The University of Idaho dropped in nearly all categories in the 2026 U.S. News and World Report College Rankings.
Most notably, UI had previously ranked no. 1 Best Value Public University in the West for five consecutive years, while this year it is ranked no. 3. The West region includes the states west of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas.
“Rankings are a great way to measure one school against another — but also come with inherent challenges such as evolving criteria or changing methods for evaluating data,” Jodi Walker, UI executive director of communications, wrote in an email to The Argonaut. “We are evaluating the ranking criteria and finding ways to best show what our University of Idaho continues to do for our students and our state.”
U.S. News’ Best Value category is calculated based on academic quality, based on its 2026 U.S. News Best Colleges ranking, in relation to the average cost of attendance for an out-of-state student in the 2024-25 school year. “The higher the quality of the program and the lower the cost, the better the deal,” the website says.
UI was ranked No. 9 out of 110 for the Best Value Public Universities nationwide, in the top 9%, down from No. 2 in 2024. It is No. 62 for overall Best Value Universities, in the top 30%, down from No. 23.
“We are proud that U of I continues to rank as a Top Value Public University in the Nation! This is a key selling point for students looking for a great education, tremendous outcomes and little to no debt,” Walker wrote.
UI placed 183rd out of 436 for national university rankings, down four places from 179 in 2024, putting it in the top 42% of universities nationwide. The university was ranked No. 100 out of 225 for public university rankings.
The two categories UI improved in were economics programs, from No. 214 to No. 191 out of 254, and undergraduate computer science programs, from No. 162 to No. 136 out of 601.
“We enjoyed the second largest freshman class in our history this fall and saw our retention numbers continue to climb. These are both excellent measurements of our students and their families seeing the value in a Vandal education,” Walker wrote.
Other rankings included:
- Undergraduate Engineering Programs: no. 161 out of 210
- Best Colleges for Veterans: no. 132 out of 174
- Top Performers on Social Mobility: no. 173 out of 433
- Undergraduate Business Programs: no. 150 out of 533
- Psychology Programs: no. 213 out of 682
- Graduate Education Programs: no. 65 out of 473
- Graduate Engineering Programs: no. 149 out of 223
- Law Programs: no. 141 out of 197
- Law Clinical Training: no. 112 out of 195
- Constitutional Law: no. 134 out of 185
- Contracts/Commercial Law: no. 153 out of 195
- Criminal Law: no. 141 out of 195
- Environmental Law: no. 76 out of 189
- Intellectual Property Law: no. 160 out of 194
- International Law: no. 148 out of 195
- Legal Writing: no. 100 out of 109
- Tax Law: no. 118 out of 195
- Trial Advocacy: no. 193 out of 195
- Graduate Biological Sciences Programs: no. 100 out of 290
- Graduate Chemistry Programs: no. 161 out of 212
- Graduate Computer Science Programs: no. 133 out of 210
- Graduate Earth Sciences Programs: no. 83 out of 166
- Graduate Fine Arts Programs: no. 171 out of 226
- Graduate Math Programs: no. 173 out of 196
- Graduate Physics Programs: no. 136 out of 190
- Graduate Public Affairs Programs: no. 165 out of 268
Dakota Steffen can be reached at [email protected].