This Is What It Costs To Get An MBA From A Top Business School
If you want an elite MBA degree from a top business school in the United States or Europe, be prepared to pay more than $200,000 — and significantly more than that if you’re eyeing one of the M7 or M7-adjacent B-schools.
How many top-25 U.S. B-schools are now in the $200K club? Nineteen of 27 schools analyzed by Poets&Quants charge tuition and fees and estimate living expenses that, combined over two years, equal or exceed $200K. That’s up from 15 B-schools last year. Four more schools are currently on the threshold of that club, sitting at $196,000 or more. For the 2023-2024 school year alone, 21 of the 27 schools estimate an annual cost in excess of $100,000.
Tuition is the chief culprit in the rising cost of an MBA. The number of U.S. B-schools with tuition over $80,000 rose this year to seven from four, while the number with tuition over $75K grew to 13 one year after doubling to 12. The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania reports the highest tuition, at $87,370, up about 3% this year and more than 17% since 2019. Across the top 10, the average tuition growth in those five years is 8.9%; across 25 leading U.S. MBA programs, it’s even more: 9.5%.
Think Europe is a cheaper alternative? That depends. The euro has rebounded against the dollar after a mild collapse in 2022, and at a few elite European B-schools, you could end up paying more for that high-end MBA than you would in the United States.
HIGHEST ANNUAL COST FOR A U.S. MBA PROGRAM
2023 P&Q Rank | School | 2023 Cost | 2022 Cost | 2-Year Change | 2-Year % |
7 | $ 127,058 | $ 122,460 | $ 4,598 | 3.8% | |
3 | $ 126,465 | $ 124,389 | $ 2,076 | 1.7% | |
1 | $ 124,476 | $ 118,568 | $ 5,908 | 5.0% | |
15 | $ 123,253 | $ 121,525 | $ 1,728 | 1.4% | |
2 | $ 122,160 | $ 115,062 | $ 7,098 | 6.2% | |
16 | $ 121,591 | $ 117,398 | $ 4,193 | 3.6% | |
4 | $ 120,432 | $ 117,259 | $ 3,173 | 2.7% | |
9 | $ 120,004 | $ 117,575 | $ 2,429 | 2.1% | |
10 | $ 116,178 | $ 115,931 | $ 247 | 0.2% | |
20 | $ 115,692 | $ 112,254 | $ 3,438 | 3.1% |
P&Q estimates the total cost of an MBA by adding business schools’ own yearly totals for the past two years (rather than simply doubling the most recent year). In this way we calculated that last year total cost exceeded $200K at 19 B-schools out of the top 27, up from 15 schools last year, 14 in 2021, 13 in 2020, 12 in 2019, and nine in 2018.
(Why 27 schools and not 25? We include two schools, Rice Jones Graduate School of Business and Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management, that have previously been in the top 25, because we have the historical data for them and because those schools may rejoin that group in future rankings.)
Once again this year, Stanford Graduate School of Business‘ MBA earns the title of most expensive program, at $250,854, up 2.7% from last year and more than 9% since 2019. Think $250K is a lot? That’s what you pay if you’re a single student in Palo Alto — Stanford’s living expenses grow exponentially for students with families (more on that on page 3).
The rest of the top-five most expensive U.S. MBA programs: Columbia Business School ($249,518), NYU Stern School of Business ($244,778), Wharton ($243,044), and UCLA Anderson School of Management ($238,989). The highest-ranked program below $200K is at Michigan Ross School of Business, No. 11 in Poets&Quants‘ annual ranking, where two years of MBA instruction will cost $199,729. Michigan Ross’ is also the highest-ranked MBA program under $100K for one year of schooling, at $99,780; Columbia reports the highest one-year price tag: $127,058.
HIGHEST ESTIMATED TWO-YEAR COST FOR A U.S. MBA PROGRAM
2023 P&Q Rank | School | Estimated Total 2-Year Cost* | Estimated Total 2-Year Cost – 2022 | YOY Change | YOY % |
3 | $ 250,854 | $ 244,353 | $ 6,501 | 2.7% | |
7 | $ 249,518 | $ 241,237 | $ 8,281 | 3.4% | |
15 | $ 244,778 | $ 243,066 | $ 1,712 | 0.7% | |
1 | $ 243,044 | $ 234,032 | $ 9,012 | 3.9% | |
16 | $ 238,989 | $ 231,291 | $ 7,698 | 3.3% | |
4 | $ 237,691 | $ 228,917 | $ 8,774 | 3.8% | |
9 | $ 237,579 | $ 236,390 | $ 1,189 | 0.5% | |
2 | $ 237,222 | $ 226,917 | $ 10,305 | 4.5% | |
10 | $ 232,109 | $ 226,526 | $ 5,583 | 2.5% | |
6 | $ 229,175 | $ 237,993 | $ (8,818) | -3.7% |
*MBA1 + MBA2 (2022 + 2023)
The average two-year cost for a top-10 MBA is $236,873, up 2.4% from last year when it was $231,420. That’s up from $228,284 in 2021 and $223,750 in 2020 — a nearly 6% increase over four admission cycles. Across all 27 schools, the average cost is $215,619, up 2.3% from last year when it was $210,724 for 26 schools. In 2021, the average cost across 26 schools was $199,544.
