The 2025 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings released Sept. 24 list UW-Eau Claire fourth among 57 public regional universities in the 12-state Midwest region. Overall, UW-Eau Claire is 20th out of 165 public and private regional schools in the Midwest, up one spot from the previous year.
鈥淔or 30 straight years, U.S. News & World Report has recognized UW-Eau Claire as one of the top public universities in the Midwest,鈥 Chancellor James Schmidt says. 鈥淭his honor is more evidence that UW-Eau Claire is one of the premier comprehensive regional universities in the country, and we continue to build on our tradition of excellence by offering our students a distinctive, world-class educational experience.鈥
Now in its 40th year, U.S. News rankings evaluate nearly 1,500 national colleges and universities. U.S. News gathered data during spring and summer 2024 from and about each school, then used 13 key measures of academic quality to produce the rankings for regional universities. U.S. News puts an emphasis on outcomes, evidenced by measures of graduation and retention being the most heavily weighted factors in the rankings.
UW-Eau Claire is ranked highly again as a 鈥淏est College for Veterans鈥 and a 鈥淏est Value School.鈥 The university also is ranked as a 鈥淭op Performer on Social Mobility鈥 and several UW-Eau Claire undergraduate programs were listed in the rankings.
鈥淭he U.S. News & World Report rankings show prospective students and families the positive outcomes produced by our high-quality academic programs,鈥 says Billy Felz, vice chancellor for enrollment management. 鈥淏lugolds receive an extraordinary education at an affordable cost, so they leave the university with manageable debt and a valuable degree that provides high salaries in their first jobs.鈥
UW-Eau Claire is ranked eighth among the best regional colleges for veterans in the Midwest, and the highest-ranking public university in Wisconsin and Minnesota. The rankings provide data on schools that make pursuing a college education more affordable for veterans and active-duty service members.
In the 鈥淏est Value School鈥 category, UW-Eau Claire is the highest rated public regional university in the state, and ranked No. 39 out of all regional universities in the Midwest. To determine value, U.S. News factors academic quality and cost after accounting for total expenses and financial aid.
UW-Eau Claire is on the U.S. News list for 鈥淭op Performers on Social Mobility,鈥 which measures how well schools graduated economically disadvantaged students.
The university鈥檚 undergraduate business program rose significantly in the rankings while U.S. News also recognized UW-Eau Claire鈥檚 undergraduate programs in computer science, engineering, nursing and psychology.
UW-Eau Claire has been included on several other national rankings in the past two months, including Money鈥檚 2024 Best Colleges in America, Princeton Review鈥檚 2025 Best Colleges: Region by Region, Forbes 2024-25 Top Colleges and The Wall Street Journal/College Pulse 2025 Best Colleges.
