Two people look out at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus in Westwood, Calif., on Aug. 7, 2025.

After dropping slightly from the top spot last year, UCLA is once again ranked the nation’s best public university by Niche.

UCLA’s return to the No. 1 spot in Niche’s 2027 Best Colleges in America rankings comes after it fell to No. 2 last year behind University of Michigan. Niche, a popular data analysis site, considers several factors in its rankings, including academics, financial payoff, campus life, diversity, professors, student success, student life, student surveys, safety and the local area, according to its website.

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UCLA also earned No. 1 titles in several of Niche’s other categories, such as best college campus and best........

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