A ranking of U.S. colleges placed two North Carolina schools in the top 25 for 2027.
The new study from WalletHub, published Oct. 12, compared almost 740 U.S. colleges and universities to determine top-performing schools at the lowest possible costs to undergraduates. The study grouped data into seven categories, including student selectivity; cost and financing; faculty resources; campus safety; campus experience; education outcomes; and career outcomes.
WalletHub is a personal finance company that provides consumers with tools to improve credit scores, compare credit card offers and personal loans and gain a “holistic picture” of their financial health. The company also conducts studies, including recent studies covered by the Citizen Times that measured how gambling-addicted the state was, ranked the 50 states from most to least stressed, chose the best states for drivers and more.
Here’s what WalletHub found on North Carolina schools and more.
Best North Carolina colleges in 2027
Duke University in Durham and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill were both included in the top 25 schools in the U.S. for 2027, ranking No. 14 and No. 24, respectively.
With a total score of 76.29 out of 100 possible points, Duke earned the following rankings in each category graded:
- Student selectivity – No. 13 of 673
- Cost and financing – No. 721 of 738
- Faculty resources – No. 8 of 737
- Campus safety – No. 452 of 736
- Campus experience – No. 69 of 737
- Education outcomes – No. 1 of 734
- Career outcomes – No. 9 of 737
With a total score of 75.01, UNC earned the following rankings:
- Student selectivity – No. 54 of 673
- Cost and financing – No. 267 of 738
- Faculty resources – No. 433 of 737
- Campus safety – No. 426 of 736
- Campus experience – No. 565 of 737
- Education outcomes – No. 40 of 734
- Career outcomes – No. 107 of 737
North Carolina college rankings 2026
The top 10 ranked colleges in North Carolina, according to the WalletHub study, by their overall ranking among the 500 included schools, are:
- No. 14 – Duke University
- No. 24 – University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
- No. 41 – Davidson College
- No. 105 – Wake Forest University
- No. 118 – North Carolina State University
- No. 297 – Meredith College NC
- No. 319 – University of North Carolina
- No. 321 – Queens University of Charlotte
- No. 410 – Elon University
- No. 465 – University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Best colleges in the U.S. for 2027
The 10 top-ranked colleges in the U.S. for 2027 include:
- No. 1 – Princeton University, New Jersey
- No. 2 – Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts
- No. 3 – Yale University, Connecticut
- No. 4 – California Institute of Technology, California
- No. 5 – Harvard University, Massachusetts
- No. 6 – Northwestern University, Illinois
- No. 7 – University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania
- No. 8 – Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania
- No. 9 – Stanford University, California
- No. 10 -Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia
Reporting by Iris Seaton, Asheville Citizen Times / Asheville Citizen Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
