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What Is an R1 University? Research Universities Explained, With the Full List

By the Lens team · Updated October 14, 2026

An R1 university is one the Carnegie Classifications place in their highest research category, "Research 1: Very High Research Spending and Doctorate Production." Under the rules released in February 2025, that means at least $50 million a year in research spending and at least 70 research doctorates awarded. In 2025, 187 institutions qualified.

The three research designations

DesignationWhat it takes (2025)Institutions in 2025
Research 1: Very High Research Spending and Doctorate Production (R1)At least $50 million a year in research spending and at least 70 research doctorates awarded187
Research 2: High Research Spending and Doctorate Production (R2)At least $5 million in research spending and at least 20 research doctorates139
Research Colleges and Universities (RCU)More than $2.5 million in research spending, without meeting the R1 or R2 bar216

Source: Carnegie Classifications, American Council on Education, 2025 research designations (released February 13, 2025). Research spending comes from the National Science Foundation's HERD survey and doctorates from IPEDS.

What changed in 2025

The 2025 update replaced a more complicated formula with two clear thresholds for R1: $50 million in research spending and 70 research doctorates. It also added a new category, Research Colleges and Universities, for institutions that do meaningful research but award few or no doctorates, including some regional universities and liberal arts colleges. The number of R1 institutions grew 28% compared with the 2022 list.

What R1 means for an undergraduate

An R1 designation describes a university's research activity. It is not a ranking, and it doesn't measure teaching or the undergraduate experience. For a student, it tends to mean:

  • More research opportunities. Many labs, centers and faculty projects, some open to undergraduates.
  • Many graduate students. At large R1 universities, graduate students often lead lab sections and discussion groups in big introductory courses.
  • A wide range of majors and facilities, from libraries to specialized equipment.
  • Usually a large campus, though not always: Caltech, MIT, Rice, Brandeis and several others have fewer than 7,000 undergraduates.

You may thrive at an R1 university if you want to try research, like being surrounded by people working at the edge of their fields, and are comfortable seeking out professors in a large place. You may prefer a college that isn't R1 if you want small classes from day one and professors whose main job is teaching undergraduates.

R1 vs. R2

The difference is scale. R2 universities also do substantial research and award doctorates, just less of both. For an undergraduate the day-to-day difference can be small. What matters more is whether the departments you care about involve undergraduates in their work.

R1 universities that enroll undergraduates

These are the 176 R1 universities in our data that enroll at least 400 undergraduates and report admissions data, by state. A few institutions on Carnegie's R1 list aren't included because they enroll few or no undergraduates or don't report first-year admissions. 126 are public and 50 are private.

