Top 100 U.S. Universities by Endowment Size, 2026
Top 100 U.S. Universities and Related Foundations by Endowment Size, 2026
This ranking measures endowment market value for U.S. colleges, universities, university systems, and institutionally related foundations reported in the 2025 NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments. The 2026 snapshot is based on the latest public FY2025 endowment table, with values measured at fiscal year-end 2025 and shown in billions of U.S. dollars.
Source type: single official public NACUBO data table for row values, with separate context sources listed below. Coverage: U.S. participating institutions and related foundations only. Unit: endowment market value in USD billions, rounded to two decimals. Direction: higher value ranks higher. All 100 rows are official_value; this page does not use official forecasts or modeled projections.
University systems and related foundations are included when NACUBO lists them as reporting entities. This means the table is a reporting-entity ranking, not a campus-only ranking and not a global ranking of every university in the world.
Snapshot summary
Harvard University leads the table by FY2025 endowment market value.
Arizona State University is the 100th listed reporting entity in this snapshot.
Top 100 U.S. participating reporting entities; values are rounded to billions of U.S. dollars.
100 official_value rows, 0 official_forecast rows, and 0 modeled_projection rows.
Overview
Wealth at the top is heavily concentrated. Ten reporting entities clear $20 billion in the FY2025 snapshot — Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, MIT, the University of Texas System, Penn, the Texas A&M System, Michigan and the University of California Regents — a mix of private research universities and large public systems reporting at the system or foundation level.
Endowment size is not the same as spending power. Most of these funds are donor-restricted and invested for the long term, and each institution draws only a set percentage a year under its spending policy. A $50 billion endowment does not put $50 billion on the table; it funds aid, faculty, research and facilities gradually, across decades.
Top 10 endowment reporting entities
The Top 10 shows both private endowment concentration and the scale of large public systems. Harvard remains the largest reporting entity, while the University of Texas System, Texas A&M System, University of Michigan, and the University of California Regents show how system-level public endowments can rank alongside the largest private universities.
| Rank | Entity | Value | State / note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harvard University | $55.67B | MA · official_value · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 2 | Yale University | $44.15B | CT · official_value · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 3 | Stanford University | $40.79B | CA · official_value · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 4 | The Trustees of Princeton University | $36.42B | NJ · official_value · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 5 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | $27.37B | MA · official_value · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 6 | The University of Texas System | $27.17B | TX · official_value · NACUBO FY2025 · public system reporting entity |
| 7 | The University of Pennsylvania | $24.81B | PA · official_value · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 8 | The Texas A&M University System & Related Foundations | $22.23B | TX · official_value · NACUBO FY2025 · system and related foundations |
| 9 | University of Michigan | $21.20B | MI · official_value · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 10 | The Regents of the University of California | $20.15B | CA · official_value · NACUBO FY2025 · system reporting entity |
Values are rounded to two decimals in billions of U.S. dollars. Equal rounded values are kept as separate ranked rows using the source order after sorting by value.
Chart: Top 20 by endowment size
The bar chart compares the 20 largest reporting entities. The drop from Harvard to the rest is the point: the top of the list is a cliff, not a gentle slope.
Fallback summary: the Top 20 range from Harvard at $55.67B to Vanderbilt at $10.86B, with the Top 10 threshold at $20.15B.
Methodology
Metric: endowment market value. Unit: billions of U.S. dollars, rounded to two decimals. Direction: descending, so larger endowment market value ranks higher. Target year: 2026 snapshot. Data year: FY2025, because the public NACUBO-Commonfund FY2025 endowment market value table is the latest available official source for this ranking cycle.
Source hierarchy and source mode
The ranking values use the official NACUBO-Commonfund public FY2025 endowment market value table. NACUBO public pages and press materials are used only for context about survey coverage, fiscal-year timing, total assets, spending, and study limitations.
Inclusion and exclusion
The table includes U.S. participating institutions, systems, and institutionally related foundations where NACUBO reports an FY2025 endowment market value. Canadian rows and non-participating institutions are excluded from this U.S. reporting-entity table.
Official, forecast, and projection difference
Every row is marked official_value. No official_forecast rows are used. No modeled_projection rows are used. There is no projection formula, base value, growth assumption, or trend model in this ranking.
Rounding and ranking
Values are shown in USD billions rounded to two decimals for readability. Ranking is based on the displayed endowment value in descending order. Equal rounded values remain separate entries and are ordered consistently with the source-derived listing.
Missing values and conflicts
Rows without a published FY2025 value are not included. Conflicts are not averaged. The source priority is official NACUBO-Commonfund data, then official institutional reports only for context if needed.
What the metric does not measure
This metric ranks the size of an investment pool and nothing else. It says nothing about teaching quality, research output, affordability or how much an institution can actually spend in a year, since most funds are restricted by donor purpose and released only through a spending policy.
