Five of the six four-year universities in the Tri-Counties are among the top 100 colleges in the nation in their respective categories, according to the latest rankings from U.S. News & World Report.

U.S. News ranks schools separately according to whether they’re considered research universities or liberal arts colleges and whether they’re national or regional in scope.

UC Santa Barbara placed 39th on the list of national universities, tied with its sister campus at UC Davis. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo was tied for sixth, with Seattle University, on the list of regional universities for the western United States. California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks was 18th on that list.

The tri-county region is home to two of U.S. News’ top 100 national liberal arts colleges: Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula was No. 71, and Westmont College was No. 99.

The “America’s Best Colleges 2011” rankings were released Aug. 17 and will be published in the September issue of U.S. News.