U.S. News & World Report 2026 Best Colleges rankings recognize Cal State San Bernardino for advancing the social mobility of its students and delivering one of the best value college educations in the nation.

CSUSB was listed at No. 16 nationally in the Top Performers on Social Mobility category, which focuses on colleges that promote the advancement and graduation of students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Institutions ranked high for social mobility “are more successful than others at advancing social mobility by enrolling and graduating large proportions of disadvantaged students awarded with (federal) Pell Grants,” U.S. News states. “The vast majority of these federal grants are awarded to students whose adjusted gross family incomes are under $50,000.”

Tied at No. 1 in this category were Florida International University and the University of California, Riverside. Cal State Long Beach, at No. 3, was the top California State University campus, tied with UC Merced. Other CSUs on the list’s top 100 were Cal State Fullerton (No. 6), Cal State Fresno (No. 30) and Cal State East Bay (No. 65).

In its Best Value-National Universities listing, CSUSB was ranked No. 45, making it the highest-ranked California public university. Cal State Fresno (No. 52) was the only other CSU in the top 100 of this list.

U.S. News said that this category was based on calculations that consider “a school's academic quality, as indicated by its 2026 U.S. News Best Colleges ranking, and the 2024-2025 net cost of attendance for an out-of-state student who received the average level of need-based financial aid. The higher the quality of the program and the lower the cost, the better the deal. Only schools ranked in or near the top half of their categories are included because U.S. News considers the most significant values to be among colleges that are above average academically.”

Princeton University was at the top of this list at No. 1, with the California Institute of Technology (No. 6) and Stanford University (No. 10) in the top 10. The University of the Pacific, like Cal Tech, a private institution, was listed at No. 48. Listed in the top 100 after CSUSB were the University of San Diego, No. 49; the University of Southern California, No. 64; and the University of San Francisco, No. 90.

CSUSB was included in the ranking service’s Top Public Schools, listed at No. 98. UC Berkeley was the top public university on this list at No. 1, while UC Riverside was No. 36. San Diego State (No. 57) was the top CSU on the list, followed by Cal State Long Beach (No. 63) and Cal State Fullerton (No. 98). Cal State Fresno (No. 100) rounded out the top 100.

The university was also listed in the following categories: National Universities, Best Undergraduate Engineering programs (at institutions where a doctorate is not offered), and nursing.

U.S. News & World Report Best College rankings are considered one of the most influential and anticipated recognitions for colleges and universities that provide a full range of undergraduate and graduate degree programs throughout the United States.

The rankings are determined on a number of factors that include: graduation and retention rates, social mobility, graduation rate performance, undergraduate academic reputation, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources for students, the average alumni giving rate, and graduate indebtedness.