Purdue ranks best in Big Ten in inaugural City Journal college ranking

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University ranked No. 8 in the U.S. and best in the Big Ten among the nation’s top 100 universities in the Manhattan Institute’s inaugural City Journal 2025 College Rankings, which examined the school’s qualities ranging from learning and research to free speech and student success postgraduation.

In the City Journal rankings, released Wednesday (Oct. 22), Purdue topped the U.S. in the areas of leadership quality, of alumni network, and of student political tolerance, and ranked second in the country for curricular rigor.

City Journal describes Purdue as Indiana’s largest university and “home to some of the most politically tolerant students in the country.” It adds that while students are an interesting mix, “regardless of their viewpoint, most Purdue students are willing to hear one another out. In fact, Purdue students are the second-most politically tolerant of any school that we studied. They are equally tolerant of controversial campus speakers, both from the left and the right.”

City Journal said it selected 100 schools that are highly touted by other ranking systems, widely known to the American public or of high regional importance. It analyzed them by gathering data on 68 variables across the 21 categories covering major aspects of on- and off-campus life.

The rankings combine publicly available information from sources such as the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, the Department of Education’s College Scorecard, and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s College Free Speech Rankings.

Additionally, City Journal developed original measures exclusively for this project, such as the ideological balance of student political organizations and the partisan makeup of faculty campaign contributions.