California university is the 2025 top party school in America, study says

(NEXSTAR) – For the “work hard, play hard” students out there, this one is for you.

Education research and ranking site Niche has released its round up of the top party schools in the United States for 2025, and for yet another year the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) takes the top spot.

Using a database of over 500,000 student reviews of U.S. colleges, Niche’s data scientists assigned scores based on the following factors: student surveys, access to bars, athletics grade, Greek life grade and access to restaurants.

Reviews from a number of current and former student mentioned UCSB’s “stunning” beachfront campus, mountain backdrop and the social aspect of the school, but also addressed its reputation as a “party school.”

San Nicolas Residence Hall, campus of University of California at Santa Barbara. (Photo by: Marli Miller/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

“It is literally heaven on Earth for an 18-21 year old as long as you don’t overdo it,” wrote a UCSB junior student in late July. “You need to prioritize school over partying because the academic load is quite rigorous.”

An unsanctioned, annual beachfront event dubbed “Deltopia” has become infamous in recent years, with the 2023 street party resulting in 151 citations, 23 arrests and a flood of medical emergency calls.

Also making the list in California are USC (5th), San Diego State (19th) and UCLA (24th).

See the list of the top 25 party schools in America, according to Niche:

University	Metro Area	State
University of California – Santa Barbara	Santa Barbara Area	CA
University of Oklahoma	Oklahoma City Area	OK
University of Cincinnati	Cincinnati Area	OH
University of Massachusetts Amherst	Springfield, MA Area	MA
University of Southern California	Los Angeles Area	CA
Syracuse University	Syracuse Area	NY
Howard University	Washington, D.C. Area	DC
University of Georgia	Athens Area	GA
Vanderbilt University	Nashville Area	TN
The University of Alabama		AL
The Ohio State University	Columbus Area	OH
Florida State University	Tallahassee Area	FL
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign		IL
University of Texas – Austin	Austin Area	TX
West Virginia University		WV
University of Minnesota Twin Cities	Minneapolis-St. Paul Area	MN
University of Florida		FL
University of Michigan – Ann Arbor	Detroit Area	MI
San Diego State University	San Diego Area	CA
Temple University	Philadelphia Area	PA
University of Wisconsin-Madison	Madison Area	WI
Tulane University	New Orleans Area	LA
Southern Methodist University	Dallas-Fort Worth Area	TX
University of California – Los Angeles	Los Angeles Area	CA
Penn State		PA