Full ranking table
Use the controls to search, filter, sort, or limit the visible rows. The original ranking remains embedded in the HTML table.
| Rank | Entity | Value | State / note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harvard University | $55.67B | official_value MA · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 2 | Yale University | $44.15B | official_value CT · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 3 | Stanford University | $40.79B | official_value CA · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 4 | The Trustees of Princeton University | $36.42B | official_value NJ · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 5 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | $27.37B | official_value MA · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 6 | The University of Texas System | $27.17B | official_value TX · NACUBO FY2025 · public system reporting entity |
| 7 | The University of Pennsylvania | $24.81B | official_value PA · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 8 | The Texas A&M University System & Related Foundations | $22.23B | official_value TX · NACUBO FY2025 · system and related foundations |
| 9 | University of Michigan | $21.20B | official_value MI · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 10 | The Regents of the University of California | $20.15B | official_value CA · NACUBO FY2025 · system reporting entity |
| 11 | University of Notre Dame | $20.09B | official_value IN · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 12 | Columbia University in the City of New York | $15.92B | official_value NY · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 13 | Northwestern University | $15.17B | official_value IL · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 14 | Johns Hopkins University | $13.73B | official_value MD · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 15 | Washington University in St. Louis | $13.30B | official_value MO · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 16 | Duke University | $12.32B | official_value NC · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 17 | Emory University | $12.00B | official_value GA · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 18 | Cornell University | $11.75B | official_value NY · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 19 | University of Virginia | $11.23B | official_value VA · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 20 | Vanderbilt University | $10.86B | official_value TN · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 21 | University of Chicago | $10.62B | official_value IL · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 22 | University of Southern California | $9.03B | official_value CA · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 23 | Dartmouth College | $8.96B | official_value NH · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 24 | The Ohio State University | $8.62B | official_value OH · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 25 | Rice University | $8.50B | official_value TX · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 26 | Brown University | $7.28B | official_value RI · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 27 | New York University | $7.28B | official_value NY · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 28 | The University of Texas at Austin | $6.49B | official_value TX · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 29 | University of Minnesota & Foundations | $6.45B | official_value MN · university and foundations |
| 30 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | $6.22B | official_value NC · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 31 | University of Pittsburgh | $6.15B | official_value PA · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 32 | The Pennsylvania State University | $5.06B | official_value PA · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 33 | University of Wisconsin Foundation | $4.92B | official_value WI · foundation reporting entity |
| 34 | UCLA Foundation | $4.77B | official_value CA · foundation reporting entity |
| 35 | Michigan State University | $4.61B | official_value MI · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 36 | Purdue University | $4.44B | official_value IN · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 37 | California Institute of Technology | $4.32B | official_value CA · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 38 | Carnegie Mellon University | $4.29B | official_value PA · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 39 | Boston College | $4.24B | official_value MA · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 40 | Indiana University Foundation | $4.05B | official_value IN · foundation reporting entity |
| 41 | Boston University | $4.02B | official_value MA · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 42 | Georgetown University | $3.95B | official_value DC · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 43 | Williams College | $3.93B | official_value MA · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 44 | Amherst College | $3.90B | official_value MA · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 45 | University of Illinois & Foundations | $3.80B | official_value IL · university and foundations |
| 46 | University of Iowa and Foundations | $3.77B | official_value IA · university and foundations |
| 47 | Georgia Institute of Technology and Related Foundations | $3.51B | official_value GA · related foundations |
| 48 | University of Richmond | $3.49B | official_value VA · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 49 | University of California Berkeley Foundation | $3.39B | official_value CA · foundation reporting entity |
| 50 | University of California San Francisco | $3.29B | official_value CA · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 51 | University of Rochester | $3.24B | official_value NY · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 52 | Virginia Commonwealth University and Affiliated Entities | $3.23B | official_value VA · affiliated entities |
| 53 | Pomona College | $3.22B | official_value CA · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 54 | Wellesley College | $3.19B | official_value MA · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 55 | Texas Tech University | $3.07B | official_value TX · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 56 | Bowdoin College | $2.92B | official_value ME · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 57 | Texas Christian University | $2.85B | official_value TX · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 58 | Grinnell College | $2.85B | official_value IA · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 59 | Swarthmore College | $2.84B | official_value PA · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 60 | The George Washington University | $2.81B | official_value DC · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 61 | University of Nebraska | $2.72B | official_value NE · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 62 | Smith College | $2.71B | official_value MA · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 63 | Tufts University | $2.71B | official_value MA · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 64 | University of Florida Foundation Inc. | $2.69B | official_value FL · foundation reporting entity |
| 65 | The Kansas University Endowment Association | $2.69B | official_value KS · endowment association |
| 66 | The Rockefeller University | $2.61B | official_value NY · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 67 | The Board of Trustees of The University of Alabama | $2.59B | official_value AL · board reporting entity |