Chicago Booth School of Business saw the biggest year-to-year increase in total cost among top-10 B-schools, up $10,305, or 4.5%, to $237,222 (see table above). The average increase at nine of the 10 schools was $6,562 and 2.8%. The reason we don’t have all 10 schools to calculate that last number is noteworthy: MIT Sloan School of Management, unique among the top 10 and one of only three schools in the top 27, actually reported a decline in total two-year cost year-to-year, from $237,993 to $229,175, a cost reduction of $8,818 (3.7%). Michigan Ross and Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management are the only other schools with year-to-year declines, but Sloan’s is the only one that is significant (see table on page 6 of this story for details).
Sloan is totally unique in another way: It is the only top B-school to report a cost reduction from 2019 to the present. The one-year cost of attendance at the Boston school is down $9,638, or 8.1%, in that time, going from $118,818 to $109,180. In that same span, 14 other schools had double-digit-percentage increases in cost.
In the top 10, the average increase in one-year cost from 2022 to 2023 was $3,877.4, or 3.3%, at nine schools; the average since 2019 is 10.2% at nine schools. The latter number is up from 9.3% between 2018 and 2022. Across the top 27, the average year-to-year increase is $4,510.1, or 4.4%, at 24 schools, up 1 full percentage point from the 2021-2022 span. And since 2019, cost has increased by 9.8% at 25 schools, up from 9.4% for the period from 2018 to 2022.
More key data points on total cost for one year of MBA study at a top B-school:
Smallest top-10 increase over two years: UC-Berkeley Haas School of Business, $247 (0.21%) to $116,178
Biggest top-10 increase over two years: Chicago Booth $7,098 (6.2%) to $122,160
Smallest top-10 increase over five years: Harvard Business School $3,820 (3.4%)
Biggest top-10 increase over five years: Northwestern Kellogg School of Management $14,822 (14%) to $120,432
Smallest top-27 increase over two years: Berkeley Haas again, but Indiana Kelley School of Business is close behind at $1,111 (1.38%) to $81,386
Biggest top-27 increase over two years: Vanderbilt Owen $10,754 (11.2%) to $106,909
Smallest top-27 increase over five years: Washington Olin Business School $2,038 (2.3%) to $89,546
Biggest top-27 increase over five years: Vanderbilt Owen $18,818 (21.4%) to $106,909
See the next page for a breakdown of tuition data at the top 27 U.S. B-schools and five leading European institutions.
Dartmouth Tuck School of Business has frozen tuition for the last four years. Tuck’s tuition is currently at $77,520, 10th-most expensive out of 27 leading U.S. B-schools
TUITION: SEVEN B-SCHOOLS NOW CHARGE MORE THAN $80K
Tuition is the largest chunk of the cost of an MBA, and while it sometimes stops going up temporarily, it always resume its upward trajectory. For the second straight year, the highest tuition across all the top U.S. business schools is at The Wharton School, which raised tuition for a third straight year after a few years of keeping it flat at $74,500. Wharton now charges $87,370, up from $84,874 in 2022 (2.9%) and up 17.3% since before the coronavirus pandemic in 2019. That’s the most any school has raised tuition in the last five years.
On the other end of the tuition scale, Indiana Kelley charges the lowest: $54,602 (and much lower than that if you’re an Indiana resident; see below for details).
Seven B-schools now charge $80,000 or more for annual tuition, up from four schools in 2022; through 2021, there were no schools that charged that much. Nineteen schools charge $70K or more, up from 18 in 2022 and 13 in 2019, and only three schools charge below $60K, same as last year but down from five schools in 2019.
Four B-schools, meanwhile, made no increases to their tuition this year: Dartmouth Tuck School of Business, which has kept tuition at $77,520 for four years; Texas-Austin McCombs School of Business, which has kept tuition at $58,270 for three years; Michigan Ross ($73,196); and NYU Stern ($82,326). It merits mention that Harvard Business School maintained tuition at $73,440 for five years before raising it 2% to $74,910 this year; and that Duke Fuqua School of Business kept tuition at $70,000 for three years before raising it this year and last. Duke’s tuition now stands at $75,000.
