The Hardman Rankings

← World University Rankings 2026

Northeastern University, USA

United StatesROR 04t5xt781
#68
World University Rankings 2026 · 90% range 45–127 of 1,240 · score 64.7
Research Index =183

How it scores

Research
85
Alumni outcomes
93
Admissions & earnings
28/157

Research and Alumni outcomes are percentiles among 1,240 universities; alumni outcomes are counted per student. Admissions & earnings is the position among universities in the same country (United States).

Admissions, outcomes and alumni

Admit rate
5.2% src
Average SAT
1,497 src
Yield (admits who enrol)
50% src
Median earnings 10 years after entry
$92,538 src
40-year return on investment (Georgetown CEW)
$3.07M src
Average net price per year
$30,915 src
Graduation rate (6 years)
91% src
Rhodes Scholars, 2021–26
0 src
Alumni founders of VC-backed companies (PitchBook)
367 src
Internationally notable alumni (Wikidata)
35 src
Heads of state or government (Wikidata)
0 src
Students (undergraduate / total)
15,719 / 30,212

Each figure links to its source. Admissions and earnings figures are comparable only within a country.

Research Index

A · Quality
89.4
B · Strength
66.9

Percentiles among 1,305 ranked universities. Rank on quality alone: =130. On strength alone: =432. The Research Index scores research only; admissions, earnings and alumni outcomes are scored in the overall ranking where data exists.

The numbers behind it (2020–2023)

Papers in the top 10% of their field
13.5% (12.7%–14.4%)
Papers in the top 1% of their field
1.7% (1.4%–2.1%)
Top-10% papers (fractional count)
491
All papers (fractional count)
3,639
International co-authored
47.1%
Open access
67.0%
Papers from 2020–23 since retracted
7 (0.64 per 1,000)

Core publications, fractional counting, field-normalised citation shares. Brackets show Leiden’s stability interval. Collaboration and open-access shares use full counting and aren’t field-normalised. Retraction counts come from the Retraction Watch database and include publishers’ mass retractions as well as honest-error retractions; a retraction is not by itself evidence of misconduct, and the count is never scored.

By field

Biomedical & health sciences185range 129–305 of 1,671
Life & earth sciences=762range 601–875 of 1,092
Mathematics & computer science=108range 69–228 of 1,391
Physical sciences & engineering=129range 81–212 of 1,742
Social sciences & humanities=162range 104–281 of 1,262

Position over time

top 10%top 30%2006–2009: 253 of 5712020–2023: 183 of 1,305

The same method applied to each 4-year publication window. The number of ranked universities grows from period to period, so position is shown as a share of the field.

How other rankings place it

=183Research Index 2026
–QS 2027 (not in top 100)
–THE 2027 (not in top 100)
–ARWU 2026 (not in top 100)

Other rankings are cited for comparison. The Research Index measures research only; QS and THE also use reputation surveys and figures universities submit, and ARWU counts prize winners and total output.

Prize winners

No Nobel, Fields, Turing or Abel laureates linked to this university in Wikidata.