TIME just released its first-ever America’s Best Colleges 2026–2027 ranking, and California came out swinging. Four California schools landed in the national top 10, including Stanford at No. 1, Harvey Mudd at No. 3, Caltech at No. 6, and Claremont McKenna at No. 9.
Even more interesting for Angelenos: several of the state’s strongest performers are right here in the L.A. area, putting Claremont and Pasadena alongside UCLA and USC in the national conversation.
This isn’t a typical college ranking
TIME partnered with Statista to rank 500 colleges and universities using a methodology that puts much more weight on outcomes than traditional prestige lists. Student outcomes account for 75% of the score, including graduation, earnings and return on education, while learning environment and attractiveness make up the rest.
That helps explain why some smaller, highly specialized schools performed so well. Harvey Mudd, a tiny STEM-focused college in Claremont, landed No. 3 nationally, ahead of Princeton, Harvard and Yale.
The California schools that made the top 100
California placed 15 schools in the national top 100, including:
- 🥇 No. 1 — Stanford University
- No. 3 — Harvey Mudd College
- No. 6 — California Institute of Technology
- No. 9 — Claremont McKenna College
- No. 15 — UC Berkeley
- No. 29 — Santa Clara University
- No. 32 — USC
- No. 34 — UCLA
- No. 35 — UC San Diego
- No. 38 — Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
- No. 43 — UC Santa Barbara
- No. 70 — University of La Verne
- No. 76 — Pomona College
- No. 86 — University of San Diego
- No. 90 — UC Davis
The ranking is especially notable for the four California schools in the top 10, a group that includes three institutions in the greater Los Angeles region.
L.A. has plenty to celebrate
For students looking at colleges around Los Angeles, Caltech ranked No. 6, while USC came in at No. 32 and UCLA at No. 34. Claremont also makes a surprisingly strong showing, with Harvey Mudd at No. 3, Claremont McKenna at No. 9 and Pomona at No. 76.
That gives the region a pretty unusual mix: world-famous research universities, major public institutions and tiny specialized colleges all performing strongly under the same outcomes-focused formula.
