2026 College Rankings

Best Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

About

Superior, Erie, Michigan, Huron, and Ontario make up the 5 Great Lakes that border the United States and Canada. While the region is well-known for its mighty bodies of water, the colleges in the area are equally impressive. The best colleges in the Great Lakes region include schools from: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Use these rankings as a jumping-off point for you to create your own personalized rankings using our college match tool.

Methodology

Each of these rankings is based on an analysis of data about the school’s selectivity, financial health, graduation rates, student success, and more. We’ve outlined our full methodology here.

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School data is from 2022–2023 (top 500 results shown) for schools with at least 100 undergraduate students.

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