UW–Madison ranked 39th in nation by U.S. News

The University of Wisconsin–Madison was ranked 39th overall out of 438 public and private doctoral institutions and 13th among public universities in the 2025 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s best colleges rankings.

UW–Madison undergraduate programs received top 20 rankings in engineering, computer science, business, and economics, as well as in many subspecialties. The Wisconsin School of Business’s undergraduate real estate program was ranked first nationwide.

“We are proud that we deliver a high-quality education across a great  variety of disciplines, and that success continues to be recognized in these rankings,” says UW–Madison Chancellor Jennifer L. Mnookin. “That said, rankings are just one of many measures of any school’s success, including ours.”

The rankings highlight colleges that excel in such areas as reputation among peers, value, social mobility, graduation rates, faculty resources, standardized test scores and faculty research. Last year, UW was ranked 35th overall in a four-way tie and 12th among public universities in a three-way tie; five years ago, in 2019, UW–Madison was ranked 49th overall.

Each year, U.S. News ranks specific undergraduate programs and specialty areas at universities. Many of these rankings involve ties among multiple institutions. In the 2025 rankings, UW–Madison was rated among the best undergraduate programs for:

• Business, 18th overall (five-way tie) and 9th among publics. It was once again ranked first in real estate and second in insurance/risk management. Other ranked specialties include eighth in marketing; 16th (two-way tie) in accounting; 16th (three-way tie) in production/operations management; 20th in management; 24th in supply chain management/logistics; 32nd (three-way tie) in finance.
• Computer science, 16th (three-way tie) overall and ninth among public universities; ranked specialties include eighth in computer systems; ninth in programming languages; 17th in cybersecurity; 25th (five-way tie) in artificial intelligence.
• Economics, 19th (two-way tie) overall and fourth (two-way tie) among public universities.
• Engineering, 13th overall; 7th among public universities. Ranked specialties include 11th (two-way tie) in industrial/manufacturing/systems engineering; 15th in chemical engineering; 16th in computer engineering; 17th in materials engineering; 21st in environmental/environmental health engineering; 23rd (three-way tie) in mechanical engineering; 24th (two-way tie) in biomedical engineering; 25th (two-way tie) in civil engineering; 25th (three-way tie) in electrical engineering.
• Nursing, 26th (13-way tie) overall and 19th (eight-way tie) among public universities.
• Psychology, 22nd (seven-way tie) overall and eighth (four-way tie) among public universities.

Other categories UW–Madison scored well in include:

• 20th overall “Best College for Veterans” and 13th among public institutions.
• 42nd in Undergraduate Research/Creative Projects.
• 89th in Best Value Schools for the second year in a row.

To see the full rankings, click here.