Top universities in California

The University of California, Santa Barbara rises an incredible 32 positions this year to rank 43rd in the USA. It is also the eighth best university in the state of California and is the best school in the US for diversity and internationalisation. 

UCSB is a leading research institution with a strong focus on liberal arts. It aims to help students develop independent thought, critical reasoning and creativity. UCSB has been consistently ranked amongst the greenest public universities and the university places an emphasis the importance of sustainability.  

In seventh place, we have the University of California, Davis (UCD), ranking 34th in the USA this year after dropping six positions in the index. The school has around 37,580 students and a student to faculty ratio of 20:1. Students love cycling around UCD’s campus – every day there are over 22,000 bikes on campus.  

Research is a big part of UCD, with the university receiving US$941 million (around £666 million) in research funding in 2019-20. It isn’t just faculty members and graduate students producing research, however – around 50 percent of undergraduate students conduct research and creative projects beyond the classroom.  

The University of California, San Diego is the sixth best school in California this year, placing 27th in the USA. UCSD earns its highest score in the diversity and internationalisation indicator, placing third in the USA.  
 
Founded in 1960, UCSD is a public research university which aims to educate the next generation of global leaders to drive innovation, fuel economic growth and make the world a better place.  

Despite falling two places in the USA rankings this year, California Institute of Technology (Caltech) performs well, placing 21st in the USA and fifth in California.  Based in Pasadena, close to Los Angeles, Caltech is an ideal study destination for anyone interested in science and engineering.  

Although Stanford is the best university overall, Caltech is the best school for learning experience, ranking joint first in the US. Caltech has a 3 to 1 student faculty ratio, and the school is associated with 76 Nobel laureates.  

In fourth place we have the University of Southern California (USC), rising one place to rank joint 14th in the USA this year. The university performs particularly well in the learning experience indicator, placing eighth in the US.  

USC is one of the world’s leading private research universities and a global centre for arts, technology and international business. The school has a total of 19,500 undergraduate students and 26,500 graduate students. Its diverse curriculum provides opportunities for interdisciplinary study and collaborations with leading researchers.  

Up one place to rank fifth in the USA and third in California is UCLA. UCLA earns a high score in the research indicator, a reflection of the high quality of research output at the school.  

UCLA describes itself as a truly international university, with students coming from nearly 90 countries to attend the school. It earns a high score in the diversity and internationalisation indicator, ranking in joint third in the USA.  

The University of California, Berkeley is the highest ranked public university in the USA, the second best in California and the fourth best school in the country. Included amongst its faculty, alumni and researchers are 14 Nobel Prize winners, 13 faculty MacArthur Fellows, two Turing Award winners and three Pulitzer Prize winners. 

The public University of California system has 10 campuses, many of which are included in our ranking above. UCB benefits from a stronger reputation with academics and employers around the world than any of the other public institutions in the state. It also produces more research and hires more international faculty members.  

As the second-best university in the world, Stanford University is heads and shoulders above the other universities in the state. Located in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley , Stanford has produced so many future business leaders that it’s been nicknamed the ‘billionaire factory’.  

The school earns particularly high scores in the research and employability indicators, ranking second in the US for both.