What It Costs To Get An MBA From A Top Business School

Living expenses — food and housing chiefly, though in some cases transportation and other expenses are folded into the mix — are highly subjective, or at least seem so. B-schools doubtless have formulas for calculating them (that they don’t share publicly). The range of annual expenses estimates by the schools analyzed by P&Q for this story is nearly $40K in Palo Alto, California, home of Stanford University, down to less than $17K in Bloomington, Indiana, where IU and the Kelley School of Business reside. And that’s just for single students (more on this below).

Even more wide: the range of expense estimate growth over the past six years, from before the Covid-19 pandemic to 2024. Across 26 schools, estimate adjustments between 2019 and 2024 range from up nearly 50% to down 12%. See the table at the bottom of the page for details.

In 2024, five schools have living expenses estimates above $30K, up from four schools last year; 15 are above $25K, up from 12; and four are below $20K, down from seven. The highest estimate is $39,888 at Stanford and the lowest is $16,172 at Indiana Kelley. The average living expenses estimate for a top-10 B-school is $27,921, up 1.2% from $27,598 last year.

MOST EXPENSIVE PROGRAMS FOR LIVING EXPENSES, 2023 TO 2024

2024 P&Q Rank	School	2024 Living Expenses	2023 Living Expenses	Change	%
1	Stanford GSB	$‎ 39,888	$‎ 38,724	$‎ 1,164	3.0%
2	Harvard Business School	$‎ 34,000	$‎ 32,600	$‎ 1,400	4.3%
31	Pennsylvania (Wharton)	$‎ 33,804	$‎ 26,028	$‎ 7,776	29.9%
3	Dartmouth (Tuck)	$‎ 32,603	$‎ 31,620	$‎ 983	3.1%
13	UCLA (Anderson)	$‎ 30,440	$‎ 24,850	$‎ 5,590	22.5%
17	Washington (Foster)	$‎ 29,668	$‎ 29,668	None	None
10	New York (Stern)	$‎ 29,344	$‎ 28,242	$1,102	3.9%
5	Yale SOM	$‎ 29,227	$‎ 28,266	$‎ 961	3.4%
22	Southern California (Marshall)	$‎ 29,140	$‎ 30,410	$‎ (1,270)	-4.2%
15	UC-Berkeley (Haas)	$‎ 28,284	$‎ 26,416	$1,868	7.1%

Source: Business schools

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WHARTON HAS RAISED ITS LIVING EXPENSES ESTIMATE NEARLY 50% SINCE 2019

From 2023 to 2024, the average increase in living expenses estimate at 22 schools for which we have data to compare is $1,780 and 7.4%. The biggest increase in that time came at Wharton, up $7,776 and 29.9% to $33,804. The smallest was an actual decline, at USC Marshall, which reduced its estimate $1,270 and 4.2% to $29,140. Marshall was the only school to drop its living expenses estimate over two years.

Three schools made no year-to-year adjustment to their estimates: Chicago Booth, Washington Foster School of Business, and Emory Goizueta. This is not uncommon: Kellogg for years left its estimate at $22,185; likewise Booth was stuck for years at $22,185 and Foster at $21,248. Columbia had not adjusted its living expenses estimate in four years before bumping it up this year to $27,396 from $24,822. And while most schools made upward adjustments in 2024, nine of them raised their estimates less than $1K.

Over six years since 2019, the average growth in living expenses estimate is $5,031 and 23.8%. The biggest growth in six years occurred at Wharton, up $11,134 and 49.1% to $33,804. Two schools are down in that span: MIT Sloan and Texas McCombs; the former actually reduced its estimate by nearly 12%, to $23,490, which begs the question: Is Boston really that cheap a place to live?

Not really. According to RentCafe.com, the average monthly rent in Boston is $3,999; multiply that by nine for the nine months of the school year and you get around $36K. You can do similar fun math with the averages in Chicago ($2,349), New York ($4,566), and Los Angeles ($2,719).

Then there is the matter of married versus single student costs. In short, marriage — and children — are costly for an MBA student.

See for example Stanford’s rates: Living expenses for single students are calculated at $39,888, but for married students they jump to $66,348. In other words, the total one-year cost for a married student at Stanford is $157,206, 20% more than the $130,746 for a single student. Harvard, meanwhile, estimates a single student’s food and housing costs at $23,400, a married student’s at $35,010, a married student’s who has one child at $44,856, and a married student’s with two children at $45,990.

It’s not just the M7 schools: Smaller schools do similar adjustments. At Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business, living expenses for a single student are estimated at $14,250, married $16,982, married one kid $20,742, and married 2 kids $24,266. If we double all the 9-month estimates we get cost totals for the two-year MBA journey at:

• Single $223,572
• Married $244,664
• Married 1 kid $264,170
• Married 2 kids $283,996

