New Report Ranks Illinois’ Top Ten Colleges & Universities

With the first “early decision” college-application deadline looming on November 1st, and tuition and room and board at a four-year college costing somewhere between $24,920 and $58,600 per year, the personal-finance company WalletHub recently released their 2026’s Best College & University Rankings report.

Although the WalletHub report covers colleges and universities across the nation, they also included state-by-state breakouts, including ranking Illinois' top colleges and universities.

Here's what they looked for to make their determinations:

To determine the top-performing schools at the lowest possible costs to undergraduates, WalletHub compared nearly 800 higher-education institutions in the U.S. across 30 key measures. The data set is grouped into seven categories, such as Student Selectivity, Cost & Financing and Career Outcomes. The metrics range from student-faculty ratio to graduation rate to post-attendance median salary.

Before We Check The Top 10 Illinois Colleges And Universities, Let's See Who The Report Chose As The Nation's Top 5 Universities And Top 5 Colleges

You'll definitely notice an East Coast pattern here, because all but two of these colleges and universities are there:

Top 5 Universities in 2026

1. Princeton University
2. Harvard University
3. Yale University
4. Dartmouth College
5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Top 5 Colleges in 2026

1. Swarthmore College
2. Wellesley College
3. Harvey Mudd College
4. Pomona College
5. Amherst College

Now, Let's Look At Illinois' Top Ten Colleges And Universities, According To The Report's Rankings

To borrow a line from a famous movie, let's round up the usual suspects. According to WalletHub.com's report, here's where Illinois' institutes of higher learning ranked:

1. Northwestern University
2. University of Chicago
3. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
4. Illinois Wesleyan University
5. Illinois Institute of Technology
6. Lake Forest College
7. Augustana College
8. Wheaton College
9. Knox College
10. Bradley University

Here are some details on the top three:

Northwestern University (1 = Best; 16 = Average; 32 = Worst):

• 2^nd – Admission Rate
• 31^st – Net Cost
• 2^nd – Student-Faculty Ratio
• 18^th – On-Campus Crime
• 2^nd – Gender & Racial Diversity
• 1^st – Graduation Rate
• 2^nd – Post-Attendance Median Salary

University of Chicago (1 = Best; 16 = Average; 32 = Worst):

• 1^st – Admission Rate
• 32^nd – Net Cost
• 1^st – Student-Faculty Ratio
• 6^th – On-Campus Crime
• 1^st – Gender & Racial Diversity
• 2^nd – Graduation Rate
• 1^st – Post-Attendance Median Salary

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (1 = Best; 16 = Average; 32 = Worst):

• 3^rd – Admission Rate
• 17^th – Net Cost
• 32^nd – Student-Faculty Ratio
• 22^nd – On-Campus Crime
• 4^th – Gender & Racial Diversity
• 4^th – Graduation Rate
• 4^th – Post-Attendance Median Salary