Affordability
Published College Tuition by State & Sector
Typical published (sticker) tuition across CampusPin's 3,798 U.S. colleges: median public-university tuition is $8,994 in-state and $18,706 out-of-state, private universities $23,664, and public community colleges $4,288, broken down for every state.
By CampusPin Research · Published June 14, 2026
Executive summary
This report summarizes the published (sticker) tuition of the 3,798 U.S. colleges and universities in CampusPin's dataset, grouped by state and by sector, public vs. private and university (typically four-year) vs. community college (typically two-year). The figures were extracted from CampusPin's public API on June 14, 2026.
Nationally, the median published in-state tuition at a public university is $8,994, versus $18,706 for out-of-state students, an out-of-state premium of about $9,712. Private universities post a median of $23,664, while public community colleges are the most affordable on-ramp at $4,288 in-state.
These are PUBLISHED prices before financial aid. The net price most students actually pay is typically lower, often much lower at well-resourced private colleges. Use each school's profile on CampusPin for net price by family income, and treat these medians as a map of the sticker-price landscape, not a prediction of any one family's cost.
Key findings
- 1Public universities: median published tuition is $8,994 in-state and $18,706 out-of-state (777 institutions). Out-of-state students pay about $9,712 more per year at the median.
- 2Private universities: median published tuition is $23,664 (1,771 institutions); in-state and out-of-state prices are the same.
- 3Community colleges: median published in-state tuition is $4,288 at public two-year colleges (809 institutions), the most affordable sector by a wide margin.
- 4State variation is large: among the 48 jurisdictions meeting the minimum sample size, median in-state public-university tuition ranges from $3,160 (Florida) to $17,452 (Connecticut). Lower published tuition is not a measure of quality or value.
- Public university (in-state)8,994
- Public university (out-of-state)18,706
- Private university23,664
- Public community college4,288
Median published tuition by state and sector across 50 states and Washington, D.C., 51 jurisdictions: public-university in-state and out-of-state, private-university, and public community-college medians (USD), with institution counts. Cells below 3 reporting institutions are blank. Snapshot extracted June 14, 2026; underlying source years may vary.
| State code | State | Public universities (n) | Public university median in-state (USD) | Public university median out-of-state (USD) | Private universities (n) | Private university median tuition (USD) | Public community colleges (n) | Community college median in-state (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AK | Alaska | 4 | 7263 | 21395 | 3 | 18678 | 0 | |
| AL | Alabama | 14 | 11119 | 20978 | 19 | 15650 | 23 | 5040 |
| AR | Arkansas | 12 | 8688 | 14610 | 16 | 18265 | 22 | 3516 |
| AZ | Arizona | 5 | 12051 | 28900 | 28 | 12375 | 20 | 2358 |
| CA | California | 52 | 7521 | 19318 | 203 | 15977 | 102 | 1288 |
| CO | Colorado | 23 | 9670 | 20492 | 15 | 14234 | 6 | 4420 |
| CT | Connecticut | 11 | 17452 | 37891 | 18 | 45819 | 1 | |
| DC | District of Columbia | 1 | 15 | 30953 | 0 | |||
| DE | Delaware | 3 | 10314 | 20250 | 3 | 13440 | 0 | |
| FL | Florida | 40 | 3160 | 11803 | 77 | 18238 | 1 | |
| GA | Georgia | 27 | 5392 | 15790 | 40 | 22775 | 23 | 3172 |
| HI | Hawaii | 4 | 7711 | 20671 | 6 | 11455 | 6 | 3209 |
| IA | Iowa | 3 | 10497 | 27683 | 34 | 33335 | 16 | 5678 |
| ID | Idaho | 5 | 8356 | 26976 | 7 | 15700 | 3 | 3390 |
| IL | Illinois | 12 | 13083 | 15416 | 79 | 20604 | 48 | 4385 |
| IN | Indiana | 15 | 9254 | 22043 | 44 | 30807 | 1 | |
| KS | Kansas | 8 | 8665 | 19466 | 25 | 33470 | 25 | 4046 |
| KY | Kentucky | 8 | 10513 | 21150 | 30 | 24575 | 16 | 4656 |
| LA | Louisiana | 17 | 9172 | 16706 | 16 | 19713 | 14 | 4220 |
| MA | Massachusetts | 15 | 11884 | 20559 | 72 | 44334 | 15 | 5688 |
| MD | Maryland | 14 | 10429 | 23254 | 20 | 39327 | 16 | 4104 |
| ME | Maine | 7 | 10920 | 23079 | 14 | 36147 | 7 | 3864 |
| MI | Michigan | 21 | 14190 | 18800 | 38 | 28519 | 25 | 4566 |
| MN | Minnesota | 12 | 10417 | 13760 | 38 | 25330 | 28 | 6178 |
| MO | Missouri | 13 | 9800 | 17928 | 58 | 17677 | 14 | 4342 |
| MS | Mississippi | 8 | 8848 | 9358 | 10 | 14303 | 15 | 3865 |
| MT | Montana | 9 | 6430 | 19385 | 5 | 29018 | 9 | 3975 |
| NC | North Carolina | 17 | 7317 | 21876 | 53 | 27110 | 57 | 2545 |
| ND | North Dakota | 9 | 8514 | 9564 | 6 | 15739 | 5 | 5347 |
| NE | Nebraska | 7 | 8302 | 14260 | 15 | 23340 | 9 | 3600 |
| NH | New Hampshire | 6 | 15265 | 26583 | 10 | 33546 | 7 | 7090 |
| NJ | New Jersey | 13 | 15700 | 24888 | 45 | 17106 | 19 | 5082 |
| NM | New Mexico | 9 | 7260 | 14328 | 4 | 5338 | 19 | 2004 |
| NV | Nevada | 7 | 4110 | 13448 | 7 | 17488 | 0 | |
| NY | New York | 45 | 8678 | 18486 | 177 | 22141 | 36 | 6077 |
