By Isabel Hicks MSU NEWS SERVICE
BOZEMAN — Montana State University was ranked as the best college in Montana for 2026 by research.com, a website that publishes annual rankings for colleges and universities across the country.
In addition to earning the No. 1 best college in Montana accolade, the website also ranked MSU as the No. 1 most affordable college in Montana, No. 1 best value college in Montana, and the No. 4 most popular college in Montana. The popularity metric is calculated based on the number of applicants, meaning the more popular the school is, the harder it is to get into.
Nationally, MSU earned a No. 5 ranking as the most affordable college in the western U.S. and No. 18 as the most affordable college nationwide.
The rankings also highlight MSU’s role as a public land-grant institution that serves the needs of all Montanans, noting its academic excellence in agriculture, natural research management and engineering. It also emphasizes its research expenditures and applications across a wide variety of academic disciplines and MSU’s prime location in Bozeman with proximity to Yellowstone National Park and other natural wonders.
Research.com calculates data-driven rankings by using numerical, quantitative data from independent sources to avoid inaccuracies associated with surveys and opinion polls, according to its website.
Relatedly, MSU has repeatedly earned a distinction of being a Carnegie R1 research institution, indicating “very high” research output and doctoral education, and has set new research expenditure records year after year, with expenditures from 2024-25 totaling $288.7 million. The university has also significantly grown its student body in recent years, becoming the first university in the state to cross the 17,000-student mark in 2024. MSU has also seen consistently high graduation rates and student retention, and it is the single largest employer in Bozeman and a top employer across the state.
Other notable rankings for MSU include its consistent placement as a top three military-friendly U.S. school by militaryfriendly.com and as in the top 3.7% of institutions reviewed by the Center for World University Rankings.
For more information on MSU’s academic offerings, visit montana.edu/academics. To apply, visit montana.edu/apply.
