TaxProf Blog

2026-27 U.S. News Law School Peer Reputation Rankings (And Overall Rankings)

April 7, 2026

Law School Rankings, Legal Ed News, Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education

Continuing a TaxProf Blog tradition, here is the full list of the 194 law schools ranked by academic peer reputation, as well as their overall rank, in the new 2026-27 U.S. News Law School Rankings (methodology):

Peer Rank	Peer Score	School	Overall Rank
1	4.8	Stanford	1
2	4.7	Yale	2
2	4.7	Harvard	6
4	4.6	Chicago	2
5	4.5	NYU	7
5	4.5	Columbia	9
5	4.5	UC-Berkeley	16
8	4.4	Penn	4
8	4.4	Virginia	4
8	4.4	Michigan	9
11	4.3	Duke	7
11	4.3	Georgetown	18
13	4.2	Northwestern	9
13	4.2	Cornell	13
13	4.2	UCLA	13
16	4.1	Vanderbilt	12
17	4	Texas	16
18	3.9	Washington Univ.	13
19	3.7	Notre Dame	20
19	3.7	Minnesota	22
19	3.7	USC	26
19	3.7	UC-Irvine	34
23	3.6	North Carolina	18
23	3.6	Boston Univ.	24
23	3.6	Emory	40
23	3.6	UC-Davis	52
27	3.5	Boston College	20
27	3.5	George Washington	26
27	3.5	Georgia	26
27	3.5	Wisconsin	26
27	3.5	Iowa	32
27	3.5	William & Mary	34
33	3.4	Ohio State	30
33	3.4	Fordham	42
33	3.4	Arizona State	44
36	3.3	Florida	34
36	3.3	Washington & Lee	34
36	3.3	Alabama	40
36	3.3	Indiana (Maurer)	49
36	3.3	Univ. of Washington	52
36	3.3	Colorado	54
36	3.3	University of Arizona	70
43	3.2	Wake Forest	30
43	3.2	Florida State	34
43	3.2	Utah	44
43	3.2	Illinois	46
43	3.2	Tulane	70
48	3.1	Texas A&M	22
48	3.1	BYU	24
48	3.1	Maryland	62
48	3.1	UC-San Francisco	85
52	3	San Diego	54
52	3	Connecticut	58
52	3	Cardozo	59
52	3	American	108
52	3	Howard	117
57	2.9	SMU	42
57	2.9	Pepperdine	46
57	2.9	Kansas	46
57	2.9	Temple	49
57	2.9	Villanova	49
57	2.9	Houston	54
57	2.9	Richmond	62
57	2.9	Georgia State	77
65	2.8	Tennessee	57
65	2.8	South Carolina	62
65	2.8	Loyola-L.A.	70
65	2.8	Miami	70
65	2.8	Denver	91
65	2.8	UNLV	91
65	2.8	Oregon	91
65	2.8	Rutgers	100
73	2.7	George Mason	32
73	2.7	Loyola-Chicago	77
73	2.7	Northeastern	77
73	2.7	Pittsburgh	77
73	2.7	Hawaii	91
73	2.7	Case Western	100
73	2.7	Brooklyn	105
80	2.6	Missouri-Columbia	59
80	2.6	Penn State-Dickinson	62
80	2.6	Oklahoma	62
80	2.6	Nebraska	62
80	2.6	Seton Hall	70
80	2.6	Kentucky	70
80	2.6	Chicago-Kent	105
80	2.6	Michigan State	108
80	2.6	Santa Clara	150
89	2.5	St. John’s	62
89	2.5	Wayne State	62
89	2.5	St. Louis	91
89	2.5	Seattle	128
93	2.4	Baylor	34
93	2.4	Marquette	59
93	2.4	Drexel	82
93	2.4	Cincinnati	82
93	2.4	Lewis & Clark	112
93	2.4	Hofstra	117
93	2.4	New Mexico	117
93	2.4	Indiana (McKinney)	124
93	2.4	Louisville	124
102	2.3	Catholic	70
102	2.3	SUNY-Buffalo	82
102	2.3	Stetson	91
102	2.3	Maine	91
102	2.3	Syracuse	100
102	2.3	Arkansas-Fayetteville	100
102	2.3	Mississippi	124
102	2.3	Suffolk	128
102	2.3	DePaul	131
