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Correction, Oct. 10: The news release has been corrected to indicate that Â鶹´«Ã½ is 10th among public universities in the United States.

The University of California, Davis, is No. 10 among the nation’s top public universities in the , published today (Oct. 8).

It was one of four UC campuses ranked in the top 10 public universities in the nation.

Â鶹´«Ã½ was 25th among more than 1,500 public and private American universities and 64th among nearly 2,200 universities from 115 countries and territories. 

The rankings evaluate research-intensive universities on 18 performance indicators in five areas: 

• teaching, a measure of the learning experience and quality (29.5%)
• research environment or the quality and quantity of research output based on reputation, research income and productivity (29%)
• research quality or influence (30%)
• industry or how much the university earns from its inventions and industrial work (4%)
• and international outlook, based on the international-to-domestic ratios across staff, students and research collaborations (7.5%)

The new ranking reflects how Â鶹´«Ã½ continues to score high in the most prestigious college rankings for its quality of education, impact of its research and the social mobility it offers students.

In other major rankings:

• Â鶹´«Ã½ stands second in the nation among public universities and 13th among all universities for how well it sets its graduates up for financial success in The Wall Street Journal/College Pulse 2026 rankings released Sept. 29.
• The campus tied for No. 9 among the nation’s top public universities and earned accolades for innovation, social mobility and more in the 2026 U.S. News Best Colleges rankings, published Sept. 23.
• The campus placed 12th among public universities and 23rd among  in the Washington Monthly 2025 College Guide and Rankings, published in August.

Â鶹´«Ã½ and rankings

A world-class university, Â鶹´«Ã½ is highly ranked for how it transforms students’ lives, the impact of its research, the excellence of its academic programs, sustainability and more. The university performs self-evaluations and also appreciates the value of third-party assessments. However, ranking methods vary, change over time and can be subjective. Â鶹´«Ã½ focuses on those rankings that most closely align with its mission and values — including serving the public good, inclusiveness and equity, and social mobility — and in national rankings looks most closely at its standing among public universities. Â鶹´«Ã½ encourages prospective students and their families to weigh rankings among other factors in their college decision, talk with counselors and Â鶹´«Ã½ admissions advisors, and, if possible, visit the campus.