Forbes ranking of the best U.S. colleges 2022

The top ranked university in the United States in 2022 according to Forbes was the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Students at MIT graduate with an average debt of 10,070 U.S. dollars, but have a median 10-year salary of 173,700 U.S. dollars.

The Forbes rankings are based on five categories: alumni salary, student satisfaction, student debt, four year graduation rate, and academic success.

Forbes ranking of the best colleges in the United States in 2022, by average debt and median 10-year salary

Characteristic	Average debt	Median 10-year salary
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Massachusetts)	10,070	173,700
Stanford University (California)	11,765	173,500
Universtiy of California, Berkeley (California)	7,086	154,500
Princeton University (New Jersey)	3,647	167,600
Columbia University (New York)	12,141	148,800
University of California, Los Angeles (California)	6,243	137,200
Williams College (Massachusetts)	5,044	152,600
Yale University (Connecticut)	5,262	163,700
Duke University (North Carolina)	8,494	155,000
University of Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania)	10,681	164,000
Northwestern University (Illinois)	5,696	137,200
Rice University (Texas)	8,329	148,100
Vanderbilt University (Tennessee)	7,422	137,300
Dartmouth College (New Hampshire)	5,960	161,300
Harvard University (Massachusetts)	10,464	169,000
Cornell Universtiy (New York)	7,639	148,200
University of California, San Diego (California)	6,268	143,500
Johns Hopkins University (Maryland)	8,625	138,700
Brown University (Rhode Island)	9,671	153,100
University of Chicago (Illinois)	9,954	136,600