College Azimuth

Research brief & institution hub

Duke University

NCMedium private nonprofit institution · Overall rank #78 nationally

Data snapshot Updated

Return on investment in the 99th percentile nationally.

Who it’s a good fit for

Duke University is a private nonprofit university in Durham, North Carolina, with a degree mix led by Computer & Information Sciences, Social Sciences, and Engineering. Return is among the highest we track.

Graduates out-earn what predicts for students like them. The model attributes the factors it measures—field of study, enrollment, and the local labor market—to adding to expected earnings, while the remainder it cannot explain subtracts from them.

The model also estimates that most graduates go into work rather than further study, so the four-year earnings figure captures a population largely in the labor force. At the bottom of the income scale, what families actually pay after aid is a fraction of the published cost, while families in the highest band pay closer to it.

Pell Grant recipients finish below the overall six-year graduation rate, and mobility is well above average. The admission rate is well below the median for comparable schools, and the largest programs are in quantitative fields where earnings run high.

A student drawn to the social sciences should know that the largest departments are not the best-paid ones.

Duke University at a glance

Admissions and outcomes

Admission rate[1]
5.7%
Six-year completion[2]
96.8%
Four-year earnings[3]
$115,722

Cost and family borrowing

Average annual net price · $48–75K family income[6]
$5,706
Median student debt[4]
$13,000
Median Parent PLUS debt[7]
$27,998

Duke University rankings: how Azimuth assesses value[5]

Duke University is a private nonprofit university in Durham, North Carolina, enrolling 6,442 undergraduates. Its composite standing is near the top of the Azimuth ranking among nonprofit four-year institutions.

The university admits 5.7% of applicants. The median admission rate for comparable institutions of the same type and size is 71.2%.

Among full-time first-year students, 97.9% return for a second year, and 96.8% finish within six years. The peer medians are 83.4% for retention and 68.8% for completion.

An estimated 2.9% of entrants arrive as transfers or part-time students, so the graduation figure describes a large majority of the student body. The four sit far apart.

Return is the strongest, at the 99th percentile, while affordability is the weakest, at the 47th percentile. Access and mobility fall between them, at the 77th and 84th percentiles respectively.

Azimuth evaluates Duke University across four pillars among 1,467 nonprofit four-year institutions. The return on investment pillar leads, in the 99th percentile, coinciding with median earnings of $115,722 four years after completion.

Mobility follows in the 84th percentile, and access in the 77th percentile. Affordability is the weakest pillar, in the 47th percentile, reflecting an average net price that runs above the median for comparable institutions.

Enrolled students who submitted SAT scores posted a middle 50% range — covering the 25th to 75th percentile of those submitters — of 1,500 to 1,570. 14.0% of undergraduates receive Pell Grants, a measure of financial access: the share of all undergraduates receiving this need-based federal grant at Duke University.

Pell recipients finish at 91.4%, 5.4 percentage points below the entering cohort's overall six-year graduation rate (96.8%). That gap measures the distance between Pell completion and the rate for the entering cohort as a whole.

Azimuth ranks Duke University #333 for access among nonprofit four-year institutions. Azimuth ranks the university #237 for mobility among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Graduates earn about $10,215 more than the model expects for similar students, a result that coincides with the university's mobility standing.

How value-added outcomes are assessed · How to interpret program rankings

Duke University rankings in context
GeographyRank
National#78

Azimuth overall value rankings within each geographic comparison group.

National pillar percentiles

Economic mobility
National percentile: 84
Access & reach
National percentile: 77
Affordability
National percentile: 47
Return on investment
National percentile: 99

Top-ranked majors

  1. Mathematics#1
  2. Public Health#1
  3. Computer Engineering#3

This school’s three highest-ranked programs nationally. Each rank compares bachelor’s programs in the same field; field sizes differ.

Explore major rankings

01 / Duke University briefing

Duke University cost & financial aid[6][7]

The published cost of attendance at Duke University is $87,072, with tuition and fees at $68,758 and room and board at $18,128. For aid recipients, the average net price falls to $29,612, a reduction of $57,460 from the sticker total.

Aid covers about 66% of the published cost for the average aid recipient. That runs above the peer median of $27,371 for comparable institutions (same type and size) by $2,241.

Azimuth ranks the university #755 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions.

The published cost of attendance at Duke University is $87,072. Azimuth ranks the university #755 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions.

After grants and scholarships, aid recipients from families earning under $30,000 average $735, those in the $48,001–$75,000 band average $5,706, and those earning over $110,000 average $54,230. The spread between the lowest and highest bands is $53,495.

Tuition and fees are $68,758. Aid covers about 66% of the published cost for the average aid recipient, bringing the average net price across all aid recipients to $29,612.

That is $2,241 above the $27,371 median for comparable institutions (same type and size). Borrowers who finish carry a median of $13,000 in federal student loans, $11,199 below the peer median of $24,199.

81.5% of federal aid recipients take federal loans. Parents who borrow hold a separate median of $27,998 in Parent PLUS loans.

If repaid over ten years, the median federal student debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $148 a month.

Your family income

Choose a household income range to see estimated net price.

Reported average annual net price · $48–75K$5,706

After grants and scholarships. Your aid offer may differ.

Averages within each income band; individual aid packages vary.

Net price can be negative: when grants and scholarships exceed the listed cost of attendance, students can receive the difference as a refund for other expenses.