HIGHEST ANNUAL TUITION FOR A U.S. MBA PROGRAM
2023 P&Q Rank | School | 2023 Tuition | 2022 Tuition | Y-O-Y Change | Y-O-Y % |
1 | $87,370 | $84,874 | $2,496 | 2.9% | |
7 | $84,496 | $80,542 | $3,954 | 4.9% | |
6 | $84,200 | $80,400 | $3,800 | 4.7% | |
8 | $82,700 | $79,000 | $3,700 | 4.7% | |
15 | $82,326 | $82,326 | None | None | |
4 | $81,015 | $78,276 | $2,739 | 3.5% | |
2 | $80,961 | $77,841 | $3,120 | 4.0% | |
13 | $79,910 | $76,690 | $3,220 | 4.2% | |
3 | $79,860 | $76,950 | $2,910 | 3.8% | |
9 | $77,520 | $77,520 | None | None |
All B-schools that have not frozen tuition have increased it. The biggest increases year to year occurred at Columbia ($3,954 to $84,496, 4.9%); and, by percentage, at UCLA Anderson and USC Marshall School of Business, both of which were up 5% (to $74,618 and $72,501, respectively). Average tuition growth at the top 10 schools is 3.1%; last year it was 4.9%. Across 26 of the the top 27, tuition grew a nearly identical 3% from 2022-2023, down from the 4% it grew from 2021-2022.
Since 2019, Wharton has seen the biggest tuition increase in dollars, up $12,870 to $87,370, a 17.3% jump; Vanderbilt Owen has also increased tuition by 17.3%, up $10,100 to $68,500. In all, 11 schools increased tuition by double-digit percentages over five years. Average growth in that span at the top 10 schools was 9.9%; at the top 27, 10%.
Tuition rates can vary widely at public business schools depending on the residency status of the student. At four B-schools in particular, the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition is significant.
Indiana Kelley School of Business: Indiana residents pay $28,992, and nonresidents pay $54,602, a more than $25K difference. Total cost for one year of MBA study at Kelley for a state resident is just $55,776, while the total for a nonresident is $81,386.
UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School: North Carolina residents pay $53,552 in tuition and nonresidents pay $71,364, a difference of $17,812.
UC-Berkeley Haas School of Business: California residents pay $67,424 in tuition, and nonresidents pay $76,433, a difference of $9,009.
Michigan Ross School of Business: Michigan residents pay $68,196, and nonresidents pay $73,196, rates that are unchanged this year from last; the difference is $5,000.
IN EUROPE, COSTS HAVE LEAPED AT FIVE TOP B-SCHOOLS
What about Europe? An MBA from a top school there used to be seen as something of a bargain compared to their peers in the States, but costs have been rising in Europe as well — to coincide with the rebound of the euro versus the dollar after a short window of near-parity. Still, that doesn’t mean Europe isn’t sometimes a comparative bargain. At HEC Paris, tuition for the two-year program is €98,000 for the September 2024 intake, up from €87,000 in September 2023 (it will be €90,000 for the January 2024 intake). HEC estimates annual expenses to total around €25,000, or just under $28K, so the total student payout will be around €123,000 for the Class of 2026 — which comes out to about $135K for the whole 16-month program. Costs may be rising, but that total still puts HEC Paris well under all the top MBA programs in the U.S.
At INSEAD, an MBA program with two intakes, tuition fees for the August 2022 intake were €97,000 ($108,560), up from €91,225 a year earlier; and for the January 2023 intake, €98,500 ($110,239), up from €92,575. INSEAD estimates living expenses at €25,310 at its Fontainebleau, France campus (without a car), which translates to just over $28K, and €32,250 at its Singapore campus, which comes out to about $36K. Total for the INSEAD MBA experience — which is just 10 months long — is therefore as much as €130,700, or around $143K.
At London Business School, “tuition fees” are currently listed at £109,700 ($141,636) up in one year from £97,500. This number does not include living expenses, which are estimated by the school to be £30,000 per year — after all, London is one of the costliest cities in the world to live in. Adding all that up brings the grand total to £169,700, or around $220,000 — in line with the most expensive U.S. programs.
At IE Business School in Spain, tuition fees are €82,300 ($92,108), up an extraordinary 16% from €71,000 last year, and the total cost of an MBA is €153,300 ($171,570). At Spain’s IESE, tuition fees total €99,500 ($111,358), up from €93,500). Neither school estimates living expenses.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly calculated the total cost for two years of MBA study at HEC Paris and London Business School, stating that they were more expensive than most U.S. schools; and at INSEAD, stating that the cost was over $200K for the school’s 10-month MBA. The story now contains the correct figures.
See the next page for a breakdown of data on living expenses at the top 27 U.S. business schools.
