List of research universities in the United States

This is a list of universities in the United States classified as research universities in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Research institutions are a subset of doctoral degree-granting institutions and conduct research. These institutions "conferred at least 20 research/scholarship doctorates in 2019-20 and reported at least $5 million in total research expenditures in FY20 were assigned to one of two categories based on a measure of research activity."^[1]

History

The 1994 edition of the Carnegie Classification defined Research I universities as those that:

• Offer a full range of baccalaureate programs
• Are committed to graduate education through the doctorate
• Give high priority to research
• Award 50 or more doctoral degrees each year
• Receive annually $40 million or more in federal support^[2]

The Carnegie Foundation reported that 59 institutions met these criteria in 1994.^[3]

In their interim 2000 edition of the classification, the Carnegie Foundation renamed the category to Doctoral/research universities-extensive in order to avoid the inference that the categories signify quality differences."^[4] The foundation replaced their single classification system with a multiple classification system in their 2005 comprehensive overhaul of the classification framework ^[4][5] so that the term "Research I university" was no longer valid, though many universities continued to use it.

In 2015, the Carnegie Classification System reinstated the "Research I university" designations along with "Research II" and "Research III." The current system, introduced in 2018, includes the following three categories for doctoral universities:^[6]

• R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity
• R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity
• D/PU: Doctoral/Professional Universities

In the 2018 classification, institutions were classified as either R1 or R2 if they "conferred at least 20 research/scholarship doctorates in 2016-17 and reported at least $5 million in total research expenditures."^[6] A "research activity index" was then calculated that included the following measures:

• Research & development (R&D) expenditures in science and engineering (S&E)
• R&D expenditures in non-S&E fields
• S&E research staff (postdoctoral appointees and other non-faculty research staff with doctorates)
• Doctoral conferrals in humanities, social science, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields, and in other fields (e.g., business, education, public policy, social work)

These four measures were combined using principal component analysis to create two indices of research activity, one representing an aggregate level of research activity and the other representing per-capita research activity. Institutions that were high on both indices were classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity."^[6]

In 2023, it was announced that the Carnegie Classification System would again be revised for the 2025 classifications. R1 institutions will be defined as those that (1) have $50 million USD in research expenditures, and (2) grant 70 research doctorates. Other changes to the classification system include multiple labels to identify institutions, and recognition for non-doctoral universities.^[7]

Universities classified as "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity"

There are 146 institutions that are classified as "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education as of the 2021 update.^[8]

These universities have a very high level of both research activity and per capita in such research activity, using aggregate data to determine both measurements. In other words, these institutions provide a lot of resources for research and have a lot of people conducting research at their respective institution. These two classifications can be seen as the aggregate supply and demand for research, respectively.^[9]

Among the 50 U.S. states and the national capital of Washington, D.C., only five states do not have an R1 level university: Alaska, Idaho, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming.