| OH | Ohio | 42 | 7278 | 16744 | 73 | 31440 | 17 | 5136 |
| OK | Oklahoma | 17 | 7922 | 16410 | 14 | 23608 | 13 | 5032 |
| OR | Oregon | 9 | 12594 | 30735 | 20 | 32217 | 17 | 5544 |
| PA | Pennsylvania | 39 | 14620 | 23872 | 103 | 36842 | 19 | 6270 |
| RI | Rhode Island | 2 | 11 | 42666 | 1 | |||
| SC | South Carolina | 14 | 11670 | 22161 | 26 | 23248 | 19 | 5046 |
| SD | South Dakota | 9 | 9000 | 12100 | 7 | 20740 | 4 | 7587 |
| TN | Tennessee | 11 | 10144 | 18208 | 42 | 21398 | 13 | 4540 |
| TX | Texas | 61 | 9101 | 18084 | 81 | 16715 | 41 | 2933 |
| UT | Utah | 7 | 6391 | 17830 | 14 | 12529 | 1 | |
| VA | Virginia | 16 | 14880 | 32010 | 51 | 18529 | 24 | 4938 |
| VT | Vermont | 2 | 10 | 47575 | 1 | |||
| WA | Washington | 38 | 4989 | 7764 | 25 | 33000 | 4 | 4746 |
| WI | Wisconsin | 17 | 8606 | 17854 | 32 | 32572 | 15 | 4724 |
| WV | West Virginia | 12 | 8961 | 17966 | 12 | 16075 | 9 | 4818 |
| WY | Wyoming | 5 | 4680 | 10980 | 0 | 3 | 4410 |
Methodology
Source: CampusPin's public production API (read-only), https://api.campuspin.com/api/v1/institutions. CampusPin's roster is itself compiled from federal sources (IPEDS / NCES and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard) plus institutional websites.
Data snapshot: June 14, 2026 (extraction date). Underlying source years may vary by institution, CampusPin does not assert a single common reporting year. Dataset version 1.0.0.
Metric: the MEDIAN published tuition within each cell, rounded to the nearest dollar (even counts use the rounded mean of the two middle values). Medians resist distortion from a few unusually high- or low-priced schools.
Tuition is treated as missing when not reported (a value of 0 is a known missing sentinel upstream) and excluded from the median; it is never counted as $0.
Sectors: CampusPin classifies control as public or private and type as university (~four-year) or community college (~two-year). Private nonprofit vs. for-profit is not split. National figures additionally include private community colleges (441 institutions, median $15,977).
Per-state, per-sector medians are published only when at least 3 institutions in that cell report tuition; smaller cells are left blank rather than report a misleading "median" of one or two schools. No records were unresolved. The committed snapshot carries a SHA-256 checksum, and scripts/build-tuition-by-state.mjs --validate re-derives every figure to confirm reproducibility.
Limitations
- Published (sticker) tuition only, NOT net price. Most students pay less after grants and scholarships; see each school’s profile for net price by family income.
- Tuition excludes fees, housing, books, and living costs, it is not the full cost of attendance.
- Reflects institutions in CampusPin's coverage, not the full federal IPEDS universe.
- Medians describe the typical published price in a cell; they are not a ranking, and lower tuition does not imply higher quality or value.
- CampusPin records control as public/private only; private nonprofit vs. for-profit is not distinguished.
- Degree level is approximated by CampusPin institution type and may differ from the federal two-year/four-year classification for some schools.
- Underlying source years may vary by institution; figures are a point-in-time snapshot, not a single official reporting year.
For journalists
Across CampusPin's 3,798 U.S. colleges, median published tuition is $8,994 in-state / $18,706 out-of-state at public universities, $23,664 at private universities, and $4,288 at public community colleges. These are sticker prices before aid; net price is typically lower. Figures are reproducible from a checksum-verified snapshot extracted June 14, 2026, and cover 50 states and Washington, D.C., 51 jurisdictions.
Cite as CampusPin Research and link to this report or its CSV. The dataset is free to use with attribution; the methodology and a downloadable CSV are on this page. Figures are published tuition, not net price.
Sources, methodology & citation
Sources used across this page
Not every source informs every figure. Each data point draws on the source appropriate to it see the relevant section and the data dictionary for field-level provenance.
CampusPin institution dataset (public API)
CampusPin's curated roster of U.S. institutions with published tuition, classified by state, control, and type. Itself compiled from the federal sources below.
IPEDS / NCES College Navigator
Federal enrollment, admissions, tuition, retention, and program data. Released annually with a 1–2 year lag.
U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard
Net price by income band, post-graduation earnings, and federal aid context.
Where a value is unavailable it is shown as unavailable, never as 0, free, or a negative judgment. Always confirm final details with the institution before applying.
Suggested citation
CampusPin. (2026). Published College Tuition by State & Sector. Retrieved from https://campuspin.com/research/college-tuition-by-state