Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Architecture

Schools ranked by payback period — how quickly you recoup your investment through higher earnings.

50

Schools Ranked

$44,559

Avg. Earnings

2.1 yrs

Best Payback

3,686

Graduates

How we calculate value: Payback = (4 years of net price) / (major earnings - $35k baseline). A 2-year payback means you recoup your investment in 2 years through higher earnings vs. not attending college.

#	School	Net Price/yr	Major Earnings	Payback
1	Cornell University Ithaca, NY · Private	$9,785	$53,358	2.1 yrs
2	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA · Public	$8,393	$49,136	2.4 yrs
3	University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN · Private	$14,020	$57,679	2.5 yrs
4	Oklahoma State University-Main Campus Stillwater, OK · Public	$14,127	$55,286	2.8 yrs
5	California State Polytechnic University-Pomona Pomona, CA · Public	$15,958	$55,286	3.1 yrs
6	The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX · Public	$16,134	$54,570	3.3 yrs
7	University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA · Public	$13,423	$51,273	3.3 yrs
8	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA · Public	$17,340	$55,884	3.3 yrs
9	University of Houston Houston, TX · Public	$13,382	$49,019	3.8 yrs
10	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus Atlanta, GA · Public	$15,415	$50,856	3.9 yrs
11	Iowa State University Ames, IA · Public	$14,641	$50,060	3.9 yrs
12	North Carolina State University at Raleigh Raleigh, NC · Public	$14,424	$49,019	4.1 yrs
13	University of Oregon Eugene, OR · Public	$16,014	$50,141	4.2 yrs
14	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA · Public	$18,372	$51,960	4.3 yrs
15	Mississippi State University Mississippi State, MS · Public	$18,449	$52,107	4.3 yrs
16	Kennesaw State University Kennesaw, GA · Public	$19,365	$52,107	4.5 yrs
17	Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA · Private	$21,526	$53,775	4.6 yrs
18	Northeastern University Boston, MA · Private	$18,389	$49,840	5 yrs
19	University of Arizona Tucson, AZ · Public	$13,644	$45,696	5.1 yrs
20	Drury University Springfield, MO · Private	$17,162	$47,650	5.4 yrs
21	Auburn University Auburn, AL · Public	$23,468	$52,107	5.5 yrs
22	Syracuse University Syracuse, NY · Private	$23,533	$52,107	5.5 yrs
23	Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, FL · Public	$12,323	$43,798	5.6 yrs
24	Texas A&M University-College Station College Station, TX · Public	$17,525	$47,260	5.7 yrs
25	University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus Norman, OK · Public	$21,725	$49,962	5.8 yrs
26	New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, NJ · Public	$18,451	$47,611	5.9 yrs
27	New York Institute of Technology Old Westbury, NY · Private	$20,293	$48,823	5.9 yrs
28	University of Virginia-Main Campus Charlottesville, VA · Public	$16,019	$45,584	6.1 yrs
29	University of North Carolina at Charlotte Charlotte, NC · Public	$16,938	$45,852	6.2 yrs
30	University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD · Public	$17,360	$46,087	6.3 yrs
31	University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA · Private	$22,826	$49,437	6.3 yrs
32	Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, IL · Private	$22,339	$48,988	6.4 yrs
33	Marywood University Scranton, PA · Private	$19,734	$47,260	6.4 yrs
34	Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Baton Rouge, LA · Public	$19,623	$46,924	6.6 yrs
35	University of Arkansas Fayetteville, AR · Public	$16,256	$44,755	6.7 yrs
36	Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus University Park, PA · Public	$27,137	$50,856	6.8 yrs
37	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY · Private	$29,788	$52,316	6.9 yrs
38	Drexel University Philadelphia, PA · Private	$33,921	$54,576	6.9 yrs
39	The University of Texas at Arlington Arlington, TX · Public	$15,458	$43,798	7 yrs
40	Temple University Philadelphia, PA · Public	$21,568	$47,260	7 yrs
41	Lawrence Technological University Southfield, MI · Private	$33,641	$53,608	7.2 yrs
42	Thomas Jefferson University Philadelphia, PA · Private	$23,635	$48,087	7.2 yrs
43	The University of Tennessee-Knoxville Knoxville, TN · Public	$22,476	$47,260	7.3 yrs
44	University of San Francisco San Francisco, CA · Private	$36,818	$55,286	7.3 yrs
45	Washington State University Pullman, WA · Public	$14,233	$41,937	8.2 yrs
46	California College of the Arts San Francisco, CA · Private	$31,474	$50,231	8.3 yrs
47	Woodbury University Burbank, CA · Private	$29,603	$49,064	8.4 yrs
48	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN · Public	$12,911	$41,044	8.5 yrs
49	Portland State University Portland, OR · Public	$12,964	$41,007	8.6 yrs
50	Wentworth Institute of Technology Boston, MA · Private	$33,733	$50,105	8.9 yrs

Top Earners in Architecture

See schools ranked by earnings alone, without considering cost.

Best Value Rankings

Explore best value colleges across all majors and categories.

Payback uses earnings by major from the College Scorecard's field-of-study file, last updated June 2026, against net price from the June 2026 release. Scorecard publishes the two separately, so they are different vintages.