college ranking news

UT Austin declared No. 2 best Texas university in new 2027 list

UT is the second-best university in Texas.

The University of Texas at Austin/Facebook

Education ranking and review website Niche has released its 2027 rankings of the best colleges in the U.S., and the University of Texas at Austin leads as the No. 1 best university in the city and the second best in Texas.

Niche's annual rankings compared more than 4,000 colleges and universities based on their academics, value, student life, career preparation, and more. Schools receive letter grades across 14 metrics, which were expanded this year to include Student Wellness and Future Readiness.

Also new to this year's rankings, Niche implemented an "Institutional Success Score" that "places every college into one of 10 mission-based categories" and compared each school against "outcomes aligned with that mission," which included research institutions, social mobility-focused colleges, and religious institutions, among others.

UT Austin ranked as the 30th Best College in America, and it topped the list of Colleges With the Best Student Life. The home of the Longhorns also racked up top-10 acclaim in the separate lists of the Best College Locations (No. 4), Top Public Universities (No. 5), Best Big Colleges (No. 6), Best College Campuses (No. 10), and Best Colleges For Student Athletes (No. 10).

UT also received the following top-100 rankings:

No. 11 – Best College Athletics
No. 12 – Top Party Schools
No. 46 – Best Greek Life Colleges
No. 50 – Colleges With the Best Academics
No. 67 – Best College Food
No. 90 – Hardest Colleges To Get Into

Top education institutions across Texas
Three other Texas universities outside Austin excelled on Niche's list of the 100 Best Colleges in America.

Rice University in Houston topped the statewide list, ranked as the 10th best university in America, and is the 10th best private university in the U.S. for 2027.

Texas A&M University in College Station and Trinity University in San Antonio round out the remaining Texas institutions that ranked among the top 100 overall. The Aggies ranked 52nd nationwide, and the Trinity Tigers ranked 65th overall.

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Where to Work

16 Austin companies declared best places to work by U.S. News

Photo by Wei Liang on Unsplash

The number of Austin-area companies that made the cut for 2026-2027 is higher than it's been in the last two years.

A new U.S. News & World Report ranking of the best employers has named 95 Texas companies among the best companies to work in the South, and 16 of them are based right here in Austin.

U.S. News' prestigious "2026-2027 Best Companies to Work For" ratings examine 3,900 public and privately owned companies across 14 industries to help employees and job seekers make decisions about workplaces that may be a good fit.

Each company is rated on a scale of 1-5 across six metrics: quality of pay and benefits; work-life balance and flexibility; job and company stability; physical and psychological comfort; belongingness and esteem; and career opportunities and professional development.

"Job seekers' definitions of 'best' evolve with their needs," said Carly Chase, vice president of Careers at U.S. News. "From new grads in the AI era and seasoned pros seeking a career change, to HR leaders researching organizational trends, the ratings are a central hub that highlights businesses that U.S. News found effectively support their staff."

The number of employers headquartered in the Austin metro that made the cut for 2026-2027 has more than doubled over previous years. A total 16 local public and private companies made the list this year, up from six companies in 2024 and four companies in 2025.

A few familiar names Austinites will recognize include outdoor recreation company Yeti, fashion accessories brand Kendra Scott, info-tech and social networking app Bumble, real estate company Keller Williams Realty, and cybersecurity company CrowdStrike.

Here are the remaining best Austin-based companies to work for:

Silicon Labs
BigCommerce
Cirrus Logic
Natera
Epicor
Association Member Benefits Advisors
CLEAResult
Dimensional
CDK Global

For the second consecutive year, U.S. News has listed data center services company Digital Realty among Dallas' top employers, but the company's website (and it's own U.S. News profile) state its corporate headquarters is based in Austin. CultureMap previously reported that Digital Realty relocated from San Francisco to Austin in 2021.

In between Austin and San Antonio, San Marcos-based McCoy's Building Supply was also named one of the best places to work for in Texas.

Elsewhere across the state, Dallas-Fort Worth had the highest concentration of top employers with 48 total companies on the list, followed by Houston (24), Austin, and San Antonio (6).

James Avery Artisan Jewelry in Kerrville was the only Texas-based company not part of a major metro that was included in the 2026-2027 U.S. News' rankings.

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