UniversityStatePublic or privateUndergrads
Auburn UniversityALPublic26,816
University of AlabamaALPublic33,227
University of Alabama at BirminghamALPublic11,635
Arizona State UniversityAZPublic64,674
Northern Arizona UniversityAZPublic22,903
University of ArizonaAZPublic42,537
University of ArkansasARPublic28,677
California Institute of TechnologyCAPrivate987
San Diego State UniversityCAPublic35,377
Stanford UniversityCAPrivate7,554
UC BerkeleyCAPublic33,068
UC DavisCAPublic32,253
UC IrvineCAPublic30,197
UC MercedCAPublic8,372
UC RiversideCAPublic22,593
UC San DiegoCAPublic34,948
UC Santa BarbaraCAPublic23,113
UC Santa CruzCAPublic17,940
UCLACAPublic33,475
University of Southern CaliforniaCAPrivate20,443
Colorado School of MinesCOPublic6,155
Colorado State UniversityCOPublic25,538
University of Colorado BoulderCOPublic31,939
University of Colorado Denver/AnschutzCOPublic10,519
University of DenverCOPrivate6,025
University of ConnecticutCTPublic19,835
Yale UniversityCTPrivate6,758
University of DelawareDEPublic19,071
American UniversityDCPrivate7,266
George Washington UniversityDCPrivate11,182
Georgetown UniversityDCPrivate7,569
Howard UniversityDCPrivate10,108
The Catholic University of AmericaDCPrivate3,154
Florida Atlantic UniversityFLPublic23,757
Florida International UniversityFLPublic39,508
Florida State UniversityFLPublic32,212
Nova Southeastern UniversityFLPrivate7,240
University of Central FloridaFLPublic59,146
University of FloridaFLPublic35,629
University of MiamiFLPrivate12,913
University of South FloridaFLPublic37,207
Emory UniversityGAPrivate7,298
Georgia State UniversityGAPublic26,623
Georgia TechGAPublic18,785
University of GeorgiaGAPublic32,137
University of Hawaii at ManoaHIPublic15,029
University of IdahoIDPublic7,747
Loyola University ChicagoILPrivate11,737
Northwestern UniversityILPrivate9,201
Southern Illinois University CarbondaleILPublic8,494
University of ChicagoILPrivate7,569
University of Illinois ChicagoILPublic22,170
University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignILPublic36,258
Indiana University BloomingtonINPublic37,806
Indiana University IndianapolisINPublic13,830
Purdue UniversityINPublic44,503
University of Notre DameINPrivate8,818
Iowa State UniversityIAPublic25,367
University of IowaIAPublic22,264
Kansas State UniversityKSPublic15,142
University of KansasKSPublic21,217
University of KentuckyKYPublic24,763
University of LouisvilleKYPublic14,727
LSULAPublic30,594
Tulane UniversityLAPrivate7,767
University of Louisiana at LafayetteLAPublic12,428
University of MaineMEPublic8,496
Johns Hopkins UniversityMDPrivate5,693
University of MarylandMDPublic30,760
University of Maryland-Baltimore CountyMDPublic10,701
Boston CollegeMAPrivate10,085
Boston UniversityMAPrivate18,248
Brandeis UniversityMAPrivate3,618
Harvard UniversityMAPrivate7,601
Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMAPrivate4,535
Northeastern UniversityMAPrivate17,326
Tufts UniversityMAPrivate7,061
UMass AmherstMAPublic23,671
University of Massachusetts-BostonMAPublic11,512
University of Massachusetts-LowellMAPublic11,434
Worcester Polytechnic InstituteMAPrivate5,447
Michigan State UniversityMIPublic40,922
Michigan Technological UniversityMIPublic5,955
University of MichiganMIPublic34,177
Wayne State UniversityMIPublic15,587
University of MinnesotaMNPublic31,855
Mississippi State UniversityMSPublic18,397
University of MississippiMSPublic21,473
University of Southern MississippiMSPublic10,075
Missouri University of Science and TechnologyMOPublic5,521
Saint Louis UniversityMOPrivate7,267
University of MissouriMOPublic23,929
University of Missouri-Kansas CityMOPublic6,817
Washington University in St. LouisMOPrivate7,857
Montana State UniversityMTPublic14,451
University of MontanaMTPublic7,488
University of Nebraska-LincolnNEPublic19,178
University of Nevada-Las VegasNVPublic24,622
University of Nevada-RenoNVPublic15,599
Dartmouth CollegeNHPrivate4,541
University of New HampshireNHPublic11,261
New Jersey Institute of TechnologyNJPublic9,019
Princeton UniversityNJPrivate5,709
Rutgers University-New BrunswickNJPublic37,751
New Mexico State UniversityNMPublic11,946
University of New MexicoNMPublic17,244
Binghamton UniversityNYPublic14,655
Columbia UniversityNYPrivate8,973
Cornell UniversityNYPrivate15,995
New York UniversityNYPrivate28,663
Rensselaer Polytechnic InstituteNYPrivate5,714
Stony Brook UniversityNYPublic18,101
Syracuse UniversityNYPrivate15,477
University at AlbanyNYPublic12,564
University at BuffaloNYPublic20,112
University of RochesterNYPrivate6,331
Duke UniversityNCPrivate6,442
East Carolina UniversityNCPublic19,896
NC StateNCPublic27,371
University of North Carolina at Chapel HillNCPublic20,752
University of North Carolina at CharlotteNCPublic24,453
North Dakota State UniversityNDPublic9,471
University of North DakotaNDPublic9,981
Case Western Reserve UniversityOHPrivate6,437
Kent State UniversityOHPublic19,320
Ohio State UniversityOHPublic45,638
Ohio UniversityOHPublic19,633
University of CincinnatiOHPublic29,882
University of DaytonOHPrivate7,682
University of ToledoOHPublic9,770
Oklahoma State UniversityOKPublic21,773
University of OklahomaOKPublic22,734
Oregon State UniversityORPublic30,743
University of OregonORPublic20,497
Carnegie Mellon UniversityPAPrivate7,304
Drexel UniversityPAPrivate13,233
Lehigh UniversityPAPrivate5,898
Penn State (University Park)PAPublic42,284
Temple UniversityPAPublic20,970
University of PennsylvaniaPAPrivate10,650
University of PittsburghPAPublic20,370
Brown UniversityRIPrivate7,226
University of Rhode IslandRIPublic13,381
Clemson UniversitySCPublic23,300
University of South CarolinaSCPublic29,820
University of MemphisTNPublic12,701
University of Tennessee, KnoxvilleTNPublic30,418
Vanderbilt UniversityTNPrivate7,208
Baylor UniversityTXPrivate14,785
Rice UniversityTXPrivate4,776
Southern Methodist UniversityTXPrivate7,277
Texas A&M UniversityTXPublic59,615
Texas Tech UniversityTXPublic32,394
University of HoustonTXPublic38,380
University of North TexasTXPublic34,341
University of Texas at ArlingtonTXPublic32,294
University of Texas at AustinTXPublic42,855
University of Texas at DallasTXPublic21,751
University of Texas at El PasoTXPublic21,005
University of Texas at San AntonioTXPublic30,580
Brigham Young UniversityUTPrivate32,952
University of UtahUTPublic27,264
Utah State UniversityUTPublic20,272
University of VermontVTPublic11,743
George Mason UniversityVAPublic27,752
Old Dominion UniversityVAPublic17,514
University of VirginiaVAPublic17,597
Virginia Commonwealth UniversityVAPublic20,753
Virginia TechVAPublic30,923
William & MaryVAPublic7,055
University of WashingtonWAPublic31,942
Washington State UniversityWAPublic21,099
West Virginia UniversityWVPublic17,385
University of Wisconsin-MadisonWIPublic36,902
University of Wisconsin-MilwaukeeWIPublic16,758
University of WyomingWYPublic7,944

Sources: Carnegie Classifications 2025 research designations; IPEDS undergraduate enrollment, fall 2024.

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FAQ

What does R1 mean? It's the Carnegie Classifications' top research designation, "Research 1: Very High Research Spending and Doctorate Production." Since 2025 it requires at least $50 million a year in research spending and at least 70 research doctorates.

How many R1 universities are there? 187, as of the 2025 research designations.

What's the difference between R1 and R2? R2 universities spend at least $5 million on research and award at least 20 research doctorates a year; R1 universities spend at least $50 million and award at least 70.

Is an R1 university better for undergraduates? Not necessarily. R1 measures research, not teaching quality or student experience. It may suit you if research opportunities matter to you; a smaller, teaching-focused college may suit you better if you want small classes and close contact with professors.

How often are research designations updated? The Carnegie Classifications are published on a three-year cycle.

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