New Jersey is home to five of the best medical schools in the country for research or primary care, according to U.S. News & World Report. The list of 2026 Best Medical Schools uses tiers instead of traditional numeral rankings:
Tier 1: 85th-99th percentile
Tier 2: 50th-84th percentile
Tier 3: 15th-49th percentile
Tier 4: 1st-14th percentile
For the most recent list, U.S. News surveyed 203 accredited medical and osteopathic schools. Of those, 102 schools ranked among the best for research and 99 among the best for primary care. However, two medical schools qualified in Tier 2 for research — Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark and Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick. Rutgers University is preparing to merge the two medical schools to create the Rutgers School of Medicine, with an anticipated accreditation in 2027. To read the full story.