The 2025-26 rankings, published Tuesday, place Duke on equal footing with Johns Hopkins University, Northwestern University and the University of Pennsylvania.

Lehigh Valley Academy Regional Charter School was again ranked the highest in the region, coming in at 23rd in the state, an improvement over last year, when it ranked 26th. It is the fourth year in a row that the school ranked among the top 100.

The University of Iowa continues to be recognized as the best public university for writing and communication in the latest U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings. Iowa is tied for No. 10 in writing in the disciplines.

St. Bonaventure University’s faculty received high marks in the latest U.S. News & World Report college rankings. The school is ranked 10 th for Best Undergraduate Teaching out of 164 regional universities in the North, an 11-state region from Maryland to Maine. The 2026 U.S. News rankings were released today.