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Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs ranked first overall in the 2026 U.S. News & World Report’s “best public affairs programs” for the 3oth time, the university announced in a Tuesday release.

Maxwell shares the top ranking this year with Indiana University’s O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. The U.S. News & World Report began ranking graduate programs in public affairs in 1995. Since then, Maxwell has ranked No. 1 in every survey but one, according to the SU release.

Maxwell was also highly ranked in 10 subspecialties, including No. 1 in public management and leadership and No. 2 in public finance and budgeting.

“To be recognized by peers who share our dedication to public service means a great deal,” Maxwell Dean David Van Slyke wrote in the release.

The rankings are determined by surveys of deans, directors and department chairs representing 266 master’s programs in public affairs and public administration across the country, according to the SU release.

Maxwell also ranked in other program and specialty rankings categories:

• No. 10 in environmental policy and management
• No. 4 in information and technology management
• No. 9 in internal global policy and administration
• No. 8 in local government management
• No. 5 in nonprofit management
• No. 2 in public finance and budgeting
• No. 1 in public management and leadership
• No. 8 in public policy analysis
• No. 6 in social policy
• No. 15 in urban policy

“What this recognition speaks to is people—faculty who are doing research that matters and teaching with genuine commitment, staff who work every day to make sure our school achieves its mission, students whose scholarship and drive will define our future and alumni who have taken their Maxwell foundation and done remarkable things with it,” Van Slyke wrote in the release.

Published on April 7, 2026 at 9:32 pm