Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Statistics

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

40

Schools Ranked

$57,052

Avg. Earnings

<1 yr

Best Payback

1,516

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	Harvard University Cambridge, MA · Private	$2,669	$128,716	<1 yr
2	Duke University Durham, NC · Private	$7,160	$83,546	<1 yr
3	Rice University Houston, TX · Private	$6,152	$79,450	<1 yr
4	Northwestern University Evanston, IL · Private	$5,849	$64,990	<1 yr
5	University of Chicago Chicago, IL · Private	$8,375	$68,499	1 yrs
6	Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY · Private	$8,106	$61,516	1.2 yrs
7	University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI · Public	$10,364	$63,005	1.5 yrs
8	Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA · Private	$21,526	$88,506	1.6 yrs
9	University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA · Public	$13,423	$69,338	1.6 yrs
10	Brigham Young University Provo, UT · Private	$12,676	$64,791	1.7 yrs
11	Purdue University-Main Campus West Lafayette, IN · Public	$8,450	$53,358	1.8 yrs
12	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL · Public	$11,505	$58,221	2 yrs
13	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI · Public	$10,481	$54,435	2.2 yrs
14	University of Minnesota-Duluth Duluth, MN · Public	$13,364	$57,318	2.4 yrs
15	University of Virginia-Main Campus Charlottesville, VA · Public	$16,019	$61,020	2.5 yrs
16	University of Connecticut-Avery Point Groton, CT · Public	$9,414	$49,962	2.5 yrs
17	University of Florida Gainesville, FL · Public	$8,394	$47,729	2.6 yrs
18	University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus Waterbury, CT · Public	$10,112	$49,962	2.7 yrs
19	University of Northern Iowa Cedar Falls, IA · Public	$15,287	$57,318	2.7 yrs
20	Central Michigan University Mount Pleasant, MI · Public	$15,720	$57,318	2.8 yrs
21	University of Connecticut-Hartford Campus Hartford, CT · Public	$10,515	$49,962	2.8 yrs
22	University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA · Public	$12,644	$52,524	2.9 yrs
23	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA · Public	$17,340	$55,512	3.4 yrs
24	Miami University-Oxford Oxford, OH · Public	$23,513	$63,005	3.4 yrs
25	Pennsylvania State University-World Campus University Park, PA · Public	$19,223	$56,415	3.6 yrs
26	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN · Public	$12,911	$49,058	3.7 yrs
27	University of Connecticut-Stamford Stamford, CT · Public	$15,152	$49,962	4.1 yrs
28	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Harrisburg Middletown, PA · Public	$22,395	$56,415	4.2 yrs
29	University of California-Davis Davis, CA · Public	$14,193	$47,595	4.5 yrs
30	University of California-Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA · Public	$14,583	$47,650	4.6 yrs
31	North Carolina State University at Raleigh Raleigh, NC · Public	$14,424	$46,478	5 yrs
32	Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus University Park, PA · Public	$27,137	$56,415	5.1 yrs
33	University of Connecticut Storrs, CT · Public	$20,344	$49,962	5.4 yrs
34	University of Georgia Athens, GA · Public	$15,037	$44,170	6.6 yrs
35	California State University-Fullerton Fullerton, CA · Public	$9,017	$40,485	6.6 yrs
36	University of South Florida Tampa, FL · Public	$9,669	$40,467	7.1 yrs
37	Grand Valley State University Allendale, MI · Public	$15,277	$43,128	7.5 yrs
38	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA · Public	$18,372	$42,712	9.5 yrs
39	Florida State University Tallahassee, FL · Public	$11,506	$37,208	20.8 yrs
40	San Diego State University San Diego, CA · Public	$14,698	$33,990	N/A

Top Earners in Statistics

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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.