In August 2025, both Forbes and LinkedIn recognized Howard University as the #1 historically Black college or university (HBCU) in the nation. During the same month, Princeton Review named Howard one of what it considers to be the best colleges in America.

Howard earned the Forbes #1 HBCU designation for the second year in a row. It's 2026 America’s Top Colleges rankings list showcases 500 colleges “that produce successful, high-earning and influential graduates from all economic backgrounds, with less student debt.” The colleges were ranked based on return on investment, average student debt levels, and outcomes for graduates. They were also evaluated based on the number of students who return after their first year the number who graduate on time and high salaries after graduation. 

“American colleges are still delivering gold-standard undergraduate education,” Forbes said in an article announcing the rankings. “Cost and how well a school fits a student (academically and otherwise), should remain the prime factors as families consider college choices.”

Colleges on the list also enrolled a greater percentage of low-income students who graduated within six years and provided a relatively high return on investment for Pell Grant recipients.  Howard students graduate with a lower average debt than any other Washington, D.C.-based college on the list, including Georgetown University, George Washington University, American University, and The Catholic University of America.  

The Forbes ranking came on the heels of rankings by LinkedIn, which also named Howard as the top HBCU based on its ability to “set graduates up for long-term success.” The ranking uses LinkedIn data to gauge the career outcomes of alumni through an analysis of job placement rates, senior-level roles, undergraduate internships, and alumni entrepreneurship. 

The Princeton Review based its list on surveys of more than 170,000 students at schools across the country. Students answer a long list of 98 questions covering four areas: 1) their school’s academics/administration; 2) life at their college; 3) their fellow students; and 4) themselves. The questions are a mix of both one to 10 rankings and open-ended responses written by the students on everything from how prepared they feel for their professional careers to how good the on-campus food is. 

In their responses, Howard students especially highlighted the sense of pride they have in joining the university’s long legacy, describing it as a “formidable force in producing African American intellectuals.” They also focused on how Howard professors prepare them to make real-world impacts outside of the classroom, saying that faculty “bridge the gap between the real world and the textbook.” Beyond academic and professional success, the Princeton Review also highlighted Howard’s lively and inclusive student social life. While respondents definitely describe Howard students as highly goal oriented and high achieving, they also describe them as "friendly, outgoing, stylish, and fashionable” and note that they are uniquely socially conscious, something they attribute to the university’s focus on training students to think on a global scale. 

Earlier this year, Howard was recognized as the only HBCU with a Research One (R1) designation, reserved for institutions with the highest levels research activity among American universities.