Cal State San Bernardino is among the nation’s top universities when it comes to social mobility and best value, and the university is listed among the country’s top 100 public schools, according to the U.S. News & World Report 2025 Best Colleges rankings.

CSUSB was listed at No. 12 nationally in the Top Performers on Social Mobility category, which focuses on colleges that promote the advancement and graduation of students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Institutions ranked high for social mobility “are more successful than others at advancing social mobility by enrolling and graduating large proportions of disadvantaged students awarded with (federal) Pell Grants,” U.S. News states. “The vast majority of these federal grants are awarded to students whose adjusted gross family incomes are under $50,000.”

Florida International University topped this listing, followed by the University of California, Riverside at No. 2. Other California institutions ranked included Cal State Long Beach, No. 3; UC Merced, No. 4; Cal State Fullerton, No. 7; University of La Verne, No. 8; and UC Irvine, No. 9. California schools listed after CSUSB included UC Santa Barbara, No. 20; UC Santa Cruz, No. 22; UC Davis, No. 26; San Francisco State, UCLA and the University of San Diego were tied at No. 28; and Fresno State was listed at No. 31.

In its Best Value-National Universities listing, CSUSB was ranked No. 48, making it the highest-ranked California public university. U.S. News said that this category was based on calculations that take into account “a school's academic quality, as indicated by its 2025 U.S. News Best Colleges ranking, and the 2023-2024 net cost of attendance for an out-of-state student who received the average level of need-based financial aid. The higher the quality of the program and the lower the cost, the better the deal. Only schools ranked in or near the top half of their categories are included because U.S. News considers the most significant values to be among colleges that are above average academically.”

Princeton University was at the top of this list at No. 1, and the California Institute of Technology was the only California school to make the top 10. The University of the Pacific, like Cal Tech, a private institution, was listed at No. 44. Listed after CSUSB were the University of San Diego, No. 53; the University of Southern California, No. 65; Pepperdine University at No 74; and the University of San Francisco, No. 88, rounding out the top 100.

CSUSB was included in the ranking service’s Top Public Schools, listed at No. 92. UCLA was the top public university on this list; Cal State Long Beach and San Diego State, tied at No. 52, were the highest ranked California State University campus.

U.S. News & World Report Best College rankings are considered one of the most influential and anticipated recognitions for colleges and universities that provide a full range of undergraduate and master’s degree programs throughout the United States.

The rankings are determined on a number of factors that include: Graduation and retention rates; social mobility; graduation rate performance; undergraduate academic reputation; faculty resources; student selectivity; financial resources for students; the average alumni giving rate; and graduate indebtedness.