The best state schools in the US

This back-to-school season, the cost and value of higher education are top of mind.

In a time when going to college can put you in hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, and as more tech moguls share that they skipped university altogether, it could be worth considering a public school.

Every state has some sort of public school system, though they're not all created equal. Just as private schools have the Ivy League, some state schools stand above the rest — Forbes now releases its own list of "Public Ivies" each year.

Public schools are also generally cheaper than private schools, especially if you stay in-state. But even paying out-of-state tuition at some public schools can cost half as much as the most expensive colleges charge.

We used US News & World Report's 2027 ranking of best national universities to identify the top 21 public schools in the country. The list does not include liberal arts colleges focused on undergraduate education or regional universities with limited doctoral programs, although those are typically private schools.

Its ranking evaluated over 400 US colleges across multiple metrics, including graduation rates, debt loads, average salaries, and admissions rates, among others, using data reported by schools and third-party sources. For its 2027 list, US News introduced a new "earnings by major" metric.

College rankings have faced scrutiny over the years, with critics of US News & World Report's lists arguing that they can pressure schools to perform well on certain metrics to boost their standing. Skeptics have also questioned the ranking methodology, saying it may fail to capture key, less quantifiable factors that add to a school's quality.

US News has defended the rankings as a helpful resource, while admitting comparing colleges "can be challenging," and the lists "don't capture every nuance."

"But we reject our critics' paternalistic view that students are somehow incapable of discerning for themselves from this information which school is the best fit," US News & World Report executive chairman and CEO Eric Gertler wrote in 2023 for the Wall Street Journal.

Here are the 21 highest-ranked public universities in the US, according to US News & World Report's 2027 rankings.

The first school on this list (but not the last) located in Virginia is the College of William & Mary, which is in Williamsburg. It's named for King William III and Queen Mary II, who ruled England from 1689 to 1702.

The college itself was founded in 1693, making it the second-oldest college in the US. About 7,000 undergraduates are enrolled.