Best West

Alaska (AK), California (CA), Hawaii (HI), Idaho (ID), Montana (MT), Nevada (NV), Oregon (OR), Utah (UT), Washington (WA), and Wyoming (WY)

For our "2026 Best Colleges: Region by Region" web feature, we salute 631 colleges in seven zones—Northeast, South, Southwest, Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, West, and International (outside of the United States)—that we consider academically outstanding and well worth consideration in your college search.

Please note that these lists are not ranked. These lists appear in alphabetical order. Schools marked "featured" have paid a fee for that designation but not for inclusion in this list.


Showing 51 - 75 of 79 results

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Featured Our marketing partner institutions Near Me Sorted by distance from your search location Popularity Sorted by number of views Size Sorted by total enrollment Name Listed in alphabetical order

Pacific Lutheran University

  • Tacoma, WA
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  • 2,446 Full-Time Enrollment

University of Puget Sound

  • Tacoma, WA
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  • 1,626 Full-Time Enrollment

University of California—Merced

  • Merced, CA
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  • 8,234 Full-Time Enrollment

Portland State University

  • Portland, OR
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  • 15,414 Full-Time Enrollment

Lewis & Clark College

  • Portland, OR
  • •
  • 1,989 Full-Time Enrollment

University of Portland

  • Portland, OR
  • •
  • 2,814 Full-Time Enrollment

Evergreen State College

  • Olympia, WA
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  • 2,080 Full-Time Enrollment

George Fox University

  • Newberg, OR
  • •
  • 3,358 Full-Time Enrollment

Willamette University

  • Salem, OR
  • •
  • 1,683 Full-Time Enrollment

University of the Pacific

  • Stockton, CA
  • •
  • 3,249 Full-Time Enrollment

University of California—Santa Barbara

  • Santa Barbara, CA
  • •
  • 23,091 Full-Time Enrollment

University of Oregon

  • Eugene, OR
  • •
  • 20,710 Full-Time Enrollment

Linfield University

  • McMinnville, OR
  • •
  • 1,642 Full-Time Enrollment

University of California—Davis

  • Davis, CA
  • •
  • 31,162 Full-Time Enrollment

Oregon State University

  • Corvallis, OR
  • •
  • 31,253 Full-Time Enrollment

California State University, East Bay

  • Hayward, CA
  • •
  • 10,582 Full-Time Enrollment

Saint Mary's College of California

  • Moraga, CA
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  • 1,918 Full-Time Enrollment

Santa Clara University

  • Santa Clara, CA
  • •
  • 6,577 Full-Time Enrollment

University of California—Berkeley

  • Berkeley, CA
  • •
  • 33,469 Full-Time Enrollment

Stanford University

  • Stanford, CA
  • •
  • 7,904 Full-Time Enrollment

Menlo College

  • Atherton, CA
  • •
  • 777 Full-Time Enrollment

University of California—Santa Cruz

  • Santa Cruz, CA
  • •
  • 18,194 Full-Time Enrollment

University of San Francisco

  • San Francisco, CA
  • •
  • 5,171 Full-Time Enrollment

Sonoma State University

  • Rohnert Park, CA
  • •
  • 8,565 Full-Time Enrollment

California Polytechnic University, Humboldt

  • Arcata, CA
  • •
  • 5,474 Full-Time Enrollment

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