Latest Rankings Place Fresno Pacific Among California’s Top Private Universities

Fresno Pacific University has once again earned high marks in recently released college rankings, landing in the top 50 in California for Washington Monthly's Best Colleges for Your Tuition (and Tax) Dollars, and the top 20 in the West for U.S. News & World Report's Top Private Colleges-Regional Universities West.

"At Fresno Pacific, we want students to receive an education that prepares them for meaningful careers and lives of purpose and service," said FPU President André Stephens, Ph.D. "These rankings reflect our continued commitment to providing students with a high-quality, Christ-centered education. We are grateful to see that commitment recognized."

Washington Monthly

In 2026, Fresno Pacific ranked number 92 in the West and number 47 in California for the Best Colleges for Your Tuition (and Tax) Dollars category. This makes Fresno Pacific the number one university among the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) in the West in this category.

Washington Monthly ranked 1,504 colleges, including public, private nonprofit and for-profit institutions. The rankings were based on four equally weighted categories: access, affordability, outcomes and community and national service.

U.S. News & World Report

This year, FPU ranked number 42 in the Regional Universities West category, up four spots from last year, when it ranked 46. FPU also ranked highly in the new Top Private Colleges-Regional Universities West category, coming in at number 20 in the region and number 9 in California. FPU also landed as a top 10 private school in California in three additional categories: Best Value School - Regional Universities (No. 8), Top Performers on Social Mobility - Regional Universities (No. 9) and Best Colleges for Veterans - Regional Universities (No. 5).

U.S. News & World Report compared more than 1,700 colleges and universities to formulate its rankings. Schools were evaluated on factors that included student outcomes, financial resources, faculty resources and student performance.

Author

Category

• University

Share