Stanford ranks No. 2, UC Berkeley No. 5 in Forbes’ top American colleges list

Forbes ranks Stanford University at No. 2 and UC Berkeley at No. 5 in its annual top American colleges list, with both schools moving up one position from last year's ranking.

The recent list ranked 500 schools, comparing which schools provide "the best educational, financial, and career outcomes for all students."

Watch NBC Bay Area News 📺 Streaming free 24/7

Some factors that quantified these outcomes included if schools' "students returned after their first year, graduated on time, secured high salaries after graduation and left college with little student debt." The list especially considered the graduation outcomes of low-income students and rewarded colleges that enrolled higher percentages of low-income students.

Princeton University remained at the No. 1 spot for the second year in a row. The list welcomed Rice University for the first time at No. 9. UC Berkeley was the only public university in the top 10.

Six historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) also earned six spots in the top 500, doubling the amount from last year.

Forbes also released lists on the top public colleges, top private colleges that offer generous financial aid, and top 25 schools that offer the best return on investment.

Here's a look at the top 20 colleges and universities, as ranked by Forbes.

Rank	Name	Type	Av. Grant Aid
1	Princeton University	Private not-for-profit	$59,792
2	Stanford University	Private not-for-profit	$60,619
3	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Private not-for-profit	$45,591
4	Yale University	Private not-for-profit	$63,523
5	University of California, Berkeley	Public	$21,669
6	Columbia University	Private not-for-profit	$61,061
7	University of Pennsylvania	Private not-for-profit	$51,955
8	Harvard University	Private not-for-profit	$61,801
9	Rice University	Private not-for-profit	$51,955
10	Cornell University	Private not-for-profit	$54,219
11	Northwestern University	Private not-for-profit	$61,716
12	Johns Hopkins University	Private not-for-profit	$54,405
13	University of California, Los Angeles	Public	$21,766
14	University of Chicago	Private not-for-profit	$48,422
15	Vanderbilt University	Private not-for-profit	$53,932
16	Dartmouth College	Private not-for-profit	$62,293
17	Williams College	Private not-for-profit	$57,121
18	Brown University	Private not-for-profit	$55,847
19	Claremont McKenna College	Private not-for-profit	$50,020
20	Duke University	Private not-for-profit	$57,444