by our College Data Analytics TeamWith all of the options you have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. College Factual has developed its Top District of Columbia Colleges ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.
We analyzed 7 colleges and universities across District of Columbia to determine which were the best in terms of overall quality. To come up with this ranking, we look at more than 20 factors that are all objective measurements. These factors include freshman retention, graduation rate, student-to-faculty ratio, and post graduate earnings, among other things.
We've developed a number of other tools and rankings to help you make your college decision. Start by filtering this list by location or field of study and then explore our other rankings that feature schools great for different groups of students such as veterans or returnings adults.
We've created a tool called College Combat that lets you create your own customized comparisons based on the factors that matter the most to you. If you're torn between two schools, you can use it to help you see how they stack up against one another!
Learn more about these excellent schools below:
Georgetown University tops this year’s ranking as the best school in District of Columbia for overall quality.
With a freshman retention rate of 97%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. Graduates with a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown make an average of $103,494 per year during the early years of their career.
Out of the 7 schools in District of Columbia that were part of this year’s ranking, George Washington University landed the #2 spot on the list.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 90%. Those who receive a bachelor’s degree from GWU go into careers with an average salary of $90,873 during the early years of their career.
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend American University. It ranked #3 on our 2025 Best Colleges in District of Columbia list.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 86%. Those who receive a bachelor’s degree from The American University go into careers with an average salary of $77,370 during the early years of their career.
Out of the 7 schools in District of Columbia that were part of this year’s ranking, Catholic University of America landed the #4 spot on the list.
The student loan default rate at the school is 1.0%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1% Those who receive a bachelor’s degree from CUA go into careers with an average salary of $73,250 during the early years of their career.
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Howard University. It ranked #5 on our 2025 Best Colleges in District of Columbia list.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 88%. The average salary of a graduate with a bachelor’s degree from Howard is $63,066 during the early years of their career.
Trinity Washington University landed the #6 spot on the 2025 Best Colleges in District of Columbia ranking.
Upon graduation, bachelor’s degree recipients go on to jobs making an average salary of $53,804 during the early years of their career..
University of the District of Columbia landed the #7 spot on the 2025 Best Colleges in District of Columbia ranking.
The student-to-faculty rate of 6 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one. During the early years of their career, graduates from University of the District of Columbia make an average of $44,236 a year.
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Footnotes
*These averages are for the top 7 schools only.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.