| 68 | University of Missouri System | $2.55B | official_value MO · system reporting entity |
| 69 | North Carolina State University | $2.54B | official_value NC · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 70 | Case Western Reserve University | $2.52B | official_value OH · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 71 | Tulane University | $2.47B | official_value LA · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 72 | The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center | $2.47B | official_value TX · medical center |
| 73 | University of Colorado Foundation | $2.47B | official_value CO · foundation reporting entity |
| 74 | The University System of Maryland Foundation | $2.46B | official_value MD · system foundation |
| 75 | Rutgers The State University of New Jersey | $2.35B | official_value NJ · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 76 | Southern Methodist University | $2.34B | official_value TX · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 77 | Syracuse University | $2.27B | official_value NY · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 78 | Washington and Lee University | $2.19B | official_value VA · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 79 | Baylor University | $2.18B | official_value TX · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 80 | The University of Georgia and Related Foundations | $2.18B | official_value GA · related foundations |
| 81 | University of Kentucky | $2.17B | official_value KY · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 82 | Wake Forest University | $2.15B | official_value NC · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 83 | Texas State University System | $2.11B | official_value TX · system reporting entity |
| 84 | Virginia Tech Foundation | $2.09B | official_value VA · foundation reporting entity |
| 85 | The University of Utah | $2.07B | official_value UT · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 86 | University of Delaware | $2.06B | official_value DE · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 87 | Saint Louis University | $2.02B | official_value MO · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 88 | Lehigh University | $2.00B | official_value PA · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 89 | The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center | $1.96B | official_value TX · medical center |
| 90 | Trinity University | $1.94B | official_value TX · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 91 | Medical College of Wisconsin | $1.94B | official_value WI · medical college |
| 92 | The University of Tennessee System | $1.92B | official_value TN · system reporting entity |
| 93 | Iowa State University | $1.91B | official_value IA · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 94 | University of Oregon Foundation | $1.84B | official_value OR · foundation reporting entity |
| 95 | Berea College | $1.83B | official_value KY · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 96 | University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and Foundation | $1.81B | official_value AR · university and foundation |
| 97 | University of Massachusetts Foundation | $1.80B | official_value MA · foundation reporting entity |
| 98 | University of California San Diego | $1.79B | official_value CA · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 99 | University of Cincinnati | $1.77B | official_value OH · NACUBO FY2025 |
| 100 | Arizona State University | $1.76B | official_value AZ · NACUBO FY2025 |
Table note: all values are official_value rows from the NACUBO-Commonfund FY2025 public endowment market value table, rounded to USD billions for display. The 2026 label reflects the publication and analysis snapshot, not a modeled 2026 value.
Insights
Key Insight
The ranking is top-heavy: the leader is above $55B, while the 100th entry is below $2B. Endowment capacity is therefore highly concentrated among a small number of institutions and systems.
Notable Pattern
Large private research universities dominate the very top, but major public systems and related foundations enter the top tier when the reporting entity is system-wide.
Regional/Source Concentration
California, Texas, Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania appear repeatedly. This reflects the concentration of large research universities, private colleges, medical institutions, and foundations in those states.
Outlier
The University of Texas System is the strongest public-system outlier in the Top 10, ranking close to MIT and above most private universities by reported endowment market value.
What it means
Endowment size signals long-term financial capacity, not student benefit. A university with a large endowment may face heavy restrictions on how it spends, while a smaller school may direct a bigger share of its annual draw straight to student support.
For students and families, the next checks are financial aid policy, net price, scholarship availability, program cost, and graduation outcomes. For researchers and analysts, the next checks are endowment per full-time equivalent student, annual spending rate, operating budget share, restricted versus unrestricted funds, and long-term investment returns.
The official_value label matters because this table reports published FY2025 values. It does not estimate future market performance, and it does not adjust for inflation, enrollment size, restricted funds, or differences between campus-level and system-level reporting entities.
FAQ
Which university has the largest endowment in this 2026 snapshot?
Harvard University ranks first with a displayed FY2025 endowment market value of $55.67 billion.
Is this a global Top 100 universities ranking?
No. This page is a U.S. NACUBO-participating reporting-entity ranking. It excludes Canadian rows and institutions outside the NACUBO U.S. reporting scope to avoid mixing countries, currencies, and reporting systems.
Why does the table include university systems and foundations?
NACUBO reports some endowments at the system, board, foundation, or affiliated-entity level. The table keeps those reporting entities because changing them into campus-only estimates would require modeling and would reduce data integrity.
Does a larger endowment mean lower tuition?
Not automatically. Endowments can support financial aid and operations, but funds may be restricted by donor purpose and spent through annual policies. Tuition, aid, and net price require separate data.
Why is this called a 2026 snapshot if the values are FY2025?
The latest public NACUBO FY2025 data were released in the 2026 publication cycle. The article therefore labels the page as a 2026 snapshot based on latest available official FY2025 values.
Are there forecasts or projections in this ranking?
No. All rows are official_value. There are no official_forecast rows and no modeled_projection rows. The table does not estimate 2026 market value.
What should analysts compare next?
Endowment per full-time equivalent student, annual endowment draw, operating budget share, financial aid spending, restricted versus unrestricted funds, and long-term investment returns provide a fuller picture than endowment size alone.
Sources
NACUBO — 2025 Public NCSE Tables
https://www.nacubo.org/Research/2025/Public-NCSE-Tables
NACUBO — 2025 NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments
https://www.nacubo.org/Research/2025/NACUBO-Commonfund-Study-of-Endowments
NACUBO Press Release — FY25 Endowments
NCES IPEDS — Use the Data
https://nces.ed.gov/IPEDS/Use-The-Data
