State rankings hub · College Scorecard · Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals

Best Colleges by State

Start with the four highest-demand state college rankings on PlainCollege. Each state list ranks operating campuses by 10-year median earnings minus average net price (enrollment 1,000+), using U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard data, not prestige or editorial judgment.

Compiled by PlainCollege , College outcomes data analysis

8
Priced state rankings live: Scorecard
Earnings minus net price: 1,000+
Enrollment floor per school

The hub in one line

PlainCollege currently publishes best-college-by-state rankings for Texas, California, Florida, New York, Georgia, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania.

According to the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard.

8
priced state lists live: Scorecard
earnings minus net price: 1,000+
enrollment floor

Additional states are added only when search demand prices the bracket, this hub lists the live set, not all 50 states.

State rankings

Looking for every state's school directory instead of a ranked list? See the states index. For national lists, return to the rankings hub.

Every figure on PlainCollege is rendered directly from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard data, no number is typed in by an editor. State membership on this hub matches the traffic-strategy allowlist; each linked ranking is computed from College Scorecard fields. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error on this page. Review the public data changelog. Data current as of Mar–Jul 2026 retrievals.