102	2.3	Loyola-New Orleans	135
102	2.3	Baltimore	136
102	2.3	Illinois-Chicago	167
102	2.3	CUNY	171
115	2.2	Florida Int’l	77
115	2.2	Louisiana State	85
115	2.2	Missouri-Kansas City	100
115	2.2	St. Thomas (MN)	105
115	2.2	New York Law School	112
115	2.2	Gonzaga	144
121	2.1	Montana	90
121	2.1	Drake	91
121	2.1	Mercer	108
121	2.1	Washburn	108
121	2.1	Wyoming	112
121	2.1	Albany	120
121	2.1	Pace	142
121	2.1	Creighton	144
121	2.1	Vermont	154
121	2.1	San Francisco	156
121	2.1	Willamette	168
132	2	Duquesne	85
132	2	Texas Tech	85
132	2	Quinnipiac	136
132	2	New Hampshire	136
132	2	Idaho	148
132	2	St. Mary’s	150
132	2	Mitchell \| Hamline	152
132	2	Pacific	152
140	1.9	Dayton	112
140	1.9	Tulsa	120
140	1.9	South Dakota	122
140	1.9	West Virginia	124
140	1.9	Akron	131
140	1.9	Cleveland State	136
140	1.9	Arkansas-Little Rock	140
140	1.9	Detroit Mercy	142
140	1.9	Toledo	149
140	1.9	Widener (DE)	154
140	1.9	North Dakota	156
140	1.9	Southwestern	161
152	1.8	Belmont	85
152	1.8	Chapman	112
152	1.8	Memphis	140
152	1.8	Elon	144
152	1.8	Northern Illinois	161
152	1.8	Roger Williams	171
152	1.8	Southern Illinois	Tier 2
159	1.7	Touro	164
159	1.7	Cal-Western	Tier 2
159	1.7	Widener (PA)	Tier 2
162	1.6	Samford	122
162	1.6	South Texas	128
162	1.6	Campbell	131
162	1.6	Northern Kentucky	131
162	1.6	Oklahoma City	156
162	1.6	North Texas	159
162	1.6	Mississippi College	161
162	1.6	New England	168
162	1.6	Massachusetts	171
162	1.6	Florida A&M	Tier 2
162	1.6	North Carolina Central	Tier 2
162	1.6	Nova	Tier 2
162	1.6	Puerto Rico	Tier 2
162	1.6	District of Columbia	Tier 2
176	1.5	Western New England	159
176	1.5	St. Thomas (FL)	168
176	1.5	John Marshall (GA)	Tier 2
176	1.5	Capital	Tier 2
176	1.5	Ohio Northern	Tier 2
176	1.5	Southern	Tier 2
176	1.5	Texas Southern	Tier 2
183	1.4	Regent	91
183	1.4	Charleston	171
183	1.4	Inter-American (PR)	Tier 2
183	1.4	Lincoln Memorial	Tier 2
183	1.4	Pontifical Catholic (PR)	Tier 2
188	1.3	Liberty	144
188	1.3	Ave Maria	164
188	1.3	Faulkner	164
188	1.3	Appalachian	Tier 2
188	1.3	Barry	Tier 2
193	1.2	Cooley	Tier 2

About the Author

Paul Caron was named Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean of Pepperdine University School of Law on June 1, 2017. Dean Caron joined the Pepperdine faculty in 2013 after serving as the Dorothy and Leonard Straus Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law in the spring semesters of 2010 through 2013. He served as Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development at Pepperdine in 2015-2017. Before coming to Pepperdine, he was Associate Dean of Faculty and Charles Hartsock Professor of Law at the University of Cincinnati College of Law.

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