List of research universities in the United States

This is a list of universities in the United States classified among research universities in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. This defines research institutions as those that spend more than $2.5 million on research and development", and assigns these institutions to one of three research designations based on total research expenditures and production of research doctorates.

History

The 1994 edition of the Carnegie Classification defined Research I universities as those that:

Offer a full range of baccalaureate programs
Are committed to graduate education through the doctorate
Give high priority to research
Award 50 or more doctoral degrees each year
Receive annually $40 million or more in federal support

The Carnegie Foundation reported that 59 institutions met these criteria in 1994.
In their interim 2000 edition of the classification, the Carnegie Foundation renamed the category to Doctoral/research universities-extensive in order to avoid the inference that the categories signify quality differences." The foundation replaced their single classification system with a multiple classification system in their 2005 comprehensive overhaul of the classification framework so that the term "Research I university" was no longer valid, though many universities continued to use it.
In 2015, the Carnegie Classification System reinstated the "Research I university" designations along with "Research II" and "Research III." The system in use from 2018, included the following three categories for doctoral universities:

R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity
R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity
D/PU: Doctoral/Professional Universities

In the 2018 classification, institutions were classified as either R1 or R2 if they "conferred at least 20 research/scholarship doctorates in 2016-17 and reported at least $5 million in total research expenditures." A "research activity index" was then calculated that included the following measures:

Research & development expenditures in science and engineering
R&D expenditures in non-S&E fields
S&E research staff
Doctoral conferrals in humanities, social science, STEM fields, and in other fields

These four measures were combined using principal component analysis to create two indices of research activity, one representing an aggregate level of research activity and the other representing per-capita research activity. Institutions that were high on both indices were classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity."
In the 2025 classification, all institutions with more than $2.5 million in research expenditure were classified into three "Research Activity Designations":

Research 1: Very High Research Spending and Doctorate Production
Research 2: High Research Spending and Doctorate Production
Research Colleges and Universities

This revision also introduced a clear threshold for R1 classification, replacing the 10-metric score that had been used since 2005: have $50 million in total annual research expenditures, and grant 70 research doctorates per year. The threshold for R2 classification remained: have $5 million in total annual research expenditures, and grant 20 research doctorates per year. In both cases, the thresholds are taken as the higher of the most recent year or a three-year rolling average. Institutions that did not meet either the R1 or R2 thresholds but did have more than $2.5 million in research expenditure were classified as RCUs, without any requirement for awarding research doctorates. The titles for R1 and R2 were also changed, with the words "research activity" replaced by "research spending and doctorate production".

Universities classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research spending and doctorate production"

There are 187 institutions that are classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research spending and doctorate production" in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education as of the 2025 update.
R1 universities spend at least $50 million a year on research and development and award at least 70 research doctorates.
Prior to the 2025 update, the R1 designation indicated that the university had a very high level of either aggregate research activity or per capita research activity.

