The MBA Price Tag: 21 Of The Top 25 U.S. B-Schools Now Charge $100K A Year Or More

Stanford University front entrance. Credit: Linda A. Cicero / Stanford News Service

ESTIMATED LIVING EXPENSES AT THE LEADING U.S. MBA PROGRAMS, 2021-2025

2025 P&Q Rank	School	2025 Living Expenses	2024 Living Expenses	2023 Living Expenses	2022 Living Expenses	2021 Living Expenses	2-Year Change	2-Year %	5-Year Change	5-Year %
1	Northwestern (Kellogg)	$‎ 22,059	$‎ 21,150	$‎ 19,800	$‎ 19,800	$‎ 17,100	$‎ 909	4.3%	$‎ 4,959	29.0%
2	Stanford GSB	$‎ 40,971	$‎ 39,888	$‎ 38,724	$‎ 36,198	$‎ 34,806	$‎ 1,083	2.7%	$‎ 6,165	17.7%
3	Chicago (Booth)	$‎ 26,010	$‎ 26,010	$‎ 26,010	$‎ 22,185	$‎ 22,185	$‎ 0	0%	$‎ 3,825	17.2%
4	Harvard Business School	$‎ 36,568	$‎ 34,000	$‎ 32,600	$‎ 31,390	$‎ 30,270	$‎ 2,568	7.6%	$‎ 6,298	20.8%
5	Virginia (Darden)	$‎ 25,170	$‎ 24,570	$‎ 22,870	$‎ 19,720	$‎ 18,430	$‎ 600	2.4%	$‎ 6,740	36.6%
6	Dartmouth (Tuck)	$‎ 33,787	$‎ 32,603	$‎ 31,620	$‎ 30,215	$‎ 31,215	$‎ 1,184	3.6%	$‎ 2,572	8.2%
7	Columbia Business School	$‎ 31,986	$‎ 27,396	$‎ 24,822	$‎ 24,822	$‎ 24,822	$‎ 4,590	16.8%	$‎ 7,164	28.9%
8	Yale SOM	$‎ 26,918	$‎ 29,227	$‎ 28,266	$‎ 25,200	$‎ 24,284	$‎ (2,309)	-7.9%	$‎ 2,634	10.8%
9	Cornell (Johnson)	$‎ 22,450	$‎ 19,428	$‎ 18,554	$‎ 20,016	$‎ 17,865	$‎ 3,022	15.6%	$‎ 4,585	25.7%
10	Duke (Fuqua)	$‎ 24,624	$‎ 24,048	$‎ 23,202	$‎ 20,304	$‎ 19,256	$‎ 576	2.4%	$‎ 5,368	27.9%
11	New York (Stern)	$‎ 31,090	$‎ 29,344	$‎ 28,242	$‎ 28,242	$‎ 27,420	$‎ 1,746	6.0%	$‎ 3,670	13.4%
12	Pennsylvania (Wharton)	$‎ 32,842	$‎ 33,804	$‎ 26,028	$‎ 22,887	$‎ 21,720	$‎ (962)	-2.8%	$‎ 11,122	51.2%
13	MIT (Sloan)	$‎ 23,670	$‎ 23,490	$‎ 21,694	$‎ 23,877	$‎ 21,975	$‎ 180	0.8%	$‎ 1,695	7.7%
14	UCLA (Anderson)	$‎ 31,962	$‎ 30,440	$‎ 24,850	$‎ 25,200	$‎ 25,200	$‎ 1,522	5.0%	$‎ 6,762	26.8%
15	Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)	$‎ 24,890	$‎ 23,490	$‎ 22,860	$‎ 21,400	$‎ 20,182	$‎ 1,400	6.0%	$‎ 4,708	23.3%
16	Texas-Austin (McCombs)	$‎ 17,355	$‎ 17,300	$‎ 17,270	$‎ 20,206	$‎ 19,478	$‎ 55	0.3%	$‎ (2,123)	-10.9%
17	UC-Berkeley (Haas)	$‎ 29,008	$‎ 28,428	$‎ 26,416	$‎ 26,416	$‎ 26,014	$‎ 580	2.0%	$‎ 2,994	11.5%
18	North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler)	$‎ 19,804	$‎ 20,716	$‎ 19,268	$‎ 19,268	$‎ 18,760	$‎ (912)	-4.4%	$‎ 1,044	5.6%
19	Washington (Foster)	$‎ 29,668	$‎ 29,668	$‎ 29,668	$‎ 21,248	$‎ 21,248	$‎ 0	0%	$‎ 8,420	4.0%
19	Georgia Tech (Scheller)	$‎ 22,354	$‎ 21,318	$‎ 19,710	$‎ 19,222	$‎ 19,126	$‎ 1,036	4.9%	$‎ 3,228	16.9%
21	Washington (Olin)	$‎ 26,720	$‎ 28,720	$‎ 25,490	NA	NA	$‎ (2,000)	-7.0%	NA	NA
22	Southern California (Marshall)	$‎ 31,456	$‎ 29,140	$‎ 30,410	$‎ 26,980	$‎ 24,256	$‎ 2,316	7.9%	$‎ 7,200	30.0%
23	Emory (Goizueta)	$‎ 27,684	$‎ 22,186	$‎ 22,186	$‎ 21,312	$‎ 19,278	$‎ 5,498	24.8%	$‎ 8,406	43.6%
24	Notre Dame (Mendoza)	$‎ 16,200	$‎ 14,850	$‎ 13,050	$‎ 10,450	$‎ 10,350	$‎ 1,350	9.1%	$‎ 5,850	56.5%
25	Georgetown (McDonough)	$‎ 27,826	$‎ 26,826	$‎ 26,578	$‎ 24,822	$‎ 22,696	$‎ 1,000	3.7%	$‎ 5,130	22.6%
26	Rice (Jones)	$‎ 19,800	$‎ 26,029	$‎ 25,014	$‎ 24,537	$‎ 24,537	$‎ (6,229)	-23.9%	$‎ (4,737)	-19.3%
29	Michigan (Ross)	$‎ 21,016	$‎ 18,704	$‎ 17,780	$‎ 17,780	$‎ 16,998	$‎ 2,312	12.4%	$‎ 4,018	23.6%
30	Vanderbilt (Owen)	$‎ 23,518	$‎ 26,844	$‎ 22,682	$‎ 19,472	$‎ 18,594	$‎ (3,326)	-12.4%	$‎ 4,924	26.5%
34	Indiana (Kelley)	$‎ 16,836	$‎ 16,172	$‎ 15,446	$‎ 15,456	$‎ 14,904	$‎ 664	4.1%	$‎ 1,932	13.0%

Source: Business schools

DON’T MISS LAST YEAR’S COLLECTION OF COST DATA and IS AN MBA WORTH IT? HOW TO CALCULATE THE REAL ROI

© Copyright 2026 Poets & Quants. All rights reserved. This article may not be republished, rewritten or otherwise distributed without written permission. To reprint or license this article or any content from Poets & Quants, please submit your request HERE.