Doctoral Universities – Very High Research Activity

Institution	Control	City	State
Arizona State University	Public	Tempe[a]	AZ
Auburn University	Public	Auburn	AL
Baylor University	Private (non-profit)	Waco	TX
Binghamton University	Public	Vestal[b]	NY
Boston College	Private (non-profit)	Chestnut Hill	MA
Boston University	Private (non-profit)	Boston	MA
Brandeis University	Private (non-profit)	Waltham	MA
Brown University	Private (non-profit)	Providence	RI
California Institute of Technology	Private (non-profit)	Pasadena	CA
Carnegie Mellon University	Private (non-profit)	Pittsburgh	PA
Case Western Reserve University	Private (non-profit)	Cleveland	OH
Clemson University	Public	Clemson	SC
Colorado School of Mines	Public	Golden	CO
Colorado State University	Public	Fort Collins	CO
Columbia University	Private (non-profit)	New York City[c]	NY
Cornell University	Private (non-profit)	Ithaca	NY
Dartmouth College	Private (non-profit)	Hanover	NH
Drexel University	Private (non-profit)	Philadelphia	PA
Duke University	Private (non-profit)	Durham	NC
Emory University	Private (non-profit)	Atlanta	GA
Florida International University	Public	Miami[d]	FL
Florida State University	Public	Tallahassee	FL
George Mason University	Public	Fairfax[e]	VA
George Washington University	Private (non-profit)	Washington, D.C.	DC
Georgetown University	Private (non-profit)	Washington, D.C.	DC
Georgia Institute of Technology	Public	Atlanta	GA
Georgia State University	Public	Atlanta	GA
Graduate Center, CUNY	Public	New York City[c]	NY
Harvard University	Private (non-profit)	Cambridge	MA
Indiana University Bloomington	Public	Bloomington	IN
Iowa State University	Public	Ames	IA
Johns Hopkins University	Private (non-profit)	Baltimore	MD
Kansas State University	Public	Manhattan	KS
Kent State University	Public	Kent	OH
Louisiana State University	Public	Baton Rouge	LA
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Private (non-profit)	Cambridge	MA
Michigan State University	Public	East Lansing	MI
Mississippi State University	Public	Mississippi State	MS
Montana State University	Public	Bozeman	MT
New Jersey Institute of Technology	Public	Newark	NJ
New York University	Private (non-profit)	New York City[c]	NY
North Carolina State University	Public	Raleigh	NC
North Dakota State University	Public	Fargo	ND
Northeastern University	Private (non-profit)	Boston	MA
Northwestern University	Private (non-profit)	Evanston	IL
Ohio State University	Public	Columbus	OH
Ohio University	Public	Athens	OH
Oklahoma State University–Stillwater	Public	Stillwater	OK
Old Dominion University	Public	Norfolk	VA
Oregon State University	Public	Corvallis	OR
Pennsylvania State University	Public[f]	University Park	PA
Princeton University	Private (non-profit)	Princeton	NJ
Purdue University	Public	West Lafayette	IN
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	Private (non-profit)	Troy	NY
Rice University	Private (non-profit)	Houston	TX
Rutgers University–New Brunswick	Public	New Brunswick	NJ
Stanford University	Private (non-profit)	Stanford	CA
Stony Brook University	Public	Stony Brook	NY
Syracuse University	Private (non-profit)	Syracuse	NY
Temple University	Public[f]	Philadelphia	PA
Texas A&M University	Public	College Station	TX
Texas Tech University	Public	Lubbock	TX
Tufts University	Private (non-profit)	Medford	MA
Tulane University	Private (non-profit)	New Orleans	LA
University at Albany, SUNY	Public	Albany	NY
University at Buffalo	Public	Buffalo[g]	NY
University of Alabama	Public	Tuscaloosa	AL
University of Alabama at Birmingham	Public	Birmingham	AL
University of Alabama in Huntsville	Public	Huntsville	AL
University of Arizona	Public	Tucson	AZ
University of Arkansas	Public	Fayetteville	AR
University of California, Berkeley	Public	Berkeley	CA
University of California, Davis	Public	Davis	CA
University of California, Irvine	Public	Irvine	CA
University of California, Los Angeles	Public	Los Angeles	CA
University of California, Riverside	Public	Riverside	CA
University of California, San Diego	Public	San Diego[h]	CA
University of California, Santa Barbara	Public	Santa Barbara[i]	CA
University of California, Santa Cruz	Public	Santa Cruz	CA
University of Central Florida	Public	Orlando[j]	FL
University of Chicago	Private (non-profit)	Chicago	IL
University of Cincinnati	Public	Cincinnati	OH
University of Colorado Boulder	Public	Boulder	CO
University of Colorado Denver	Public	Denver	CO
University of Connecticut	Public	Storrs	CT
University of Delaware	Public[k]	Newark	DE
University of Denver	Private (non-profit)	Denver	CO
University of Florida	Public	Gainesville	FL
University of Georgia	Public	Athens	GA
University of Hawaii at Manoa	Public	Honolulu	HI
University of Houston	Public	Houston	TX
University of Illinois Chicago	Public	Chicago	IL
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	Public	Champaign/Urbana[l]	IL
University of Iowa	Public	Iowa City	IA
University of Kansas	Public	Lawrence	KS
University of Kentucky	Public	Lexington	KY
University of Louisiana at Lafayette	Public	Lafayette	LA
University of Louisville	Public	Louisville	KY
University of Maine	Public	Orono	ME
University of Maryland, Baltimore County	Public	Baltimore[m]	MD
University of Maryland, College Park	Public	College Park	MD
University of Massachusetts Amherst	Public	Amherst	MA
University of Memphis	Public	Memphis	TN
University of Miami	Private (non-profit)	Coral Gables	FL
University of Michigan	Public	Ann Arbor	MI
University of Minnesota	Public	Minneapolis	MN
University of Mississippi	Public	University	MS
University of Missouri	Public	Columbia	MO
University of Montana	Public	Missoula	MT
University of Nebraska–Lincoln	Public	Lincoln	NE
University of Nevada, Las Vegas	Public	Las Vegas[n]	NV
University of Nevada, Reno	Public	Reno	NV
University of New Hampshire	Public	Durham	NH
University of New Mexico	Public	Albuquerque	NM
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	Public	Chapel Hill	NC
University of North Texas	Public	Denton	TX
University of Notre Dame	Private (non-profit)	Notre Dame	IN
University of Oklahoma	Public	Norman	OK
University of Oregon	Public	Eugene	OR
University of Pennsylvania	Private (non-profit)	Philadelphia	PA
University of Pittsburgh	Public[f]	Pittsburgh	PA
University of Rochester	Private (non-profit)	Rochester	NY
University of South Carolina	Public	Columbia	SC
University of South Florida	Public	Tampa	FL
University of Southern California	Private (non-profit)	Los Angeles	CA
University of Southern Mississippi	Public	Hattiesburg	MS
University of Tennessee	Public	Knoxville	TN
University of Texas at Arlington	Public	Arlington	TX
University of Texas at Austin	Public	Austin	TX
University of Texas at Dallas	Public	Richardson	TX
University of Texas at El Paso	Public	El Paso	TX
University of Texas at San Antonio	Public	San Antonio	TX
University of Utah	Public	Salt Lake City	UT
University of Virginia	Public	Charlottesville	VA
University of Washington	Public	Seattle	WA
University of Wisconsin–Madison	Public	Madison	WI
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee	Public	Milwaukee	WI
Utah State University	Public	Logan	UT
Vanderbilt University	Private (non-profit)	Nashville	TN
Virginia Commonwealth University	Public	Richmond	VA
Virginia Tech	Public	Blacksburg	VA
Washington State University	Public	Pullman	WA
Washington University in St. Louis	Private (non-profit)	St. Louis	MO
Wayne State University	Public	Detroit	MI
West Virginia University	Public	Morgantown	WV
Yale University	Private (non-profit)	New Haven	CT

Map of institutions

UAB