Stanford Graduate School of Business, based in Palo Alto, California, once again has the highest estimate for cost of living for its MBA students: $38,724 annually. The total cost to attend Stanford actually fluctuates greatly depending on students’ marital status
AVERAGE COST-OF-LIVING AT A TOP U.S. B-SCHOOL: $24,465 PER YEAR
Tuition and fees are set numbers. The are fixed — static — and knowable. Living expenses are very much not that, fluctuating widely based on everything from macroeconomic conditions to personal habits. Any total cost number posted by a B-school already contains charges for things like health insurance, MBA case fees, transportation, computers, books, and services — and many of these carry asterisks; this was especially true during the coronavirus pandemic, when some business schools reduced expenses estimates based on the suddenly remote nature of instruction and coursework, some increased them nominally, and others made no adjustments at all. Living expenses are even harder to accurately estimate, given the infinite variables of student life.
But B-schools’ total cost number incorporates cost-of-living estimates — basically, room and board — and those are fixed numbers. From school to school, they range widely in 2023, from more than $15K to just under $40K at the 27 B-schools in this article. Importantly, however, unlike tuition, B-schools’ living expenses projections can and often do go down. The range of fluctuation in the five years from 2019 to 2023 is up 40% (Washington Foster School of Business) to down 14.5% (Texas McCombs). Last year we calculated the range from 2018 to 2022 to be up 33% to down 10.4%.
Stanford GSB once again has the highest tally for living expenses, at $38,724, but that number itself is the low end of a huge range of potential cost faced by a Stanford student. (More on that below.) On the other end of the scale is the cost provided by Indiana Kelley: $15,446. So the difference between living for nine months in Palo Alto and Bloomington is more than $23K.
The average living expense cost for a top-10 school is $27,598, up 4.8% from $26,331 last year. The average for all 27 schools is significantly less: $24,465. The number of schools with costs above $30K is four, up from three last year; the number above $25K is 12, up from eight. And the number below $20K is seven, same as last year.
HIGHEST ESTIMATED LIVING EXPENSES AT THE LEADING MBA PROGRAMS
2023 P&Q Rank | School | 2023 Living Expenses | 2022 Living Expenses | Y-O-Y Change | Y-O-Y % |
3 | $ 38,724 | $ 36,198 | $ 2,526 | 7.0% | |
5 | $ 32,600 | $ 31,390 | $ 1,210 | 3.9% | |
9 | $ 31,620 | $ 30,215 | $ 1,405 | 4.7% | |
17 | $ 30,410 | $ 26,980 | $ 3,430 | 12.7% | |
20 | $ 29,668 | $ 21,248 | $ 8,420 | 39.6% | |
8 | $ 28,266 | $ 25,200 | $ 3,066 | 12.2% | |
15 | $ 28,242 | $ 28,242 | None | None | |
25 | $ 26,578 | $ 24,822 | $ 1,756 | 7.1% | |
10 | $ 26,416 | $ 26,416 | None | None | |
1 | $ 26,028 | $ 22,887 | $ 3,141 | 13.7% |
Across the last two years at the 15 schools for which we have available data, the average increase in cost-of-living grew $2,723. The biggest jump was at Washington Foster, which grew its cost by
$8,420, or 39.6%, to $29,668; the smallest increase was at Rice Jones, which upped its cost just $477 (1.9%) to $25,014. See page 5 for living expense cost details.
Seven schools made no year-to-year change to their cost-of-living totals: Northwestern Kellogg, Berkeley Haas, Columbia, Michigan Ross, NYU Stern, UNC Kenan-Flagler, and Washington Olin. And five schools actually reduced their costs, led by a 14.5% reduction (to $17,270, second-lowest among 27 schools) at Texas McCombs. The others:
MIT Sloan -$2,183 to $21,694 (9.1%)
Cornell Johnson -$1,462 to $18,554 (7.3%)
UCLA Anderson -$350 to $24,850 (1.4%)
Indiana Kelley -$10 to $15,446 (0.1%)
Over five years from 2019 to 2023, average growth in cost-of-living at 24 schools was $3,523, or 16.5%. Only two schools reduced their costs in that span: Sloan by $4,966 (18.6%) and Texas McCombs by $1,100 (6%).
The biggest growth in those five years occurred at Washington Foster (up $8,420 to $29,668; Foster had not increased its living expenses cost in the four years prior), with Dartmouth Tuck close behind with a 39% increase to $31,620. Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business grew its estimate to live in Pittsburgh by $5,538, or 32%, to $22,860.
