Computer Science & Information Systems in United States of America: All 106 Ranked Universities, QS 2026 Data
If you have already decided to study in the United States and are now narrowing down to Computer Science & Information Systems, the QS World Universit
If you have already decided to study in the United States and are now narrowing down to Computer Science & Information Systems, the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026 gives you a clear picture of the depth of this field in the country. The United States places 106 universities on the global subject ranking, which covers 850 institutions across 79 countries worldwide. That makes the US the single largest national presence on the list — more than the United Kingdom (59), China (Mainland) (57), India (44), or Germany (33).
The headline number is this: the best Computer Science & Information Systems program in the world, according to QS 2026, is at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which holds rank 1.
How Deep Is the Top Tier?
The US does not just show up at the very top — it packs the upper bands. Within the global top 10 for this subject, 5 are American universities. That is half of the world’s top ten, a concentration no other country comes close to matching.
Moving down the ladder, the US has:
- 8 universities in the global top 20
- 12 in the top 30
- 18 in the top 50
- 27 in the top 100
So roughly one in four of the world’s top 100 Computer Science & Information Systems programs sits in the United States. If your target list includes schools ranked between 1 and 50, you have 18 American options to choose from — a critical mass that allows for meaningful comparison of curriculum, location, and culture rather than settling for whatever is available.
The Middle Band: Where Most Students Actually Land
Beyond the elite group, the distribution shows a long, substantial middle. The US has:
- 36 universities in the top 150
- 40 in the top 200
- 50 in the top 300
The remaining 56 American universities on the list fall outside the global top 300. This is an important detail: the US presence does not thin out quickly. It extends far down the ranking, which means that even schools outside the global spotlight are still counted among the world’s ranked programs.
A median rank cannot be computed for the 106 US universities on this subject list: the institution at the median position has only a published rank range, and rank ranges cannot be used for medians. What the data does show is the shape of the distribution at the top: 50 American universities are within the global top 300, while 56 fall outside it.
Score Bands: What the Numbers Look Like
The QS subject ranking publishes an overall score only for a leading subset of ranked institutions. Of the 106 US universities on this subject list, 40 have a published overall score and 66 do not; those without a published score are still ranked. For the US cohort, the score distribution reinforces the picture of a broad, competitive field:
- 3 universities score 90 or above
- 3 more score between 80 and 89
- 16 score between 70 and 79
- 18 score between 60 and 69
That gives you 40 American universities with an overall score of 60 or higher. Among the 40 US universities with a published overall score, all score 60 or above. The remaining 66 US universities on the list have no published overall score, so the score bands say nothing about them — a missing score does not mean an institution scored below any threshold or was dropped from the ranking.
Country Leaderboard: The US in Context
To see how the US compares internationally on raw volume, here is the number of ranked institutions per country for this subject:
| Country/Region | Ranked Institutions |
|---|---|
| United States of America | 106 |
| United Kingdom | 59 |
| China (Mainland) | 57 |
| India | 44 |
| Germany | 33 |
| France | 31 |
| Italy | 26 |
| Canada | 25 |
| Australia | 24 |
| Spain | 24 |
The US leads with 106, followed by the UK at 59, China (Mainland) at 57, and India at 44. The gap between the US and the second-place country is substantial — more than the entire UK cohort. If volume of options matters to you, no other country offers anything close to this breadth.
What This Means for Your Choice
Three takeaways stand out from the QS 2026 data.
First, the US holds the world’s top-ranked program (MIT at rank 1) and dominates the top 10 with five entries. If you are aiming for the absolute highest tier, the US is where most of those seats are.
Second, the middle band is unusually deep. With 18 programs in the top 50 and 27 in the top 100, you can be selective about fit — research focus, campus environment, industry connections — without dropping out of the global top tier.
Third, the tail is long. The presence of 56 American universities outside the global top 300 means the US academic system in this field is not a thin elite but a wide ecosystem. For students who prioritize factors like cost, location, or specific research niches over global rank, there are still dozens of ranked options to consider.
Data Notes
The figures in this article come from the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026, published by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), with a data reference date of 2026-04-03. The ranking covers 60 subject-specific tables and incorporates five component indicators: Academic Reputation, Employer Reputation, Citations per Paper, H-Index, and International Research Network. The official source is available at QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026
The US-specific dataset in this article was derived by filtering the global Computer Science & Information Systems table for institutions located in the United States. A total of 106 US universities appear on this subject list. Rank values are reported as the lower-bound integer of each institution’s rank band. No median rank is calculated for the 106 US-ranked institutions on this subject table: the institution at the median position has only a published rank range, and rank ranges cannot be used for medians.
One boundary to keep in mind: the global subject ranking lists 850 universities across 79 countries for Computer Science & Information Systems, and the US contributes 106 of those. The ranking does not cover every institution offering a computer science degree in the US — it is a selection of the world’s strongest programs. The absence of a particular school from this list does not necessarily indicate a weak program; it may simply reflect that the school did not meet the ranking’s inclusion criteria for this subject.
| Subject Rank | Institution | Country/Region | Academic Reputation | Employer Reputation | Citations | Overall Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | United States of America | 94.7 | 97.3 | 93.6 | 94.9 |
| 2 | Stanford University | United States of America | 91.7 | 96.8 | 96 | 92.9 |
| 3 | Carnegie Mellon University | United States of America | 100 | 77.9 | 93.7 | 90.9 |
| 6 | University of California, Berkeley (UCB) | United States of America | 87 | 88.8 | 98.6 | 89.1 |
| 7 | Harvard University | United States of America | 81.4 | 100 | 92.1 | 89 |
| 14 | Princeton University | United States of America | 79.1 | 83.4 | 94.9 | 82.4 |
| 17 | Cornell University | United States of America | 75 | 81 | 91.3 | 79.7 |
| 19 | University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) | United States of America | 75.3 | 81.1 | 88.5 | 79 |
| 21 | Yale University | United States of America | 71.2 | 89.9 | 85.1 | 78.6 |
| 22 | Columbia University | United States of America | 71.6 | 84.6 | 90 | 78.5 |
| 22 | University of Washington | United States of America | 79.4 | 70.3 | 93.5 | 78.5 |
| 22 | New York University (NYU) | United States of America | 75.4 | 77.4 | 89.4 | 78.5 |
| 32 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | United States of America | 73.4 | 72.1 | 86.4 | 76.5 |
| 34 | Georgia Institute of Technology | United States of America | 68 | 75.4 | 87.6 | 75.4 |
| 36 | University of Pennsylvania | United States of America | 67.2 | 80.4 | 88.9 | 75.3 |
| 39 | University of Texas at Austin | United States of America | 70.1 | 73.6 | 87.3 | 75 |
| 40 | California Institute of Technology (Caltech) | United States of America | 68.6 | 82.3 | 83 | 74.7 |
| 42 | University of California, San Diego (UCSD) | United States of America | 69.8 | 72.2 | 88.1 | 74.5 |
| 52 | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | United States of America | 65.1 | 69.6 | 87.6 | 72.5 |
| 64 | University of Chicago | United States of America | 64.7 | 74.9 | 85.6 | 70.5 |