Strongest operating margins – U.S. universities

These 50 U.S. universities rank highest by operating margin, drawn from 1,883 institutions with reported data in the U.S. Department of Education data for FY2022-23 (IPEDS). DeVry University-Illinois (Lisle, IL) leads at 81.4%.

Institutions ranked by Operating margin.
#	Institution	Operating margin
1	DeVry University-IllinoisIL · Private for-profit	81.4%
2	New Mexico Junior CollegeNM · Public	66.3%
3	UEI College-BakersfieldCA · Private for-profit	54.7%
4	Ross College-SylvaniaOH · Private for-profit	54%
5	Radford UniversityVA · Public	53.8%
6	Evergreen Beauty and Barber College-EverettWA · Private for-profit	52.5%
7	United Education Institute-MorrowGA · Private for-profit	51.4%
8	Wayland Baptist UniversityTX · Private	51.4%
9	UEI College-Chula VistaCA · Private for-profit	50.6%
10	North Central Missouri CollegeMO · Public	49.8%
11	Augustana UniversitySD · Private	48.1%
12	UEI College-FresnoCA · Private for-profit	47.5%
13	UEI College-RiversideCA · Private for-profit	47.1%
14	UEI College-PhoenixAZ · Private for-profit	44.7%
15	UEI College-GardenaCA · Private for-profit	44.6%
16	UEI College-OntarioCA · Private for-profit	44%
17	UEI College-Huntington ParkCA · Private for-profit	44%
18	California State Polytechnic University-HumboldtCA · Public	43.9%
19	Texas Southern UniversityTX · Public	43.4%
20	UEI College-Garden GroveCA · Private for-profit	41.3%
21	Hillsdale CollegeMI · Private	40.9%
22	Lawson State Community CollegeAL · Public	40.8%
23	Catawba CollegeNC · Private	39.9%
24	UEI College-SacramentoCA · Private for-profit	39.8%
25	University of the CumberlandsKY · Private	39.5%
26	Lincoln Technical Institute-UnionNJ · Private for-profit	39.4%
27	Sierra CollegeCA · Public	39.3%
28	Hardin-Simmons UniversityTX · Private	39.2%
29	DeVry University-CaliforniaCA · Private for-profit	38.7%
30	Trine UniversityIN · Private	38.7%
31	Chamberlain University-IllinoisIL · Private for-profit	37.9%
32	Enterprise State Community CollegeAL · Public	37.1%
33	Colorado Technical University-Colorado SpringsCO · Private for-profit	36.8%
34	Chamberlain University-New JerseyNJ · Private for-profit	36%
35	Saint Louis UniversityMO · Private	35.1%
36	Chemeketa Community CollegeOR · Public	34.9%
37	West Coast University-TexasTX · Private for-profit	34.7%
38	Savannah College of Art and DesignGA · Private	34.6%
39	Lincoln Technical Institute-MahwahNJ · Private for-profit	34.1%
40	Northern Marianas CollegeMP · Public	33.9%
41	Taylor UniversityIN · Private	33.3%
42	Berea CollegeKY · Private	33.2%
43	Unitek CollegeCA · Private for-profit	33.1%
44	Long Island UniversityNY · Private	33%
45	Stanbridge UniversityCA · Private for-profit	32.8%
46	Saint Ambrose UniversityIA · Private	32.5%
47	Mineral Area CollegeMO · Public	32.4%
48	San Francisco State UniversityCA · Public	32.3%
49	H Councill Trenholm State Community CollegeAL · Public	32.2%
50	California State University-BakersfieldCA · Public	32.1%

Limited to institutions with at least 1,000 undergraduates, so a handful of students cannot top the list. A data ranking, not an Ibex endorsement or quality rating. Ranked solely on the metric named above using U.S. Department of Education data for FY2022-23 (IPEDS). Federal collections lag the current academic year, and some measures are no longer published at all, so the most recent figure is not always a recent one. Institutions that do not report this metric are excluded. Figures and peer context appear on each institution’s profile.

Benchmark any school against its true peers

Open the dashboard to filter by sector, Carnegie class, size, and state, or compare schools head-to-head.

Browse & filter Book a 20-minute call

Frequently asked

Which of these U.S. universities ranks highest by operating margin?

DeVry University-Illinois (Lisle, IL), at 81.4%. It leads 50 institutions shown here, drawn from 1,883 with reported data.

How is this ranking calculated?

On one disclosed metric only: by operating margin, from IPEDS, FY2022-23. Institutions that do not report the metric are excluded. It is a data ranking, not an Ibex endorsement, quality rating or reputation survey, and no part of it is estimated or AI-generated.

How current is the data?

This list is built from the College Scorecard release of June 10, 2026 and the newest IPEDS collections the tool uses, taking the most recent figure published for the metric it ranks: IPEDS, FY2022-23. Federal collections lag the current academic year by two to three years, so the newest published figure is not always a recent one. The release the leaderboard is dated on is printed under it.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard & IPEDS (each measure carries its own collection year; see the methodology), with NSF NCSES (HERD), the Clery Act & EADA collections, Census ACS, BLS Employment Projections, WICHE & the FSA Direct Loan Dashboard. Compiled by Ibex Insights. For informational benchmarking only, not financial, investment, or accreditation advice. See the methodology.