WASHINGTON, DC— Howard University leaped 29 points into the class of the top 100 universities in the nation, according the recently released U.S. News & World Report 2025 Best Colleges rankings. 

The University’s No. 86 ranking in the “national universities” category further cements the institution’s reputation for groundbreaking research, thought leadership, innovative academic programs, and faculty who push the boundaries of knowledge to make discoveries which are having a transformative effect in the science, medical, technology, business, education and humanities fields, among others.  

Among national universities, U.S. News also ranked Howard as the No. 12 university for social mobility, a measure of a person’s ability to expand their professional network and enhance their economic security. Howard is the only university in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area in the social mobility ranking’s top 40. 

Howard is also tied with Georgetown University and Northwestern University as the No. 21 university for undergraduate teaching. 

In addition, U.S. News ranked Howard as the top HBCU among national universities and the No. 2 HBCU overall. The publication also ranked Howard as the No. 1 HBCU undergraduate program in business, computer science, economics, engineering, and psychology. The University’s business, engineering, and psychology programs are all in the top 100 among all national colleges and universities, with respective rankings of No. 77, No. 90, and No. 68. 

“The recent rankings by U.S. News and World Report offer an opportunity for more individuals to learn about Howard University’s historical impact as a cornerstone institution that has, for more than a century, contributed to wealth generation and economic mobility for Black and diverse families through education, research, leadership, public policy, and entrepreneurship,” said Howard University President Ben Vinson III, Ph.D. 

Howard was also recently ranked by Forbes as the No. 1 historically Black college or university in the nation. Fortune listed the University’s full-time MBA program among the country’s top 50.  

Howard’s reputation as the nexus of consequential research, intellectual exploration, and cultural influence has manifested in unprecedented investment. In August, Howard University’s medical school was one of four to receive $175 million each from Bloomberg Philanthropies, the largest financial gifts to HBCUs in history. 

The U.S. Department of Defense provided Howard with a five-year, $90-million grant to create the first University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) at an HBCU. Earlier this year, Apple and other technology companies invested more than $1.4 million to create a one-of-a-kind microchip design and validation laboratory at Howard. 

Other research centers are providing leadership in areas including democracy and journalism, data science, cybersecurity, cancer, quantum information science, and entrepreneurship. Howard University is the only historically black college or university with both law and medical schools, among other undergraduate and graduate programs.