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12 DFW universities land on U.S. News' 2026 list of best colleges

SMU maintained its status as Texas' 5th best university.

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A dozen Dallas-Fort Worth universities have made U.S. News and World Report's just-released list of best schools in the nation for 2026, with Southern Methodist University landing on top in Dallas-Fort Worth.

U.S. News' prestigious Best Colleges rankings annually compare nearly 1,700 U.S. colleges and universities using 17 metrics that measure "academic quality." Schools are ranked nationally, regionally, and by specialty.

SMU maintained its status as the 5th best university in Texas, and it moved up three spots to rank No. 88 nationally after slipping into No. 91 last year. SMU is joined in Texas' top 10 by Texas Christian University in Fort Worth (No. 6) and The University of Texas at Dallas in Richardson (No. 7).

SMU has a 63 percent acceptance rate, and students pay $69,722 yearly for in-state tuition and fees, according to the school's profile.

Iron Skillet heartbreaker aside, this has proven to be a great year for the Mustangs. The university's exceptional graduate programs constantly land atop U.S. News' separate rankings of best grad schools, and its alumni reportedly experience notable long-term career success.

Forbes named SMU among its top universities for 2025, and the school also earned acclaim on The Princeton Review's "hall of fame" list of the best U.S. colleges for 2026.

Other top universities in Dallas-Fort Worth
Texas Christian University was the only other DFW school to rank among the overall top 100 best universities in the country for 2026. It retained its No. 6 spot in Texas for another consecutive year, and it tied for No. 97 in the national rankings after falling to No. 105 last year.

In-state tuition and fees add up to $63,590 a year for TCU students, U.S. News says, and the public university's competitive acceptance rate is only 44 percent. Students benefit from having a 14:1 student-faculty ratio, and 39 percent of classes have fewer than 20 students.

The five other Dallas-Fort Worth schools that ranked among U.S. News' national list include:

No. 110 – The University of Texas at Dallas (tied)
No. 208 – University of North Texas (tied)
No. 222 – The University of Texas at Arlington (tied)
No. 329 – Texas Woman's University (tied)
No. 384 – Dallas Baptist University (tied)

Southwestern Adventist University in Keene, a town located less than 30 miles south of Fort Worth, tied for No. 17 in U.S. News' regional ranking of Best Colleges in the West for 2026.

In the regional ranking of Best Universities in the West, four Dallas-Fort Worth schools made the cut: University of Dallas (No. 9), The University of North Texas at Dallas (No. 41), Parker University (No. 46), and Waxahachie's Nelson University (No. 81), formerly known as Southwestern Assemblies of God University.

U.S. News' top 10 best colleges in Texas for 2026 are:

No. 1 – Rice University, Houston
No. 2 – University of Texas at Austin
No. 3 – Texas A&M University, College Station
No. 4 – Baylor University, Waco
No. 5 – Southern Methodist University, Dallas
No. 6 – Texas Christian University, Fort Worth
No. 7 – The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson
No. 8 – University of Houston
No. 9 – Texas Tech University, Lubbock
No. 10 – University of St. Thomas, Houston

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Innovation Station

Texas maintains its place among 15 most innovative states in the U.S.

Austin Texas State Capitol and Skyline Aerial Drone Image

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During a SXSW reception March 12 at the Governor’s Mansion in Austin, Gov. Greg Abbott hailed Texas as the No. 1 state for innovation. Personal finance website WalletHub sees it a little differently though.

In a new study from WalletHub, the Most & Least Innovative States (2026), Texas is assigned the No. 13 ranking for innovation among the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

D.C. comes out on top, followed by Massachusetts, California, Colorado, and Washington. Mississippi appears at the bottom of the list.

Texas earns a total innovation score of 49.56, compared with 69.13 for top-ranked D.C. In two broad categories, Texas ranks 12th for human capital and 13th for innovation environment.

To identify the top places for innovation, WalletHub evaluated the 50 states and D.C. by reviewing 25 key indicators of innovation friendliness. The indicators include:

Share of STEM professionals
Forecast for Share of STEM professionals
Forecast for STEM jobs
Eighth-grade math and science performance
Concentration of tech companies
R&D spending per capita
Share of science and engineering graduates age 25 and over
Average internet speed
Venture capital funding per capita

“The most innovative states are especially attractive to people who have majored in science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM, as they offer abundant career opportunities and investment dollars, both for jobs at existing companies and for startups,” WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said in the report.

“These states also instill young students with the skills they need to succeed in the current workforce, skills which are useful whether or not they pursue a STEM career,” he added.

Texas held steady in the 2026 report, receiving the same ranking as in 2025 (at No. 13), but improving its overall score slightly, up from 48.96. In 2024, Texas was ranked No. 14 in the U.S., marking its first appearance within the top 15 most innovative states. In recent years, Texas has consistently moved up the ladder among most innovative states.

Texas zeroes in on semiconductor industry
On the innovation front, Abbott and other state leaders have focused intently on growing the state’s semiconductor industry, which generates roughly $30 to $60 billion in economic activity per year. Texas ranks among the top states for semiconductor manufacturing, with major operations in North Texas and Central Texas.

To bolster the industry, Abbott signed the Texas CHIPS Act into law in 2023. The law established the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund, which issues grants for semiconductor research, design and manufacturing, and the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Consortium, which advises the governor and state legislators on matters related to the semiconductor sector.

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This article originally appeared on our sister site, InnovationMap.com.

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