Name	City	State	Control
American University	Washington	DC	Private not-for-profit
Arizona State University	Tempe	AZ	Public
Auburn University	Auburn	AL	Public
	Houston	TX	Private not-for-profit
	Waco	TX	Private not-for-profit
Binghamton University	Binghamton	NY	Public
Boston College	Chestnut Hill	MA	Private not-for-profit
Boston University	Boston	MA	Private not-for-profit
Brandeis University	Waltham	MA	Private not-for-profit
Brigham Young University	Provo	UT	Private not-for-profit
Brown University	Providence	RI	Private not-for-profit
	Pasadena	CA	Private not-for-profit
Carnegie Mellon University	Pittsburgh	PA	Private not-for-profit
Case Western Reserve University	Cleveland	OH	Private not-for-profit
Catholic University of America	Washington	DC	Private not-for-profit
Clemson University	Clemson	SC	Public
	Golden	CO	Public
Colorado State University-Fort Collins	Fort Collins	CO	Public
Columbia University in the City of New York	New York	NY	Private not-for-profit
Cornell University	Ithaca	NY	Private not-for-profit
CUNY Graduate School and University Center	New York	NY	Public
Dartmouth College	Hanover	NH	Private not-for-profit
Drexel University	Philadelphia	PA	Private not-for-profit
Duke University	Durham	NC	Private not-for-profit
East Carolina University	Greenville	NC	Public
Emory University	Atlanta	GA	Private not-for-profit
Florida Atlantic University	Boca Raton	FL	Public
Florida International University	Miami	FL	Public
Florida State University	Tallahassee	FL	Public
George Mason University	Fairfax	VA	Public
George Washington University	Washington	DC	Private not-for-profit
Georgetown University	Washington	DC	Private not-for-profit
	Atlanta	GA	Public
Georgia State University	Atlanta	GA	Public
Harvard University	Cambridge	MA	Private not-for-profit
Howard University	Washington	DC	Private not-for-profit
	Bloomington	IN	Public
	Indianapolis	IN	Public
Iowa State University	Ames	IA	Public
Johns Hopkins University	Baltimore	MD	Private not-for-profit
Kansas State University	Manhattan	KS	Public
Kent State University at Kent	Kent	OH	Public
Lehigh University	Bethlehem	PA	Private not-for-profit
Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College	Baton Rouge	LA	Public
	Chicago	IL	Private not-for-profit
	Cambridge	MA	Private not-for-profit
Medical University of South Carolina	Charleston	SC	Public
Michigan State University	East Lansing	MI	Public
Michigan Technological University	Houghton	MI	Public
Mississippi State University	Mississippi State	MS	Public
	Rolla	MO	Public
Montana State University	Bozeman	MT	Public
New Jersey Institute of Technology	Newark	NJ	Public
New Mexico State University-Main Campus	Las Cruces	NM	Public
New York University	New York	NY	Private not-for-profit
North Carolina State University at Raleigh	Raleigh	NC	Public
North Dakota State University-Main Campus	Fargo	ND	Public
Northeastern University	Boston	MA	Private not-for-profit
Northern Arizona University	Flagstaff	AZ	Public
Northwestern University	Evanston	IL	Private not-for-profit
Nova Southeastern University	Fort Lauderdale	FL	Private not-for-profit
Ohio State University-Main Campus	Columbus	OH	Public
	Athens	OH	Public
Oklahoma State University	Stillwater	OK	Public
Old Dominion University	Norfolk	VA	Public
Oregon State University	Corvallis	OR	Public
Princeton University	Princeton	NJ	Private not-for-profit
Purdue University	West Lafayette	IN	Public
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	Troy	NY	Private not-for-profit
Rice University	Houston	TX	Private not-for-profit
Rutgers University-New Brunswick	New Brunswick	NJ	Public
Saint Louis University		MO	Private not-for-profit
San Diego State University	San Diego	CA	Public
Southern Illinois University-Carbondale	Carbondale	IL	Public
Southern Methodist University	Dallas	TX	Private not-for-profit
Stanford University	Stanford	CA	Private not-for-profit
Stony Brook University	Stony Brook	NY	Public
Syracuse University	Syracuse	NY	Private not-for-profit
Temple University	Philadelphia	PA	Public
Texas A & M University-College Station	College Station	TX	Public
Texas Tech University	Lubbock	TX	Public
	University Park	PA	Public
	Tuscaloosa	AL	Public
	Missoula	MT	Public
	Memphis	TN	Public
	Knoxville	TN	Public
	Arlington	TX	Public
	Austin	TX	Public
	Richardson	TX	Public
	El Paso	TX	Public
	San Antonio	TX	Public
	Houston	TX	Public
	San Antonio	TX	Public
Tufts University	Medford	MA	Private not-for-profit
Tulane University of Louisiana	New Orleans	LA	Private not-for-profit
	Albany	NY	Public
	Buffalo	NY	Public
	Birmingham	AL	Public
	Tucson	AZ	Public
	Fayetteville	AR	Public
	Berkeley	CA	Public
	Davis	CA	Public
	Irvine	CA	Public
	Los Angeles	CA	Public
	Merced	CA	Public
	Riverside	CA	Public
	La Jolla	CA	Public
	San Francisco	CA	Public
	Santa Barbara	CA	Public
	Santa Cruz	CA	Public
	Orlando	FL	Public
	Chicago	IL	Private not-for-profit
	Cincinnati	OH	Public
	Boulder	CO	Public
	Denver	CO	Public
	Storrs	CT	Public
	Dayton	OH	Private not-for-profit
	Newark	DE	Public
	Denver	CO	Private not-for-profit
	Gainesville	FL	Public
	Athens	GA	Public
	Honolulu	HI	Public
	Houston	TX	Public
	Moscow	ID	Public
	Chicago	IL	Public
	Champaign	IL	Public
	Iowa City	IA	Public
	Lawrence	KS	Public
	Lexington	KY	Public
	Lafayette	LA	Public
	Louisville	KY	Public
	Orono	ME	Public
	Catonsville	MD	Public
	College Park	MD	Public
	Baltimore	MD	Public
	Amherst	MA	Public
	Boston	MA	Public
	Lowell	MA	Public
	Memphis	TN	Public
	Coral Gables	FL	Private not-for-profit
	Ann Arbor	MI	Public
	Minneapolis	MN	Public
	University	MS	Public
	Columbia	MO	Public
	Kansas City	MO	Public
	Omaha	NE	Public
	Lincoln	NE	Public
	Las Vegas	NV	Public
	Reno	NV	Public
	Durham	NH	Public
	Albuquerque	NM	Public
	Chapel Hill	NC	Public
	Charlotte	NC	Public
	Grand Forks	ND	Public
	Denton	TX	Public
	Notre Dame	IN	Private not-for-profit
	Norman	OK	Public
	Eugene	OR	Public
	Philadelphia	PA	Private not-for-profit
	Pittsburgh	PA	Public
	Kingston	RI	Public
	Rochester	NY	Private not-for-profit
	Columbia	SC	Public
	Tampa	FL	Public
	Los Angeles	CA	Private not-for-profit
	Hattiesburg	MS	Public
	Dallas	TX	Public
	Toledo	OH	Public
	Salt Lake City	UT	Public
	Burlington	VT	Public
	Charlottesville	VA	Public
	Seattle	WA	Public
	Madison	WI	Public
	Milwaukee	WI	Public
	Laramie	WY	Public
Utah State University	Logan	UT	Public
Vanderbilt University	Nashville	TN	Private not-for-profit
Virginia Commonwealth University	Richmond	VA	Public
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	Blacksburg	VA	Public
Washington State University	Pullman	WA	Public
Washington University in St Louis		MO	Private not-for-profit
Wayne State University	Detroit	MI	Public
Weill Cornell Medicine	New York	NY	Private not-for-profit
West Virginia University	Morgantown	WV	Public
	Williamsburg	VA	Public
Worcester Polytechnic Institute	Worcester	MA	Private not-for-profit
Yale University	New Haven	CT	Private not-for-profit