CWU holds steady in annual U.S. News & World Report rankings

U.S. News & World Report released its 2025 Best Colleges rankings this week, giving a nod to Central Washington University in two categories.

For the third year in a row, CWU was ranked No. 18 in the Top Public Schools-Regional Universities (West) category. Central also received a No. 35 ranking in the Regional Universities (West) category — a slight improvement over the No. 37 ranking in the 2024 survey. With 118 Regional Universities in the West, CWU ranks among the top 31%.

By comparison, CWU was ranked 23^rd among Top Public Schools in the 2022 report and rose to 18^th in 2023. In the 2022 report, Central ranked 46^th among Regional Universities and improved to 42^nd in 2023.

CWU President Jim Wohlpart said he is pleased to see the university maintain its position in the Top Public Schools category over the past three years, while gradually moving up the list of Regional Universities in the West.

“It’s nice to see a steady improvement in the overall rankings,” Wohlpart said. “We are doing a lot of great things here at CWU, and I expect we will continue to make additional progress in future years.”

Aside from being ranked among the top 35 Top Public Schools and Regional Universities in the West, CWU was rated 21^st in Best Colleges for Veterans, 42^nd in Best Value Schools, and 66^th in Top Performers in Social Mobility.

The annual U.S. News & World Report rankings are based on in-depth analyses of a wide variety of data points, as explained in the Best Colleges methodology article. A full overview of CWU’s rankings are available on the U.S. News & World Report website.