Every fall, universities race to release news on their place in the U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges Rankings. With the recent release of the 2027 list, the University of Toledo landed at No. 299 out of 400 schools classified in the national universities category, tying with eight other universities. Compared to its 2026 ranking, UToledo moved down by six spots.
But, how does UToledo stack up among Ohio’s other public universities? We dove into the rankings and methodologies behind them.
How rankings are determined
The U.S. News & World Report first sorts four-year institutions into one of 10 categories for comparison purposes based on their institutional classifications and research designations, and then scores them based on 17 different measures. Each measure carries a specific weight that influences the final ranking. In the 2027 methodology, peer assessment accounted for 20% of the final ranking, carrying the highest weight among the other measures, followed by graduation rates (16%) and graduation rate performance (10%).
Comparing Ohio public universities
Among Ohio’s public universities, 10 are classified as national universities along with UToledo according to the U.S. News’ categorization. Comparing these 11 universities, Ohio State ranked the highest at No. 44 (tie), followed by Miami University at No.133 and the University of Cincinnati at No.179. Bowling Green State University sits 23 spots higher than UToledo at No. 276.
Now, let’s look at how these universities compare across a few selected measures from the criteria.
Graduation rates
As one of the criteria more heavily weighted towards the final ranking, UToledo’s graduation rate falls in the middle of the group, with The Ohio State University having the highest rate at 87.7% and Wright State having the lowest at 45.9%.
Full-time faculty
UToledo stands out with its share of faculty who are full-time at 74.4%, second to Miami University at 79.3%.
Faulty average salary
For faculty’s average salary, though not the lowest among the 11 ranked Ohio public universities, UToledo ranked eighth, only higher than Ohio University, Cleveland State University and Youngstown State University.
Student to faculty ratio
UToledo’s student-faculty ratio comes at 18:1, tied with Ohio University. That’s slightly better than the University of Cincinnati at 19:1 and Kent State and Youngstown State at 20:1. The lowest ratio among Ohio’s public national universities is 16:1, shared by The Ohio State University, Miami University, Wright State and Cleveland State. Bowling Green State University and the University of Akron follow at 17:1.
No. 299 reflects both UToledo’s strengths and the areas where progress is still needed. In the end, it raises a larger question for the campus community: What can we aspire to do at UToledo to move up in rank?
