The 10 most expensive states to attend college

For the third consecutive year, New Jersey has landed as the most expensive state for attending college, according to an analysis on national college costs by IntegraCredit, a private credit line company.

The average costs to attend a college or university in New Jersey was $38,569 during the 2024-25 academic year.

New Jersey and New York tied with the second-highest on-campus room and board costs at $16,400 per academic year. California came in first at $17,652.

The average national costs for on-campus housing eclipsed tuition in 2024 as the highest student expense. At $12,416, the cost of housing has increased by more than 18% in five years and accounts for 42% of students’ annual budget.

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Vermont was the second-most expensive state to attend college for the fourth year in a row. At over $17,000, colleges and universities in Vermont charged the highest average in-state tuition and fees, according to IntegraCredit.

The average cost for in-state tuition nationally in 2025 was $11,772, a 2.7% increase over the previous year.

Overall college costs—accounting for tuition, housing, textbooks and other miscellaneous expenses—was $29,485. It has increased by more than 14% in the past five years

However, college costs remain below the current inflation rate. If college costs rose by historical interest rates beginning in the 2014-15 academic year, expenses would have been calculated to be above $32,000 by June 2024, according to the credit agency.

Here are the 10 most expensive states to have attended college in the 2024-25 academic year.

1. New Jersey: $38,569
2. Vermont: $37,149
3. Connecticut: $37,048
4. Delaware: $36,812
5. Pennsylvania: $35,485
6. Massachusetts: $35,245
7. California: $34,963
8. New Hampshire: $34,928
9. Virginia: $34,880
10. Rhode Island: $33,563

On the other hand, the 10 least expensive states are:

1. Wyoming: $21,795
2. Utah: $23,531
3. South Dakota: $23,935
4. Florida: $23,995
5. North Dakota: $24,087
6. Wisconsin: $24,195
7. Montana: $24,497
8. North Carolina: $24,659
9. Kansas: $25,600
10. Nevada: $25,631

Data on IntegraCredit’s analysis was collected over the summer of 2025 from College Tuition Compare, College Board, the National Center for Education Statistics and other sources found here.