Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Physics

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

50

Schools Ranked

$43,163

Avg. Earnings

<1 yr

Best Payback

2,069

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	Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA · Private	$2,834	$84,653	<1 yr
2	Cornell University Ithaca, NY · Private	$9,785	$74,531	1 yrs
3	University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN · Private	$14,020	$67,660	1.7 yrs
4	University of Arizona Tucson, AZ · Public	$13,644	$64,791	1.8 yrs
5	Northeastern University Boston, MA · Private	$18,389	$74,200	1.9 yrs
6	Portland State University Portland, OR · Public	$12,964	$60,161	2.1 yrs
7	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA · Public	$17,340	$61,516	2.6 yrs
8	The University of Texas at Dallas Richardson, TX · Public	$14,583	$57,318	2.6 yrs
9	California State University-San Marcos San Marcos, CA · Public	$14,309	$57,318	2.6 yrs
10	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA · Public	$8,393	$46,620	2.9 yrs
11	Brigham Young University Provo, UT · Private	$12,676	$52,733	2.9 yrs
12	University of Arkansas Fayetteville, AR · Public	$16,256	$57,318	2.9 yrs
13	Florida State University Tallahassee, FL · Public	$11,506	$50,231	3 yrs
14	The University of Texas at Arlington Arlington, TX · Public	$15,458	$54,713	3.1 yrs
15	University of Washington-Bothell Campus Bothell, WA · Public	$9,439	$46,620	3.2 yrs
16	College of the Holy Cross Worcester, MA · Private	$20,142	$59,417	3.3 yrs
17	DePaul University Chicago, IL · Private	$28,577	$69,338	3.3 yrs
18	University of California-Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA · Public	$14,583	$52,107	3.4 yrs
19	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY · Private	$29,788	$69,338	3.5 yrs
20	University of Virginia-Main Campus Charlottesville, VA · Public	$16,019	$52,289	3.7 yrs
21	Southern Arkansas University Main Campus Magnolia, AR · Public	$16,889	$52,107	3.9 yrs
22	University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT · Public	$13,842	$48,432	4.1 yrs
23	California State Polytechnic University-Pomona Pomona, CA · Public	$15,958	$50,022	4.2 yrs
24	Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH · Public	$13,273	$47,260	4.3 yrs
25	Whitworth University Spokane, WA · Private	$21,629	$54,661	4.4 yrs
26	University of New Hampshire-Main Campus Durham, NH · Public	$20,896	$53,358	4.6 yrs
27	Michigan State University East Lansing, MI · Public	$20,557	$52,107	4.8 yrs
28	Western Washington University Bellingham, WA · Public	$16,819	$48,432	5 yrs
29	University of California-San Diego La Jolla, CA · Public	$14,310	$44,971	5.7 yrs
30	University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD · Public	$17,360	$47,260	5.7 yrs
31	Middle Tennessee State University Murfreesboro, TN · Public	$14,498	$44,747	5.9 yrs
32	The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX · Public	$16,134	$45,383	6.2 yrs
33	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL · Public	$11,505	$42,309	6.3 yrs
34	James Madison University Harrisonburg, VA · Public	$19,216	$47,260	6.3 yrs
35	University of Wisconsin-La Crosse La Crosse, WI · Public	$13,198	$43,240	6.4 yrs
36	Indiana University-Bloomington Bloomington, IN · Public	$12,369	$42,682	6.4 yrs
37	University of Missouri-Columbia Columbia, MO · Public	$13,715	$43,426	6.5 yrs
38	Salisbury University Salisbury, MD · Public	$18,252	$46,087	6.6 yrs
39	University of Chicago Chicago, IL · Private	$8,375	$39,909	6.8 yrs
40	University of South Florida Tampa, FL · Public	$9,669	$39,909	7.9 yrs
41	Carleton College Northfield, MN · Private	$15,991	$42,774	8.2 yrs
42	University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA · Public	$13,423	$41,193	8.7 yrs
43	Citadel Military College of South Carolina Charleston, SC · Public	$13,358	$41,025	8.9 yrs
44	Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY · Private	$8,106	$38,289	9.9 yrs
45	Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ · Public	$15,561	$41,205	10 yrs
46	Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, NY · Private	$31,935	$47,260	10.4 yrs
47	Central Washington University Ellensburg, WA · Public	$17,235	$41,565	10.5 yrs
48	Villanova University Villanova, PA · Private	$28,580	$45,198	11.2 yrs
49	University of Oregon Eugene, OR · Public	$16,014	$40,626	11.4 yrs
50	University of Central Florida Orlando, FL · Public	$9,426	$38,289	11.5 yrs

Top Earners in Physics

See schools ranked by earnings alone, without considering cost.

Best Value Rankings

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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.