Data Science and Artificial Intelligence in United States of America: All 41 Ranked Universities, QS 2026 Data
If you have already decided to study Data Science and Artificial Intelligence in the United States, the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026 t
If you have already decided to study Data Science and Artificial Intelligence in the United States, the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026 tells you exactly how deep this country’s talent pool runs: 41 American universities appear on the global list of 201 ranked institutions across 37 countries. That is more than double the number from the next country, the United Kingdom, which has 22. China (Mainland) and Australia each place 13, India and Spain each place 8, and Canada, Italy, Malaysia, and Hong Kong SAR of China each place 7 or 6. The United States is not merely participating in this field — it holds the largest single national share of ranked programs, and it also holds the number one spot overall, with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) ranked first in the world.
The Top of the Field: Five Programs in the Global Top 10
The most striking feature of the American presence in this subject is its concentration at the very top. Out of the 41 ranked US universities, 5 sit inside the global top 10. That means one in every two of the world’s ten best Data Science and AI programs is located in the United States. These five institutions also all score 90 or above in the overall QS subject score, placing them in the highest score band that the ranking records for this discipline.
Beyond the top 10, the country’s strength continues without interruption: 9 American universities are in the top 20, 11 in the top 30, and 19 in the top 50. If you are aiming for a program that is globally recognized as elite, the United States offers roughly one fifth of all the top-50 slots in the world.
The Middle Tier: Where Most American Programs Cluster
A median rank cannot be computed for US universities in this subject: the institution at the median position has only a published rank range (51-100), so no single median figure exists. This is a useful reference point: among the 41 ranked American institutions, the one at the median position has only a published rank range of 51-100, so its exact position is not published. The distribution of the remaining programs shows a clear shape. Beyond the 19 in the top 50, there are 6 more in the rank band from 51 to 100, which brings the total inside the top 100 to 25. Then a larger group of 16 programs is listed with a published rank band of 101-200. Notably, 25 American programs are within the top 150 worldwide, while the remaining 16 are listed with a published rank band of 101-200, a range that straddles the top-150 line and is not subdivided further.
In terms of overall scores, the pattern is similar. Among the American universities with a published overall score, 8 score between 80 and 89, and 6 more score between 70 and 79. Among the American universities with a published overall score, none scores below 70; the remaining institutions are listed without a published overall score. So among the American universities with a published overall score, the lowest score is at least 70, which is a meaningful threshold in the QS methodology; the institutions without a published overall score are still ranked and are not counted in any score band.
What the Numbers Mean for Your Choice
If you are choosing a program within the United States, the ranking data suggests three distinct tiers. The first tier consists of the 5 programs in the top 10 and the additional 4 in the top 20 — these are the institutions that carry global brand recognition and the highest academic and employer reputation scores. The second tier, from rank 21 to 50, includes 8 more American universities, and together with the first tier gives you 19 options inside the global top 50. The third tier contains 22 universities, of which 6 are listed with a published rank band of 51-100 and 16 are listed with a published rank band of 101-200.
For a reader who has already fixed on the United States as the destination, the practical implication is that you are not limited to a handful of famous names. There are 41 ranked programs spread across the country, and among those with a published overall score, the scores are above 70; the institutions without a published overall score are still ranked. The depth of the field means that a strong applicant can find a well-regarded program at multiple levels of selectivity.
How the United States Compares Internationally
The country leaderboard for this subject makes the American position unambiguous. With 41 ranked institutions, the United States has nearly twice as many as the United Kingdom’s 22, and more than three times as many as China (Mainland) or Australia, each with 13. India and Spain each have 8, while Canada, Italy, Malaysia, and Hong Kong SAR of China each have 7 or 6. No other country comes close to the American total. This is not a case of a single dominant university — the United States has both the world’s number one program and the largest number of ranked programs overall.
| Country/Region | Ranked Institutions |
|---|---|
| United States of America | 41 |
| United Kingdom | 22 |
| China (Mainland) | 13 |
| Australia | 13 |
| India | 8 |
| Spain | 8 |
| Canada | 7 |
| Italy | 7 |
| Malaysia | 7 |
| Hong Kong SAR, China | 6 |
The Full List of Ranked American Programs
For readers who want to see the complete picture, the following table lists all 41 ranked universities in the United States for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, along with their subject rank and component scores. The academic reputation and employer reputation columns reflect how academics and employers worldwide perceive each institution, while the citations column and overall score provide a measure of research output and total performance.
| Subject Rank | Institution | Country/Region | Academic Reputation | Employer Reputation | Citations | Overall Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | United States of America | 100 | 100 | 93.4 | 98 |
| 2 | Stanford University | United States of America | 96.3 | 98.3 | 96.2 | 96.4 |
| 5 | Carnegie Mellon University | United States of America | 99.2 | 87.4 | 94.4 | 93.9 |
| 6 | University of California, Berkeley (UCB) | United States of America | 91.9 | 93.1 | 98.6 | 93.2 |
| 8 | Harvard University | United States of America | 89.9 | 99.3 | 91.5 | 92.8 |
| 14 | University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) | United States of America | 81.8 | 87.2 | 89 | 85 |
| 17 | Princeton University | United States of America | 80.4 | 86.7 | 93.1 | 84.2 |
| 19 | University of Washington | United States of America | 82.2 | 80.8 | 92.6 | 83.6 |
| 20 | Yale University | United States of America | 85.2 | 86.7 | 82.7 | 83.3 |
| 21 | New York University (NYU) | United States of America | 87.3 | 74.4 | 89.4 | 83.1 |
| 26 | Columbia University | United States of America | 80.7 | 78.8 | 89.6 | 81.6 |
| 33 | University of California, San Diego (UCSD) | United States of America | 75.1 | 82.4 | 87.8 | 80.2 |
| 34 | Georgia Institute of Technology | United States of America | 72.9 | 83.2 | 87.2 | 80 |
| 36 | University of Pennsylvania | United States of America | 77.5 | 79.3 | 88.9 | 79.9 |
| 42 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | United States of America | 71.9 | 77.3 | 87.3 | 77.5 |
| 43 | University of Texas at Austin | United States of America | 72.7 | 76.4 | 86.8 | 77.4 |
| 47 | University of Southern California | United States of America | 71.9 | 73 | 88.3 | 76.7 |
| 49 | University of Chicago | United States of America | 76.8 | 74.6 | 82.7 | 76.2 |
| 50 | Johns Hopkins University | United States of America | 68.9 | 74.3 | 92.2 | 76 |
| 51-100 | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | United States of America | 67.6 | 71.4 | 85.5 | — |
Data Notes
The data in this article comes from the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026, published by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), with a data reference date of 2026-04-03. The rankings cover 60 subject areas and include component scores for academic reputation, employer reputation, citations, H-index, and international research network. The subject list for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence includes 201 ranked institutions across 37 countries.
The scope of this article is limited to universities located in the United States of America. The ranking was parsed by subject name and then filtered by country. Rank values are taken as the lower bound integer. A limitation worth noting is that the QS subject rankings only include institutions that meet certain thresholds for data submission and research output; universities that are not ranked in this subject do not appear here even if they offer relevant programs. No median rank is calculated for the 41 ranked American institutions, because the institution at the median position has only a published rank range (51-100); this limitation applies to the American entries only, not to all 201 global entries. Scores below 70 do not appear among the American universities with a published overall score, but this says nothing about the institutions without a published score, and it does not imply that unranked American programs have low quality — they simply did not meet the inclusion criteria for this particular ranking.