MARRIED STUDENTS WITH CHILDREN: BEWARE
Through 2022, Chicago Booth hadn’t changed its room-and-board cost for four years; this year they notched it up to $26,010, a 17.2% increase. Similarly, Columbia has not adjusted its living expenses cost in four years ($24,822); and Rice Jones’ cost had been static for four cycles before the Houston school increased it by about 2% to $25,014 in 2023. Northwestern Kellogg and Emory Goizueta Business School only increased their costs in 2022 after years of freezes.
Some schools, meanwhile, make important distinctions between single and married students — and the cost difference can be enormous. Stanford GSB, for example, and perhaps most notably, puts the cost for single students at $38,724 and married students at $64,416, a more than $25K difference. That puts the total two-year cost for an MBA at Stanford for a married student over $300K. At Harvard Business School, living expenses are $22,230 for a single student and $33,210 for a married one, making the difference for two years in Cambridge the difference between $231,276 and $278,680 — and it gets even worse if you have children: married with one child brings the total to $309,736; married with two kids, a whopping $323,004.
It must also be noted that estimates of what it will actually cost to live in the cities in which these schools operate are almost certainly low. According to apartmentlist.com, living expenses in Boston average $2,769 monthly rent for a studio, $3,524 for a one-bedroom apartment, and $4,489 for a two-bedroom apartment. And in other major cities:
Chicago: studio $1,891, one-bedroom apartment $2,388, two-bedroom apartment $2,931.
New York: studio $3,678, one-bedroom apartment $4,624, two-bedroom apartment $5,902.
Los Angeles: studio $2,265, one-bedroom apartment $3,005, two-bedroom apartment $4,189.
DON’T BE DISMAYED BY THE BIG COSTS
The return on investment of an MBA, particularly from a top business school, is well-established. By some estimates, over a 35-year career, an MBA from a top-50 B-sch0ol will make $5.7 million, or well over $2 million more than someone with only a business undergraduate degree. In 2022, the average starting salary for MBA graduates of 17 leading U.S. schools was $147,648, up $12,550 or 9.3%, from the year before. As we await employment reports for the Class of 2023, due this fall, we feel certain that number will rise.
It’s also important in all this talk of huge tuition bills and the ever-growing cost of a full-time MBA to note that every business school in this story — and every other one not mentioned here — offers scholarships, fellowships, and other aid to admits, often without those admits having to apply separately for it. Both Harvard and Stanford estimate that each year approximately half of their MBA students receive fellowship funds, with the average award around $42,000 annually or $84,000 over two years at both schools. Every school has some amount of aid available; many schools have multiple streams of potential award money.
