Best research universities by ROI

Method notes

Underlying institution file: EDsmart Data processed College Scorecard extract merged to IPEDS 2023 directory for HBCU and Carnegie fields.
ROI column matches the processed college_roi_rankings series in this site build; see College Scorecard ROI methodology.
School profile links use generated slugs; not every campus has a published profile page yet—use the Scorecard site as fallback.

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Leaderboard

Rank	Institution	State	Control	Enrollment	Primary metric	Also see
1	California Institute of Technology	CA	Private nonprofit	987	$595,878	Grad 94.4% · Net $16,075
2	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	MA	Private nonprofit	4,535	$582,508	Grad 96.4% · Net $20,111
3	Stanford University	CA	Private nonprofit	7,554	$491,118	Grad 91.9% · Net $13,807
4	Princeton University	NJ	Private nonprofit	5,709	$490,486	Grad 97.6% · Net $6,128
5	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus	GA	Public	18,785	$417,020	Grad 94.0% · Net $12,116
6	Harvard University	MA	Private nonprofit	7,601	$408,944	Grad 97.6% · Net $19,066
7	Carnegie Mellon University	PA	Private nonprofit	7,304	$381,661	Grad 94.1% · Net $31,944
8	Columbia University in the City of New York	NY	Private nonprofit	8,973	$375,459	Grad 96.1% · Net $21,590
9	University of Pennsylvania	PA	Private nonprofit	10,650	$359,630	Grad 96.5% · Net $28,699
10	University of Chicago	IL	Private nonprofit	7,569	$359,160	Grad 95.9% · Net $14,860
11	Johns Hopkins University	MD	Private nonprofit	5,693	$355,394	Grad 93.8% · Net $18,809
12	University of California-Berkeley	CA	Public	33,068	$353,372	Grad 92.8% · Net $13,481
13	Rice University	TX	Private nonprofit	4,776	$344,734	Grad 94.6% · Net $13,370
14	Yale University	CT	Private nonprofit	6,758	$344,204	Grad 95.7% · Net $23,777
15	Cornell University	NY	Private nonprofit	15,995	$338,556	Grad 95.4% · Net $28,690
16	Vanderbilt University	TN	Private nonprofit	7,208	$338,065	Grad 93.5% · Net $15,846
17	University of Notre Dame	IN	Private nonprofit	8,818	$335,073	Grad 95.2% · Net $26,780
18	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	MI	Public	34,177	$326,971	Grad 93.2% · Net $13,138
19	University of California-San Diego	CA	Public	34,948	$319,354	Grad 86.1% · Net $12,470
20	Duke University	NC	Private nonprofit	6,442	$319,092	Grad 96.8% · Net $29,612
21	Dartmouth College	NH	Private nonprofit	4,541	$318,178	Grad 95.5% · Net $29,519
22	Colorado School of Mines	CO	Public	6,155	$308,532	Grad 81.7% · Net $28,690
23	New Jersey Institute of Technology	NJ	Public	9,019	$303,564	Grad 72.8% · Net $16,504
24	Lehigh University	PA	Private nonprofit	5,898	$302,398	Grad 87.9% · Net $36,931
25	Michigan Technological University	MI	Public	5,955	$302,153	Grad 68.1% · Net $14,182
26	Brown University	RI	Private nonprofit	7,226	$301,423	Grad 95.7% · Net $25,184
27	Washington University in St Louis	MO	Private nonprofit	7,857	$300,146	Grad 94.3% · Net $21,786
28	University of Maryland-College Park	MD	Public	30,760	$298,522	Grad 88.6% · Net $15,678
29	Missouri University of Science and Technology	MO	Public	5,521	$297,370	Grad 64.4% · Net $16,298
30	University of California-Los Angeles	CA	Public	33,475	$295,349	Grad 92.6% · Net $12,548
31	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	IL	Public	36,258	$295,067	Grad 85.1% · Net $14,355
32	Stevens Institute of Technology	NJ	Private nonprofit	4,222	$293,815	Grad 86.9% · Net $41,346
33	Illinois Institute of Technology	IL	Private nonprofit	2,833	$292,532	Grad 75.2% · Net $18,425
34	University of Virginia-Main Campus	VA	Public	17,597	$291,320	Grad 95.6% · Net $21,565
35	University of Florida	FL	Public	35,629	$289,958	Grad 91.1% · Net $6,541
36	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	NY	Private nonprofit	5,714	$287,256	Grad 83.6% · Net $36,228
37	University of Washington-Seattle Campus	WA	Public	31,942	$283,648	Grad 85.2% · Net $14,091
38	Emory University	GA	Private nonprofit	7,298	$280,290	Grad 91.1% · Net $22,585
39	University of California-Davis	CA	Public	32,253	$277,662	Grad 85.7% · Net $14,741
40	California State University-East Bay	CA	Public	9,809	$273,134	Grad 47.9% · Net $9,320
41	Northwestern University	IL	Private nonprofit	9,201	$270,450	Grad 95.1% · Net $29,167
42	University of California-Irvine	CA	Public	30,197	$270,102	Grad 86.9% · Net $14,251
43	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	MA	Private nonprofit	5,447	$268,513	Grad 89.7% · Net $43,071
44	Northeastern University	MA	Private nonprofit	17,326	$267,478	Grad 90.5% · Net $30,915
45	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	NC	Public	20,752	$266,778	Grad 91.2% · Net $11,655
