CU Boulder considers the AAU (Association of American Universities) public institutions as its peer group for comparisons of faculty salaries, instruction and many other activities. CU Boulder has 37 AAU public peers in the United States, 11 of which do not have a medical school.

Each institution is linked to its institutional research type website.

*  Per IPEDS 2018-19 release data, institution does not have a medical school that grants a degree in medicine (M.D.) and/or osteopathic medicine (D.O.).

  • Arizona State, University of California Riverside and University of South Florida were welcomed as AAU public peers in May 2023.
  • Iowa State's AAU membership ended in April 2022.
  • University of Utah and University of California, Santa Cruz were welcomed as AAU public peers in November 2019, and are included in comparisons beginning fall 2020.
  • Georgia Tech was added to the AAU membership in April 2010 while University of Nebraska - Lincoln and Syracuse University's AAU membership ended April 2011.
  • We usually exclude Toronto and McGill (in Canada) from the list of public AAUs; all US public AAU's are listed.  For peer comparisons we sometimes exclude Rutgers, which has unionized faculty; sometimes excluded schools using FASB rather than GASB financial reporting rules (Rutgers, Penn State, Pitt through at least FY08, maybe 09, but changed to GASB FY10); sometimes exclude all those with medical activity. 
  • The AAU is a group of over 70 Research I universities; membership is by invitation only. Visit the AAU website for more information on the AAU, a list of all institutions (including privates) with their membership date, and a link to their homepage.
  • Most public and private AAU members belong to the "AAU Data Exchange" (AAUDE), a group not officially part of the AAU.  Former AAU members may also belong to AAUDE.  AAUDE members exchange data on a number of topics.
  • CDHE peer institutions for CU Boulder - all (then-)AAU US public without medical activity, excluding Rutgers, Georgia Tech, Penn State, and Purdue.