And then there are the other options for graduate business education. Specialized master’s programs abound that are shorter in duration, easier to get into, and cheaper. If you’re fresh out of college with an undergraduate degree and don’t want to work the requisite five to seven years before getting an MBA, master’s in management programs have always been a popular route in Europe and are becoming increasingly popular in the U.S. And online MBA programs offer the flexibility to continue working while you study, while also being more accessible in terms of entrance exams — and on the whole much, much cheaper.
See the next pages for tuition, living expenses, and total cost data at the leading U.S. business schools.
The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania has the highest tuition of any top U.S. business school for the second straight year: $87,370
TUITION AT THE LEADING U.S. MBA PROGRAMS
2023 P&Q Rank | School | 2023 Tuition | 2022 Tuition | 2021 Tuition | 2020 Tuition | 2019 Tuition | Y-O-Y Change | Y-O-Y % | 5-Year Change | 5-Year % |
1 | $87,370 | $84,874 | $76,000 | $74,500 | $74,500 | $2,496 | 2.9% | $ 12,870 | 17.3% | |
2 | $80,961 | $77,841 | $74,919 | $73,440 | $72,000 | $3,120 | 4.0% | $ 8,961 | 12.4% | |
3 | $79,860 | $76,950 | $74,706 | $74,706 | $73,062 | $2,910 | 3.8% | $ 6,798 | 9.3% | |
4 | $81,015 | $78,276 | $76,368 | $74,871 | $73,404 | $2,739 | 3.5% | $ 7,611 | 10.4% | |
5 | $74,910 | $73,440 | $73,440 | $73,440 | $73,440 | $1,470 | 2.0% | $ 1,470 | 2.0% | |
6 | $84,200 | $80,400 | $78,954 | $77,168 | $77,168 | $3,800 | 4.7% | $ 7,032 | 9.1% | |
7 | $84,496 | $80,542 | $77,376 | $77,376 | $77,376 | $3,954 | 4.9% | $ 7,120 | 9.2% | |
8 | $82,700 | $79,000 | $74,500 | $72,350 | $72,350 | $3,700 | 4.7% | $ 10,350 | 14.3% | |
9 | $77,520 | $77,520 | $77,520 | $77,520 | $75,108 | None | None | $2,412 | 3.2% | |
10 | $76,433 | $76,187 | $71,817 | $68,444 | $68,444 | $246 | 0.3% | $7,989 | 11.7% | |
11 | $73,196 | $73,196 | $72,114 | $71,048 | $71,048 | None | None | $ 2,148 | 3.0% | |
12 | $75,000 | $71,750 | $70,000 | $70,000 | $70,000 | $3,250 | 4.5% | $ 5,000 | 7.1% | |
13 | $79,910 | $76,690 | $74,026 | $71,940 | $69,440 | $3,220 | 4.2% | $ 10,470 | 15.1% | |
14 | $75,600 | $75,200 | $72,600 | $72,600 | $70,500 | $400 | 0.5% | $ 5,100 | 7.2% | |
15 | $82,326 | $82,326 | $78,700 | $76,780 | $74,184 | None | None | $ 8,142 | 11.0% | |
16 | $74,618 | $71,071 | $67,737 | $65,124 | $65,114 | $3,547 | 5.0% | $ 9,504 | 14.6% | |
17 | $72,501 | $69,036 | $53,806 | N/A | N/A | $3,465 | 5.0% | N/A | N/A | |
18 | $58,270 | $58,270 | $58,270 | $56,924 | $54,924 | None | None | $ 3,346 | 6.1% | |
19 | $71,364 | $68,112 | $66,840 | $66,270 | $66,324 | $3,252 | 4.8% | $ 5,040 | 7.6% | |
20 | $57,846 | $56,127 | $53,601 | $53,531 | $51,531 | $1,719 | 3.1% | $ 6,315 | 12.3% | |
21 | $71,900 | $70,200 | $70,741 | $69,339 | $65,400 | $1,700 | 2.4% | $ 6,500 | 9.9% | |
22 | $54,602 | $53,553 | $52,483 | $51,454 | $51,451 | $1,049 | 2.0% | $ 3,151 | 6.1% | |
23 | $66,200 | $64,250 | $64,250 | $62,981 | N/A | $1,950 | 3.0% | N/A | N/A | |
24 | $75,712 | $72,800 | $70,000 | $70,000 | $68,000 | $2,912 | 4.0% | $ 7,712 | 11.3% | |
25 | $64,600 | $62,370 | $60,894 | $60,894 | $59,700 | $2,230 | 3.6% | $ 4,900 | 8.2% | |
27 | $68,500 | $65,500 | $62,750 | $60,750 | $58,400 | $3,000 | 4.5% | $ 10,100 | 17.3% | |
29 | $69,000 | $66,000 | $63,500 | $60,940 | $60,940 | $3,000 | 4.6% | $ 8,060 | 13.2% |
Next page: Living expenses data