46	University of Detroit Mercy	MI	Private nonprofit	2,438	$262,550	Grad 67.2% · Net $15,232
47	University of Southern California	CA	Private nonprofit	20,443	$261,940	Grad 91.8% · Net $32,740
48	Purdue University-Main Campus	IN	Public	44,503	$260,795	Grad 83.1% · Net $14,600
49	CUNY City College	NY	Public	12,505	$260,197	Grad 56.8% · Net $3,776
50	Clarkson University	NY	Private nonprofit	2,196	$256,028	Grad 74.9% · Net $30,305
51	Brigham Young University	UT	Private nonprofit	32,952	$255,650	Grad 81.0% · Net $15,564
52	University of Wisconsin-Madison	WI	Public	36,902	$255,566	Grad 89.5% · Net $17,354
53	Boston College	MA	Private nonprofit	10,085	$255,201	Grad 90.8% · Net $41,704
54	Georgetown University	DC	Private nonprofit	7,569	$253,531	Grad 94.8% · Net $40,815
55	University of California-Santa Barbara	CA	Public	23,113	$253,290	Grad 83.0% · Net $16,109
56	Regis University	CO	Private nonprofit	2,627	$252,882	Grad 61.0% · Net $18,397
57	Binghamton University	NY	Public	14,655	$252,030	Grad 81.6% · Net $21,620
58	George Mason University	VA	Public	27,752	$251,850	Grad 67.8% · Net $17,915
59	University of Illinois Chicago	IL	Public	22,170	$251,625	Grad 61.6% · Net $10,974
60	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	VA	Public	30,923	$250,282	Grad 86.2% · Net $24,953
61	Santa Clara University	CA	Private nonprofit	6,552	$249,348	Grad 87.9% · Net $50,062
62	Boston University	MA	Private nonprofit	18,248	$248,652	Grad 88.7% · Net $24,402
63	California State University-Fullerton	CA	Public	38,546	$248,396	Grad 70.2% · Net $6,555
64	Villanova University	PA	Private nonprofit	6,938	$248,360	Grad 91.9% · Net $43,756
65	University of Delaware	DE	Public	19,071	$247,129	Grad 80.5% · Net $17,799
66	University of Georgia	GA	Public	32,137	$245,766	Grad 89.7% · Net $13,936
67	Stony Brook University	NY	Public	18,101	$245,567	Grad 75.6% · Net $18,784
68	Rutgers University-Camden	NJ	Public	3,753	$245,218	Grad 66.7% · Net $18,745
69	William & Mary	VA	Public	7,055	$244,636	Grad 89.4% · Net $19,096
70	The University of Texas at Arlington	TX	Public	32,294	$242,396	Grad 54.0% · Net $13,951
71	The University of Texas at Austin	TX	Public	42,855	$241,848	Grad 88.9% · Net $19,857
72	University of St Francis	IL	Private nonprofit	1,223	$241,399	Grad 66.8% · Net $13,006
73	San Francisco State University	CA	Public	18,639	$241,362	Grad 50.4% · Net $12,278
74	Rutgers University-Newark	NJ	Public	7,709	$240,428	Grad 63.7% · Net $19,703
75	University of the Pacific	CA	Private nonprofit	3,204	$238,558	Grad 69.0% · Net $25,447
76	Wake Forest University	NC	Private nonprofit	5,485	$236,251	Grad 89.1% · Net $28,719
77	University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus	CO	Public	10,519	$234,926	Grad 46.2% · Net $11,900
78	California State University-San Bernardino	CA	Public	15,023	$234,415	Grad 54.9% · Net $4,564
79	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities	MN	Public	31,855	$233,570	Grad 85.3% · Net $16,778
80	North Carolina State University at Raleigh	NC	Public	27,371	$233,282	Grad 84.8% · Net $17,303
81	California State University-Long Beach	CA	Public	35,924	$233,102	Grad 68.9% · Net $10,440
82	University of Massachusetts-Lowell	MA	Public	11,434	$233,086	Grad 64.8% · Net $17,163
83	University of Maryland-Baltimore County	MD	Public	10,701	$232,626	Grad 70.0% · Net $16,467
84	Washington State University	WA	Public	21,099	$232,562	Grad 60.5% · Net $14,971
85	University of San Diego	CA	Private nonprofit	5,671	$230,938	Grad 83.7% · Net $30,365
86	Saint Mary's University of Minnesota	MN	Private nonprofit	1,073	$227,996	Grad 66.0% · Net $11,704
87	California State University-Fresno	CA	Public	21,605	$226,732	Grad 57.0% · Net $7,000
88	The University of Texas at Dallas	TX	Public	21,751	$225,335	Grad 75.7% · Net $18,267
89	University of Rochester	NY	Private nonprofit	6,331	$225,108	Grad 85.4% · Net $29,278
90	University of Utah	UT	Public	27,264	$225,018	Grad 65.0% · Net $16,200
91	Florida International University	FL	Public	39,508	$224,516	Grad 74.4% · Net $9,288
92	Texas A&M University-College Station	TX	Public	59,615	$222,804	Grad 83.9% · Net $21,315
93	Florida State University	FL	Public	32,212	$222,714	Grad 85.6% · Net $11,297
94	Oakland University	MI	Public	12,351	$222,628	Grad 57.6% · Net $9,120
95	University of California-Riverside	CA	Public	22,593	$222,026	Grad 76.0% · Net $14,304
96	University of California-Merced	CA	Public	8,372	$221,764	Grad 68.7% · Net $11,983
97	San Diego State University	CA	Public	35,377	$221,714	Grad 76.4% · Net $15,364
98	University of Massachusetts-Boston	MA	Public	11,512	$220,388	Grad 49.4% · Net $17,707
99	University of Massachusetts-Amherst	MA	Public	23,671	$219,860	Grad 83.3% · Net $22,383
100	University of Houston	TX	Public	38,380	$218,816	Grad 64.6% · Net $14,276