LIVING EXPENSES AT THE TOP U.S. B-SCHOOLS, 2019 TO 2024

2024 P&Q Rank	School	2024 Living Expenses	2023 Living Expenses	2022 Living Expenses	2021 Living Expenses	2020 Living Expenses	2019 Living Expenses	2-Year Change	2-Year %	6-Year Change	6-Year %
1	Stanford GSB	$‎ 39,888	$‎ 38,724	$‎ 36,198	$‎ 34,806	$‎ 33,693	$‎ 32,712	$‎ 1,164	3.0%	$‎ 7,176	21.9%
2	Harvard Business School	$‎ 34,000	$‎ 32,600	$‎ 31,390	$‎ 30,270	$‎ 30,700	$‎ 29,844	$‎ 1,400	4.3%	$‎ 4,156	13.9%
3	Dartmouth (Tuck)	$‎ 32,603	$‎ 31,620	$‎ 30,215	$‎ 31,215	$‎ 29,413	$‎ 22,742	$‎ 983	3.1%	$‎ 9,861	43.3%
4	Columbia Business School	$‎ 27,396	$‎ 24,822	$‎ 24,822	$‎ 24,822	$‎ 24,822	$‎ 21,375	$‎ 2,574	10.4%	$‎ 6,021	28.2%
5	Yale SOM	$‎ 29,227	$‎ 28,266	$‎ 25,200	$‎ 24,284	$‎ 27,680	$‎ 22,214	$‎ 961	3.4%	$‎ 7,013	31.6%
6	Duke (Fuqua)	$‎ 24,048	$‎ 23,202	$‎ 20,304	$‎ 19,256	$‎ 18,990	$‎ 18,702	$‎ 846	3.6%	$‎ 5,346	28.6%
7	Cornell (Johnson)	$‎ 19,428	$‎ 18,554	$‎ 20,016	$‎ 17,865	$‎ 16,800	$‎ 16,800	$‎ 874	4.7%	$‎ 2,628	15.6%
8	Virginia (Darden)	$‎ 24,570	$‎ 22,870	$‎ 19,720	$‎ 18,430	$‎ 18,176	$‎ 17,766	$‎ 1,700	7.4%	$‎ 6,804	38.3%
9	Michigan (Ross)	$‎ 18,704	$‎ 17,780	$‎ 17,780	$‎ 16,998	$‎ 16,502	$‎ 16,194	$‎ 924	5.2%	$‎ 2,510	15.5%
10	New York (Stern)	$‎ 29,344	$‎ 28,242	$‎ 28,242	$‎ 27,420	$‎ 26,804	$‎ 26,780	$‎ 1,102	3.9%	$‎ 2,564	9.6%
11	Chicago (Booth)	$‎ 26,010	$‎ 26,010	$‎ 22,185	$‎ 22,185	$‎ 22,185	$‎ 22,185	None	None	$‎ 3,825	17.2%
12	Northwestern (Kellogg)	$‎ 21,150	$‎ 19,800	$‎ 19,800	$‎ 17,100	$‎ 17,100	$‎ 17,100	$‎ 1,350	6.8%	$‎ 4,050	23.7%
13	UCLA (Anderson)	$‎ 30,440	$‎ 24,850	$‎ 25,200	$‎ 25,200	$‎ 21,600	$‎ 24,668	$‎ 5,590	22.5%	$‎ 5,772	23.4%
14	MIT (Sloan)	$‎ 23,490	$‎ 21,694	$‎ 23,877	$‎ 21,975	$‎ 26,660	$‎ 26,660	$‎ 1,796	8.3%	$‎ (3,170)	-11.9%
15	UC-Berkeley (Haas)	$‎ 28,428	$‎ 26,416	$‎ 26,416	$‎ 26,014	$‎ 25,658	$‎ 25,234	$‎ 2,012	7.6%	$‎ 3,194	12.7%
16	Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)	$‎ 23,490	$‎ 22,860	$‎ 21,400	$‎ 20,182	$‎ 17,944	$‎ 17,322	$‎ 630	2.8%	$‎ 6,168	35.6%
17	Washington (Foster)	$‎ 29,668	$‎ 29,668	$‎ 21,248	$‎ 21,248	$‎ 21,248	$‎ 21,248	None	None	$‎ 8,420	39.6%
18	Rice (Jones)	$‎ 26,029	$‎ 25,014	$‎ 24,537	$‎ 24,537	$‎ 24,537	$‎ 24,537	$‎ 1,015	4.1%	$‎ 1,492	6.1%
19	Texas-Austin (McCombs)	$‎ 17,300	$‎ 17,270	$‎ 20,206	$‎ 19,478	$‎ 18,078	$‎ 18,370	$‎ 30	0.2%	$‎ (1,070)	-5.8%
20	North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler)	$‎ 20,716	$‎ 19,268	$‎ 19,268	$‎ 18,760	$‎ 18,618	$‎ 17,800	$1,448	7.5%	$‎ 2,916	16.4%
21	Vanderbilt (Owen)	$‎ 26,844	$‎ 22,682	$‎ 19,472	$‎ 18,594	N/A	N/A	$‎ 4,162	18.3%	N/A	N/A
22	Southern California (Marshall)	$‎ 29,140	$‎ 30,410	$‎ 26,980	$‎ 24,256	N/A	N/A	$‎ (1,270)	-4.2%	N/A	N/A
23	Emory (Goizueta)	$‎ 22,186	$‎ 22,186	$‎ 21,312	$‎ 19,278	$‎ 19,278	$‎ 19,278	None	None	$‎ 2,908	15.1%
24	Georgetown (McDonough)	$‎ 26,826	$‎ 26,578	$‎ 24,822	$‎ 22,696	$‎ 22,696	$‎ 22,696	$‎ 248	0.9%	$‎ 4,130	18.2%
31	Pennsylvania (Wharton)	$‎ 33,804	$‎ 26,028	$‎ 22,887	$‎ 21,720	$‎ 21,050	$‎ 22,670	$‎ 7,776	29.9%	$‎ 11,134	49.1%
37	Indiana (Kelley)	$‎ 16,172	$‎ 15,446	$‎ 15,456	$‎ 14,904	$‎ 13,906	$‎ 13,432	$‎ 726	4.7%	$‎ 2,740	20.4%

Source: Business schools

See the next page for one- and two-year total cost breakdowns at 27 top U.S. business schools.