Notre Dame tops Indiana schools for performance and value
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Notre Dame is consistently the top-ranked school in the state. Photo: Michael Hickey/Getty Images
The University of Notre Dame is still Indiana's best university — and its best value, according to U.S. News & World Report's 2026-27 Best Colleges rankings released Tuesday.
Why it matters: Changes to the influential annual rankings seek to answer a question on the minds of many American families — is college worth it?
The big picture: U.S. News says it made significant methodology changes this year "to address growing public concerns regarding higher education affordability and long-term value."
- The rankings introduced a new Earnings by Major ranking factor, which
evaluates graduate earnings four years post-graduation using data from the U.S. Department of Education.
What they're saying: "With families increasingly scrutinizing the true cost and return on investment of a college degree, our goal is to provide clear, actionable data," said LaMont Jones, managing editor for education at U.S. News.
State of play: Notre Dame is consistently the top-ranked school in the state and the only one to regularly place among the top 20 in the nation.
- It tied for 20th among national universities this year, holding steady from last year.
- In terms of value, though, Notre Dame fares even better — 17th.
Zoom in: Purdue University dropped nine spots to No. 55 in the national rankings, but rose 25 spots to No. 57 when looking specifically at the value provided by national universities.
- And that value is even better for in-state students, a new consideration for U.S. News this year. Purdue is 14th in the nation — thanks, undoubtedly, in part to its 14-year tuition freeze.
- Indiana University's Bloomington campus remained at No. 73 in the overall national rankings and ranked 23rd on the list of best value schools for in-state students.
Zoom out: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was the top-ranked school in the nation, followed by Princeton and Harvard.
The intrigue: Because of the changes to methodology and updates to the Carnegie Classification framework, which U.S. News uses to categorize schools into national, regional, etc., the rankings shifted more than usual.
- Roughly one-fifth of previously ranked institutions shifted into new ranking categories this year.
Case in point: Butler University.
- While the small private school in Indianapolis' midtown was previously ranked best in the Midwest, it was moved into the national universities category, where it is tied for 169th.
The annual rankings also include many specific categories.
- U.S. News releases regional lists and ranks everything from the best public schools to the most innovative. It also rates individual programs, down to the best undergraduate engineering program at a school that doesn't offer a doctorate.
- Rose-Hulman has taken the top spot on that last list for the past 28 years.
Go deeper: See the full rankings online at U.S. News and World Report.