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See a listing of California colleges and universities at U.S. News Best Colleges. Admissions information, tuition, rankings and more for colleges in California.
Explore the 2025 Best Colleges in California ranking. Compare top California colleges and universities.
1. Stanford University. Stanford, California. 74% 4-Year Graduation Rate. $124,080 Average Early-Career Earnings. Stanford University tops this year’s ranking as the best school in California for overall quality.
University of California - Berkeley tops this year’s ranking as the best school for bachelor’s degrees in California for overall quality. Located in Berkeley, California, the large public school awarded 10,103 diplomas to qualifed bachelor’s degree students in 2021-2022.
2 kwi 2024 · Best Colleges in California. Here’s a quick preview of the first ten institutions that made our list. Detailed profiles and stats can be found when you scroll below. 1) Caltech. 2) Stanford University. 3) UCLA. 4) Pomona College. 5) Claremont McKenna College. 6) Harvey Mudd College. 7) USC. 8) UC Berkeley. 9) UC Santa Barbara. 10) UC San Diego
Ranking of best places to go to college in California. Compare the best cities for college students and top college towns.
Leading the list for 2024 as the best overall college in California is Stanford University. The top rated public state college is University of California Los Angeles . Learn how the Best Colleges rankings are calculated on our ranking methodology page .