Stanford GSB has the highest cost of living estimate among top U.S. B-schools: $38,724, a number that grows substantially if a student is married with children
LIVING EXPENSES AT THE LEADING U.S. MBA PROGRAMS
2023 P&Q Rank | School | 2023 Living Expenses | 2022 Living Expenses | 2021 Living Expenses | 2020 Living Expenses | 2019 Living Expenses | Y-O-Y Change | Y-O-Y % | 5-Year Change | 5-Year % |
1 | $ 26,028 | $ 22,887 | $ 21,720 | $ 21,050 | $ 22,670 | $ 3,141 | 13.7% | $ 3,358 | 14.8% | |
2 | $ 26,010 | $ 22,185 | $ 22,185 | $ 22,185 | $ 22,185 | $ 3,825 | 17.2% | $ 3,825 | 17.2% | |
3 | $ 38,724 | $ 36,198 | $ 34,806 | $ 33,693 | $ 32,712 | $ 2,526 | 7.0% | $ 6,012 | 18.4% | |
4 | $ 19,800 | $ 19,800 | $ 17,100 | $ 17,100 | $17,100 | None | None | $ 2,700 | 15.8% | |
5 | $ 32,600 | $ 31,390 | $ 30,270 | $ 30,700 | $ 29,844 | $ 1,210 | 3.9% | $ 2,756 | 9.2% | |
6 | $ 21,694 | $ 23,877 | $ 21,975 | $ 26,660 | $ 26,660 | $ (2,183) | -9.1% | $ (4,966) | 18.6% | |
7 | $ 24,822 | $ 24,822 | $ 24,822 | $ 24,822 | $21,375 | None | None | $3,447 | 16.1% | |
8 | $ 28,266 | $ 25,200 | $ 24,284 | $ 27,680 | $ 22,214 | $ 3,066 | 12.2% | $ 6,052 | 27.2% | |
9 | $ 31,620 | $ 30,215 | $ 31,215 | $ 29,413 | $ 22,742 | $ 1,405 | 4.7% | $ 8,878 | 39.0% | |
10 | $ 26,416 | $ 26,416 | $ 26,014 | $ 25,658 | $25,234 | None | None | $ 1,182 | 4.7% | |
11 | $ 17,780 | $ 17,780 | $ 16,998 | $ 16,502 | $16,194 | None | None | $ 1,586 | 9.8% | |
12 | $ 23,202 | $ 20,304 | $ 19,256 | $ 18,990 | $ 18,702 | $ 2,898 | 14.3% | $ 4,500 | 24.1% | |
13 | $ 18,554 | $ 20,016 | $ 17,865 | $ 16,800 | $ 16,800 | $ (1,462) | -7.3% | $ 1,754 | 10.4% | |
14 | $ 22,870 | $ 19,720 | $ 18,430 | $ 18,176 | $ 17,766 | $ 3,150 | 16.0% | $ 5,104 | 28.7% | |
15 | $ 28,242 | $ 28,242 | $ 27,420 | $ 26,804 | $26,780 | None | None | $ 1,462 | 5.5% | |
16 | $ 24,850 | $ 25,200 | $ 25,200 | $ 21,600 | $ 24,668 | $ (350) | -1.4% | $ 182 | 0.7% | |
17 | $ 30,410 | $ 26,980 | $ 24,256 | N/A | N/A | $ 3,430 | 12.7% | N/A | N/A | |
18 | $ 17,270 | $ 20,206 | $ 19,478 | $ 18,078 | $ 18,370 | $ (2,936) | -14.5% | $ (1,100) | 6.0% | |
19 | $ 19,268 | $ 19,268 | $ 18,760 | $ 18,618 | $17,800 | None | None | $ 1,468 | 8.2% | |
20 | $ 29,668 | $ 21,248 | $ 21,248 | $ 21,248 | $ 21,248 | $ 8,420 | 39.6% | $ 8,420 | 39.6% | |
21 | $ 22,186 | $ 21,312 | $ 19,278 | $ 19,278 | $ 19,278 | $ 874 | 4.1% | $ 2,908 | 15.1% | |
22 | $ 15,446 | $ 15,456 | $ 14,904 | $ 13,906 | $ 13,432 | $ (10) | -0.1% | $ 2,014 | 15.0% | |
23 | $ 17,696 | $ 17,696 | $ 17,696 | N/A | N/A | None | None | N/A | N/A | |
24 | $ 22,860 | $ 21,400 | $ 20,182 | $ 17,944 | $ 17,322 | $ 1,460 | 6.8% | $ 5,538 | 32.0% | |
25 | $ 26,578 | $ 24,822 | $ 22,696 | $ 22,696 | $ 22,696 | $ 1,756 | 7.1% | $ 3,882 | 17.1% | |
27 | $ 22,682 | $ 19,472 | $ 18,594 | N/A | N/A | $ 3,210 | 16.5% | N/A | N/A | |
29 | $ 25,014 | $ 24,537 | $ 24,537 | $ 24,537 | $ 24,537 | $ 477 | 1.9% | $ 477 | 1.9% |
Next page: Total cost data
Cost keeps rising at U.S. MBA programs: 19 of the top 27 B-schools now charge $200K or more for a two-year residential degree
TOTAL COST OF AN MBA AT THE LEADING U.S. PROGRAMS
2023 P&Q Rank | School | Estimated Total 2-Year Cost* | 2023 Total Cost | 2022 Total Cost | 2021 Total Cost | 2020 Total Cost | 2019 Total Cost | 2-Year Change | 2-Year % | 5-Year Change | 5-Year % |
