Best Colleges In Washington: 2020 U.S. News Rankings

SEATTLE, WA — The University of Washington again is the highest-ranked national university on U.S. News & World Report’s 2020 best colleges list. A total of five colleges were featured on the national list with UW coming in at No. 66 nationwide, and Whitman College in Walla Walla was ranked the 46th best liberal arts college in the nation.

The 2020 rankings include the overall best national universities rankings, as well as rankings for the best liberal-arts colleges, the top public schools, the best value schools and more.

A total of 1,400 colleges are included in the 2020 rankings. The publication says that 90 percent of those reading the best-colleges list are looking for schools outside the top 10. (You can read the full methodology here)

“For more than three decades, we’ve collected and analyzed data on thousands of colleges and
universities across the country and helped put schools on the map,” Kim Castro, editor and chief content officer of U.S. News, said in a news release. “We’ve found the best institutions to be ones committed to academically and financially supporting their students through graduation. They draw in high-quality professors and set students up for postgraduate success.”

For the 2020 rankings, U.S. News made some changes to help prospective students with their college search. A new set of rankings looks at the top performers in social mobility, evaluating which schools best serve underrepresented students. The 2020 methodology also factors in which schools support first-generation college students through graduation.

The University of Washington has been the top school in Washington on the US News annual list for two years running. But the Seattle school dropped in the rankings nationwide this year from the No. 59 spot on last year's list.

Here are the Washington schools that made the national university rankings (nationwide rank in parentheses):

University of Washington (62)
Gonzaga University (79)
Seattle University (139)
Washington State University (166)
Seattle Pacific University (192)

Here are the Washington schools that made the liberal arts colleges rankings:

Whitman College (46)
University of Puget Sound (89)

A number of local schools also made the list of best regional schools in just western states:

Whitworth University (3)
Western Washington University (17)
Pacific Lutheran University (20)
Saint Martin's University (27)
Evergreen State College (37)
Walla Walla University (49)
Central Washington University (55)
Northwest University (55)
Eastern Washington University (62)

Overall, Princeton University once again stayed in the No.1 spot. Williams College was the top liberal-arts college and the University of California-Los Angeles was the No.1 public school.

Below are the top 5 national universities:

1. Princeton University (NJ)
2. Harvard University (MA)
3. Columbia University (NY) (tie)
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (tie)
3. Yale University (CT) (tie)

Below are the top 3 liberal arts colleges:

1. Williams College (MA)
2. Amherst College (MA)
3. Swarthmore College (PA) (tie)
3. Wellesley College (MA) (tie)

Below are the top 3 public universities:

1. University of California—Los Angeles
2. University of California—Berkeley
3. University of Michigan—Ann Arbor