SSU climbs in U.S. News rankings
Sonoma State University is among the top regional universities and the top public colleges in the West in the U.S. News & World Report 2026 Best Colleges rankings released earlier today.
SSU is tied for 13th (out of 60) in the “Top Public Schools – Regional Universities (West)” category and tied for 23rd (out of 115) in the “Regional Universities (West)” category. Both rankings are higher than Sonoma State’s rankings in 2025, when the university was 25th in the regional universities category and 14th in the public schools section.
“Sonoma State is deservedly well-known for the excellence of its academic programs, a student-to-faculty ratio that promotes mentorship and collaboration, and a beautiful and supportive campus environment,” said Emily F. Cutrer, SSU Interim President. “Thus, these rankings are welcome but not surprising news.”
US News’ methodology for its Best Colleges rankings takes into account a variety of factors, including graduation rates, first-year retention rates, first-generation graduation rates, access to financial aid, student-faculty ratio, social mobility, and several other data sets.
Among the 22 California State University campuses, Sonoma State is third in two-year graduation rate for transfers, four-year graduation rate for transfers, and four-year graduation rate for first-time first-year students. SSU has a 17:1 student-to-faculty ratio, and is a federally designated Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI).
The vast majority of schools that U.S. News surveyed for the 2026 rankings continued to report data: 79% of the more than 1,700 ranked institutions returned their statistical information in the spring and summer of 2025, compared to about 78.1% last year.
The U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges ranking is an annual set of rankings of colleges and universities in the United States that was first published by U.S. News & World Report in 1983. It has been described as the most influential institutional ranking in the country.