It’s not an easy decision to choose a college or university, but if you’re looking to stay in New York City, U.S. News & World Report recently released its 2025 Best Colleges guide to help students make an informed choice.
U.S. News ranked nearly 1,500 four-year bachelor’s degree-granting institutions in the United States using 17 ranking factors, such as graduation rates, borrower debt, standardized tests, student-faculty ration, financial resources for students, 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 state — the most of any state in the United States. 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. It means many of the top colleges are located in New York City, throughout the five boroughs.
We analyzed the guide to find the top 25 colleges ranked in New York City, according to the U.S. News & World Report’s 2025 Best Colleges.
25 – Berkeley College
New York, N.Y.
Ranked 38th in Regional Colleges North (tie)
24 – CUNY Lehman College
Bronx, N.Y.
Ranked 31st in Regional Universities North (tie)
23 – CUNY-Hunter College
New York, N.Y.
Ranked 27th in Regional Universities North (tie)
22 – Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology
Queens, N.Y.
Ranked 23rd in Regional Colleges North
21 – Manhattan University
New York, N.Y.
Ranked 22nd in Regional Universities North (tie)
20 – CUNY-John Jay College of Criminal Justice
New York, N.Y.
Ranked 22nd in Regional Universities North (tie)
19 – CUNY-New York City College of Technology
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Ranked 21st in Regional Colleges North (tie)
18 – St. Francis College
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Ranked 18th in Regional Colleges North (tie)
17 – Boricua College
New York, N.Y.
Ranked 18th in Regional Colleges North (tie)
16 – CUNY-Baruch College
New York, N.Y.
Ranked 11th in Regional Universities North
15 – University of Mount Saint Vincent
Bronx, N.Y.
Ranked 10th in Regional Colleges North (tie)
14 – Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
New York, N.Y.
Ranked 2nd in Regional Colleges North
13 – Medgar Evers College – CUNY
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Ranked 181st National Liberal Arts Colleges
12 – Marymount Manhattan College
New York, N.Y.
Ranked 178th in National Liberal Arts Colleges (tie)
11 – The King’s College
New York, N.Y.
Ranked 169th in National Liberal Arts Colleges (tie)
10 – Barnard College
New York, N.Y.
Ranked 14th in National Liberal Arts Colleges (tie)
9 – Pace University
New York, N.Y.
Ranked 266th in National Universities
8 – The New School
New York, N.Y.
Ranked 204th in National Universities
7 – Touro University
New York, N.Y.
Ranked 171st in National Universities
6 – St. John’s University
Queens, N.Y.
Ranked 152nd in National Universities
5 – CUNY-City College
New York, N.Y.
Ranked 121st in National Universities
4 – Yeshiva University
New York, N.Y.
Ranked 98th in National Universities
3 – Fordham University
New York, N.Y.
Ranked 91st in National Universities
2 – New York University
New York, N.Y.
Ranked 30th in National Universities
1 – Columbia University
New York, N.Y.
Ranked 13th in National Universities