1 | $ 243,044 | $ 124,476 | $ 118,568 | $ 115,464 | $ 111,695 | $ 114,896 | $ 5,908 | 5.0% | $ 9,580 | 8.3% | |
2 | $ 237,222 | $ 122,160 | $ 115,062 | $ 111,855 | $ 110,328 | $ 108,822 | $ 7,098 | 6.2% | $ 13,338 | 12.3% | |
3 | $ 250,854 | $ 126,465 | $ 124,389 | $ 119,964 | $ 118,644 | $ 115,917 | $ 2,076 | 1.7% | $ 10,548 | 9.1% | |
4 | $ 237,691 | $ 120,432 | $ 117,259 | $ 111,658 | $ 107,197 | $ 105,610 | $ 3,173 | 2.7% | $ 14,822 | 14.0% | |
5 | $ 227,944 | $ 115,638 | $ 112,306 | $ 112,764 | $ 111,542 | $ 111,818 | $ 3,332 | 3.0% | $ 3,820 | 3.4% | |
6 | $ 229,175 | $ 109,180 | $ 119,995 | $ 117,998 | $ 120,846 | $ 118,818 | $ (10,815) | -9.0% | $ (9,638) | -8.1% | |
7 | $ 249,518 | $ 127,058 | $ 122,460 | $ 118,777 | $ 117,633 | $ 114,309 | $ 4,598 | 3.8% | $ 12,749 | 11.2% | |
8 | $ 223,596 | $ 114,816 | $ 108,780 | $ 104,752 | $ 102,240 | $ 100,274 | $ 6,036 | 5.6% | $ 14,542 | 14.5% | |
9 | $ 237,579 | $ 120,004 | $ 117,575 | $ 118,815 | $ 112,000 | $ 115,040 | $ 2,429 | 2.1% | $ 4,964 | 4.3% | |
10 | $ 232,109 | $ 116,178 | $ 115,931 | $ 110,595 | $ 106,348 | $ 101,534 | $ 247 | 0.2% | $ 14,644 | 14.4% | |
11 | $ 199,729 | $ 99,780 | $ 99,949 | $ 97,566 | $ 95,840 | $ 96,860 | $ (169) | -0.8% | $ 2,920 | 3.0% | |
12 | $ 207,004 | $ 106,735 | $ 100,269 | $ 97,554 | $ 97,330 | $ 96,850 | $ 6,466 | 6.5% | $ 9,885 | 10.2% | |
13 | $ 214,833 | $ 107,211 | $ 107,622 | $ 101,685 | $ 99,760 | $ 96,840 | $ (411) | -0.4% | $ 10,371 | 10.7% | |
14 | $ 212,987 | $ 108,951 | $ 104,036 | $ 100,778 | $ 100,322 | $ 97,508 | $ 4,915 | 4.7% | $ 11,443 | 11.7% | |
15 | $ 244,778 | $ 123,253 | $ 121,525 | $ 121,541 | $ 119,251 | $ 116,511 | $ 1,728 | 1.4% | $ 6,742 | 5.8% | |
16 | $ 238,989 | $ 121,591 | $ 117,398 | $ 113,893 | $ 104,954 | $ 110,056 | $ 4,193 | 3.6% | $ 11,535 | 10.5% | |
17 | $ 210,503 | $ 107,539 | $ 102,964 | $ 92,960 | N/A | N/A | $ 4,575 | 4.4% | N/A | N/A | |
18 | $ 163,866 | $ 82,738 | $ 81,128 | $ 80,324 | $ 77,190 | $ 77,644 | $ 1,610 | 2.0% | $ 5,094 | 6.6% | |
19 | $ 196,604 | $ 99,928 | $ 96,676 | $ 94,632 | $ 92,370 | $ 91,946 | $ 3,252 | 3.4% | $ 7,982 | 8.7% | |
20 | $ 227,946 | $ 115,692 | $ 112,254 | $ 107,202 | $ 107,136 | $ 103,062 | $ 3,438 | 3.1% | $ 12,630 | 12.3% | |
21 | $ 199,709 | $ 104,775 | $ 94,934 | $ 95,475 | $ 94,133 | $ 92,276 | $ 9,841 | 10.4% | $ 12,499 | 13.5% | |
22 | $ 161,661 | $ 81,386 | $ 80,275 | $ 78,658 | $ 76,618 | $ 76,090 | $ 1,111 | 1.4% | $ 5,296 | 7.0% | |
23 | $ 177,054 | $ 89,546 | $ 87,508 | $ 87,508 | $ 87,508 | $ 87,508 | $ 2,038 | 2.3% | $ 2,038 | 2.3% | |
24 | $ 209,006 | $ 107,084 | $ 101,922 | $ 97,929 | $ 96,789 | $ 93,669 | $ 5,162 | 5.1% | $ 13,415 | 14.3% | |
25 | $ 198,447 | $ 103,513 | $ 94,934 | $ 95,475 | $ 94,133 | $ 92,276 | $ 8,579 | 9.0% | $ 11,237 | 12.2% | |
27 | $ 203,064 | $ 106,909 | $ 96,155 | $ 93,751 | $ 90,623 | $ 88,091 | $ 10,754 | 11.2% | $ 18,818 | 21.4% | |
29 | $ 186,797 | $ 96,260 | $ 90,537 | $ 80,090 | $ 90,250 | $ 94,086 | $ 5,723 | 6.3% | $ 2,174 | 2.3% |
*Calculated by adding MBA1 + MBA2 (2023+2022)
DON’T MISS MBA SALARIES & BONUSES AT THE TOP 30 U.S. B-SCHOOLS and LAST YEAR’S P&Q ANALYSIS OF THE TOTAL COST AT THE LEADING MBA PROGRAMS
The post This Is What It Costs To Get An MBA From A Top Business School appeared first on Poets&Quants.
