Miami Dade College placed No. 10 on Newsweek's inaugural America's Best Colleges for Women 2026 list, the highest-ranked institution in Florida.

Barry University, also in Florida, came in at No. 31 with a score of 76.

MDC earned an overall score of 79.8. The college scored 97 in safety, 83 in pay and policy, 74 in opportunity and 71 in leadership. Only nine schools scored higher. Spelman College in Atlanta topped the list at 81.9.

Newsweek partnered with Gender Fair, a firm that ranks organizations on gender parity, to produce the ranking. The list was published in December 2025.

How schools were scored

The ranking evaluated co-educational colleges that employ at least 20 women in academic roles, enroll a minimum of 1,000 students and offer bachelor's degrees, according to Newsweek. Schools were graded in four categories: leadership at 35 percent, pay and policies at 25 percent, safety at 20 percent and opportunity at 20 percent.

Data came from two U.S. Department of Education systems, the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the Campus Safety and Security Database. The ranking also used data from the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Gender Fair founder Amy Cross told Newsweek that colleges had not previously been evaluated through a gender lens, calling the gap "astonishing."