The University of California, Irvine has been ranked ninth among the nation’s public universities – and 33rd overall – on U.S. News & World Report’s 2024-25 list of “Best Colleges,” released today. This is the 10th consecutive year in which UC Irvine has placed in the top 10.

The U.S. News & World Report rankings – now in their 40th year – assess the country’s bachelor’s degree-granting institutions on more than a dozen measures of academic quality.

“We are all very pleased that U.S. News & World Report has once again recognized the distinguished excellence of our teaching, research and public service,” said UC Irvine Chancellor Howard Gillman. “Being in the top 10 is especially gratifying in light of our commitment to inclusive excellence and educating our state’s best and most talented students regardless of their financial circumstances.”

The overall ranking of 33rd is the highest ever for UC Irvine, matching its placement in 2019 and last year.

In addition, UC Irvine once again ranked No. 9 overall in the subcategory of social mobility, which appraises institutions that enroll and graduate large proportions of students awarded federal Pell Grants – given to undergraduates who display exceptional financial need. Historically, the campus is among the best in the U.S. for the graduation rate of its Pell Grant recipients. In 2024, 3,736 earned bachelor’s degrees.

UC Irvine was also lauded for supporting its students who served in the military, coming in 16th nationally for best college for veterans.

U.S. News & World Report also ranked several undergraduate programs in the School of Social Sciences in the nation’s top 15 among public universities:

• Economics, 14th among publics, 43rd overall

• Psychology, 8th among publics, 22nd overall (program is administered by both the Department of Cognitive Sciences in Social Sciences and the Department of Psychological Science in Social Ecology)

Available online at www.usnews.com/colleges, these results come on the heels of UC Irvine achieving remarkable rankings from other respected journals. The home of the Anteater has been recognized as the fifth-best-value public university by The Princeton Review and has received the maximum of five stars from Money magazine.

And that’s not all. UC Irvine has been ranked 10th among public universities and 39th overall by Forbes. The Wall Street Journal recently put UC Irvine at 31st overall in its nationwide survey – and 13th among public universities. It is also celebrated by Niche as the top Hispanic-Serving Institution in the country, the eighth-best public university overall, and the No. 4 college campus in America.

-edited from all-campus version by Tom Vasich, UCI