los Angeles, it’s hard to find a cooler place to study.
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3. University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Global university rank: 44th
Having been established in 1817, the University of Michigan is by far the oldest university on this list, having been founded 20 years before the state of Michigan was admitted to the Union. The best public university outside California, today UMich offers around 250 degree programs to more than 50,000 students.
In the latest QS subject rankings, the University of Michigan was ranked as having one of the best dentistry programs in the world. The university’s alumni include eight heads of state, including former US president Gerald Ford, 41 US governors and 26 billionaires. People associated with Michigan have also won nine Nobel Prizes. Famous alumni also include Tom Brady, Madonna and Michael Phelps.
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4. University of Texas at Austin
Location: Austin, Texas
Global university rank: 66th
The University of Texas at Austin is the flagship of the University of Texas system. Another large public university, it has over 50,000 students. It’s also a major centre for academic research, and people affiliated with the university have won 13 Nobel Prizes, 4 Pulitzer Prices, 3 Turing Awards and 2 Fields Medals.
The student body includes students from all 50 states as well as foreign students from about 120 countries around the world. Famous alumni include astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, current governor of Texas Greg Abbott, and actors Owen Wilson and Matthew McConaughey.
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5. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Location: The twin cities of Urbana and Champaign, Illinois
Global university rank: 69th
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (usually just the University of Illinois or UIUC for short) is the largest university on this list by enrolment, with about 56,000 students at a single campus. It’s classified in the highest R1 rank as having “very high research activity” by the Carnegie Classification and is home to the fastest supercomputer on a university campus. U of I alumni have founded or co-founded companies such
as YouTube, Tesla, Oracle, AMD, Firefox, Safari, Yelp!, Netscape and the National Football League (NFL), where University of Illinois alumnus George “Papa Bear” Halas is considered a co-founder.
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6. University of California, San Diego (UCSD)
Location: La Jolla, San Diego, California
Global university rank: 72nd
The newest university on this list, UC San Diego was founded only in 1960, but in just over 60 years of its existence, it has become not only one of the best public universities in the US but also one of the top universities in the whole world.
Located in the La Jolla area of San Diego, UCSD offers over 200 degree courses to over 40,000 students. It has especially well-regarded programs in the fields of Biological sciences, Pharmacy and pharmacology, and Life sciences and medicine. UC San Diego takes research very seriously and has one of the highest research and development spending of all the universities in the US.
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7. University of Washington
Location: Seattle, Washington
Global university rank: 76th
Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast, established only ten years after the city of Seattle was founded. In the latest QS World University rankings by subject, UW was a top 10 university in the world in the fields of library and information management, nursing, data science, earth and marine sciences, geology and geophysics.
It also has one of the largest library systems in the world. “U-Dub” is made even more attractive by the fact that it is located in Seattle, which since the 1980s has developed into a major technology centre, with companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Starbucks and Costco headquartered in the Seattle metropolitan area.
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8. Pennsylvania State University
Location: University Park, Pennsylvania
Global university rank: =89th
The Pennsylvania State University, or Penn State for short, is the easternmost university on this list. Penn State puts a lot of emphasis on research, and in recent years the university’s research expenditure has been over one billion dollars.
Penn State is a land-grant, sea-grant, space-grant and sun-grant university, and one of only three universities to have all four of these affiliations (the other two are Oregon State University and the University of Hawai’i).
Some of Penn State’s strongest programs are in the fields of Sports-related subjects, Earth and marine sciences, Geophysics, Geology, Mineral and mining engineering and Petroleum engineering.
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9. Purdue University
Location: West Lafayette, Indiana
Global university rank: =89th
Purdue University started life in 1874 with 39 students. Today it has grown to a huge university of more than 50,000 students and is among the best 100 universities in the whole world. It’s also a university with an international outlook, and has the ninth-largest foreign student population of any university in the US.
It’s especially known for its many very high-quality engineering programs, as well as for its Agriculture and Forestry program which is ranked among the best in the world. Purdue’s alumni include 13 Nobel Prize winners, as well as Neil Armstrong and Gene Cernan, the first and last man to walk on the Moon.
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10. Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Global university rank: 114th
As the name suggests, Georgia Tech is heavily focused on science and technology. Founded in 1885, it initially only offered degrees in mechanical engineering. Later this was expanded to civil, chemical and electrical engineering and today the university offers more than 130 different degree programs, but still today the degrees are mostly technology-focused.
Some of Georgia Tech’s strongest programs are in the fields of statistics and operational research, data science, electrical engineering, materials sciences and mechanical engineering. Georgia Tech’s most famous alumnus is most likely former US President Jimmy Carter.
Other notable alumni include Juan Carlos Varela, the former president of Panama, Nobel Prize winner Kary Mullis and former or current CEOs of companies such as Walmart, AT&T, American Express and Delta Airlines.
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Lower fees for your degree!
So that is the list of the 10 best public universities in the US. As you can see from the list, there are very good universities in every part of the country, with California being the only state with multiple universities on this list.
All these universities are also among the best 100 universities in the world, so you’ll get a very high-quality education in any one of them, without the big fees of a private institution. So all you have to do is find the university and degree program that is the right one for you and start applying. Good luck!
Once you’ve found a university you like, you’ll need to find housing. You’re in luck, because Student.com offers lots of great options for student housing in the USA, in dozens of cities across the country.
