UCLA has again been named the nation’s top public university in U.S. News & World Report’s annual “Best Colleges” rankings, which were published today.

This is the fifth year in a row UCLA has been ranked No. 1.

“UCLA’s ranking as the top public university in the country five years running reaffirms what we already know: that this is a place where students of all backgrounds can thrive, where we invest in and support excellent teaching and where we set students up for success after graduation,” said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block.

Since Block became chancellor in 2007, UCLA has risen from the No. 4 public university in the United States to the top of the U.S. News rankings.

“I hope every member of our community takes pride in what this ranking represents,” the chancellor said.

UCLA was the only school among the top 20 national universities overall to be ranked highly in social mobility, which measures the number of Pell Grant recipients and the six-year graduation rate for these students.

In addition, UCLA was named the No. 1 public institution among the best colleges for veterans.

Five other UC campuses were among the top 10 public universities in the overall rankings: UC Berkeley (No. 2), UC Santa Barbara (5, tied), UC San Diego (8), UC Irvine (9) and UC Davis (10, tied).

The U.S. News & World Report rankings are based on 17 measures, including graduation rates, student-faculty ratio, social mobility and the average federal loan debt of graduates, as well as schools’ academic reputation, as determined by a peer assessment survey of presidents, provosts and deans of admissions at U.S. colleges.