Most Expensive College by State, Map of 2021 Tuition

Key points from the map

• The map names one college or university for each of the 50 states and prints a yearly price under its logo.
• The highest price is Bard College at Simon’s Rock in Massachusetts at $63,583, just ahead of Columbia University ($63,530) and Franklin & Marshall College ($63,406).
• The lowest “most expensive” school is the University of Wyoming at $20,827, followed by the University of Jamestown in North Dakota ($23,498) and the University of Alaska Anchorage ($25,228).
• 17 states have a top price above $60,000, most of them in the Northeast. The median of the 50 prices is about $55,700 (our calculation).
• The figures are for 2021 and come from the Title IV Post-Secondary Institutions fees and tuitions report, with nces.ed.gov given as the source.

The most expensive college by state, in text

Title: Most Expensive College/University In Each State. Subtitle: (as of 2021, based on Title IV Post-Secondary Institutions Fees and Tutions Report). Each state shows the school’s logo with the price in green. Source: nces.ed.gov. StatsPanda logo, bottom right. A faint play button sits over the middle of the map, which suggests the image was taken from a video.

Where the figures come from

The same data was first mapped by Malcolm Tunnell, who posted “The Most Expensive College or University in Each US State” on Reddit’s r/dataisbeautiful as original content [1]. His notes say the map uses 2021 reports from Title IV post-secondary institutions, meaning colleges that take part in the federal student aid programme and must report their tuition and fees to the US Department of Education. He lists the Department of Education, the Institute of Education Sciences and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) as sources [1]. His map is titled by “Per Year Out of State Tuition and Fees”, so the prices are published tuition and fees for a student from outside the state, not the full cost of attendance with housing and food.

The StatsPanda version shown here keeps his prices and swaps his coloured states for school logos. StatsPanda publishes statistics and social media videos [3]; we could not find the original StatsPanda post for this graphic.

How these prices compare with typical college costs

The schools on the map are the most expensive in their states, so they sit well above typical prices. NCES reports that in 2022 to 2023 average tuition and fees at four-year institutions were $9,800 at public colleges, $18,200 at private for-profit colleges and $40,700 at private nonprofit colleges [2]. Once room, board and other costs are added, the average total cost of attendance for first-year students living on campus at four-year private nonprofit colleges was $58,600, against $27,100 at public colleges [2].

Most schools on the map are private liberal arts colleges or private research universities. In a few states the top price belongs to a state university, for example the University of Wyoming, the University of Alaska Anchorage and the University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa. Because the map uses out-of-state rates, these are the prices a non-resident would see, which are higher than the in-state rate.

Notes on this infographic

• Nebraska is shown as Creighton University at $35,914, the same figure printed for Augustana University in South Dakota. Malcolm Tunnell’s original map, which uses the same data, gives Creighton $44,524 [1]. The StatsPanda graphic appears to repeat the Augustana figure by mistake.
• The subtitle spells “Tuitions” as “Tutions”. We have kept it as printed.
• Prices are 2021 published out-of-state tuition and fees. They are not current prices and do not include housing, food or financial aid, so many students pay a different amount.
• Tunnell’s original also shows Washington DC (Georgetown University), Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands; the StatsPanda version covers the 50 states only [1].

Questions about the most expensive colleges

What is the most expensive college in the USA?

On this map, which uses 2021 out-of-state tuition and fees, it is Bard College at Simon’s Rock in Massachusetts at $63,583 a year [1]. Rankings that include housing and food, or that use more recent years, can name a different school.

What is the most expensive state in the US in terms of college tuition?

The map does not rank states by average tuition. It only shows each state’s single most expensive school, and on that measure Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio have the four highest prices, all above $63,000.

Which state has the cheapest most expensive college?

Wyoming. Its most expensive school on the map is the University of Wyoming at $20,827 a year, based on 2021 out-of-state tuition and fees. The next lowest are the University of Jamestown in North Dakota at $23,498 and the University of Alaska Anchorage at $25,228. In these states the top price belongs to a state university rather than a private college.

How much does college tuition cost on average in the US?

NCES reports that in 2022 to 2023 average tuition and fees at four-year institutions were $9,800 at public colleges, $18,200 at private for-profit colleges and $40,700 at private nonprofit colleges [2]. With room, board and other costs, first-year students living on campus paid an average of $58,600 at private nonprofit colleges and $27,100 at public colleges [2]. The map's prices sit well above these averages.

Sources

1. Malcolm Tunnell (u/malxredleader), [OC] The Most Expensive College or University in Each US State, r/dataisbeautiful. Original map and notes using the same 2021 data.
2. National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Facts, Tuition costs of colleges and universities.
3. StatsPanda, the publisher named on this graphic.

Last reviewed 30 October 2026