The U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., tied for sixth place among national liberal arts schools in this year’s U.S. News and World Report college rankings, outpacing the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. (tied for 11th) and the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. (tied for 22nd). 

The schools were the highest-ranked public institutions on the list, which was topped by two Massachusetts colleges: Williams (annual tuition and fees: $59,660) and Amherst (annual tuition/fees: $60,890). The full national liberal arts listing from the report, released Sept. 13, is available here. 

The ranking separates liberal arts colleges from larger national universities – Princeton took first in that category, with UCLA taking the top public-school spot. 

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The report also ranks smaller schools by region: The U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., earned top honors for Regional Colleges (North), with New York City’s Cooper Union (annual tuition/fees: $46,820) in second place and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y. (tuition/fees: $780, for laundry and tailor/seamstress services) in third. 

The ratings of nearly 1,500 U.S. schools rely on “17 measures of academic quality,” according to the U.S. News and World Report website, with emphasis on retention, reputation, and faculty resources. 

It’s the third year in a row Navy has topped Army and Air Force in the rankings, with Annapolis taking the top spot from West Point in 2019. 

Army did take top honors among service academies for its engineering program, ranking fourth in the nation among schools that don’t offer engineering doctorates. Navy took fifth, with Air Force in sixth.  

Click here for information on each of the service academies stemming from the survey, including U.S. News statistics on acceptance rates, graduation rates, and more.