Borrowing and repayment at Duke University

Among undergraduates at Duke University, 81.5% of federal aid recipients take federal student loans, yet the median federal debt at completion is $13,000. That median is below the $24,199 median at comparable institutions (same type and size) by $11,199.

For a separate population of parent borrowers, the median Parent PLUS loan is $27,998. In its 2024-25 Common Data Set, the university reported that 25% of the bachelor's graduates who started as first-time students borrowed from any source.

The average cumulative amount was $27,515 per borrower. Federal loans were held by 24% of graduates, including 6% who also carried private loans.

The average federal principal per federal borrower was $13,244, while the average private principal per private borrower reached $63,176.

The investment picture at Duke University is shaped by high earnings and low debt. Four years after completing a degree, federally aided graduates who are working and not enrolled earn a median of $115,722.

Azimuth places that figure in the 99th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. Graduates earn about $10,215 more than the model expects for similar students.

That puts the gap at the 84th percentile. Earnings scenarios, estimated from the program mix, range from $62,353 in a downside case to $199,459 in an upside case, with $115,722 representing the typical outcome.

For borrowers who complete, the median federal student debt is $13,000, which is $11,199 below the $24,199 median for comparable institutions (same type and size). That debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $148 a month if repaid over ten years.

Median Parent PLUS borrowing, a separate parent-borrower population, is $27,998. The estimated monthly student payment if repaid over ten years is $148.

How Financial GPS measures payment burden · The four risk-and-reward zones

Financial GPS

What does repayment look like?

Institution median student debt
$13,000
Institution Parent PLUS debt
$27,998

Federal loans only; private or institutional loans aren’t included.

Estimated student payment · monthly
$148/mo
Estimated Parent PLUS payment · monthly
$356/mo

Payments use school-wide median balances, not a specific major’s.

Payment assumptions

Payments are 10-year standard payments on the median balance, before loan fees, used as a yardstick. Rates for newly issued loans may differ, and loans made after July 1, 2026 can repay over a longer term; existing loans keep their original fixed rates.

Explore your own numbers in Financial GPS
Read the full cost & aid brief

02 / Duke University briefing

Duke University career outcomes & earnings[3][8][9]

Azimuth ranks Duke University #7 for return among nonprofit four-year institutions. That places the pillar in the 99th percentile.

Four years after completion, completers earn a median of $115,722, a figure in the 99th percentile. The median is above the peer median of $68,250 among comparable institutions (same type and size) by $47,472.

Graduates earn about $10,215 more than the model expects for similar students, an outcome in the 84th percentile. The model attributes $11,427 of the gap to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market), a share that adds to expected earnings.

It attributes $1,212 to a remainder it does not explain, which subtracts. Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $5,482.

Duke University records median earnings of $115,722 four years after completion among 1,910 federally aided completers who are working and not enrolled. That outcome ranks in the 99th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

The median at comparable institutions (same type and size) is $68,250; the university's median sits above that level by $47,472. Graduates earn about $10,215 more than the model expects for similar students.

That result sits in the 84th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. Program-mix earnings scenarios span from $62,353 on the downside to $199,459 on the upside, with $115,722 as the typical outcome.

The model estimates graduate-school continuation at 35.9%, a figure derived from program mix rather than observed enrollment.

Four years after completion, Duke University graduates earn a median of $115,722, which places the university in the 99th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. That figure is above the median of $68,250 for comparable institutions (same type and size), a gap of $47,472.

Graduates earn about $10,215 more than the model expects for similar students, a result in the 84th percentile. The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $11,427.

The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $1,212. Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $5,482.

Azimuth ranks Duke University #7 for return on investment among nonprofit four-year institutions. Earnings scenarios grounded in the program mix show a downside of $62,353 and an upside of $199,459.

The largest program, Computer Science, awarded 370 degrees and shows median earnings of $195,809 four years after completion, ranking #9 nationally in its field and #1 in North Carolina. Azimuth identifies it as a high-return program, with earnings 4.27x the national median for the field.

Economics follows with 209 degrees awarded and median earnings of $161,149, or 1.95x the national field median. Biology, with 160 degrees awarded, ranks #6 nationally and #1 in North Carolina, with earnings of $83,192.

The range between the downside and upside scenarios spans from $62,353 to $199,459, reflecting the variation in earnings potential across the university's program clusters. Mathematics graduates earn a median of $297,029 four years after completion, while Computer Science graduates earn $195,809 four years after completion.

The published cost of attendance at Duke University is $87,072, but aid covers about 66% of that for the average aid recipient. After grants and scholarships, the average net price for aid recipients in the lowest income band is $735, while the highest band averages $54,230.

The spread between the two ends is $53,495, a difference of averages that shows how much the price can shift with income. Borrowers who finish carry a median of $13,000 in federal student loans, which is $11,199 below the peer median of $24,199 for comparable institutions (same type and size).

If repaid over ten years, that debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $148 a month. The debt side of the equation is lighter than the earnings side is heavy.

Graduates earn a median of $115,722 four years after completing a degree, and the university's return pillar sits at the 99th percentile. The low debt and high earnings point the same way.

What explains value-added earnings?
Program & institutional factors The part attributed to observed institutional characteristics.
+$11,427
Unexplained remainder What remains after the model’s observed factors.
-$1,212
Total modeled value added The modeled difference from expected earnings.
+$10,215

These are statistical model components, not proven causal effects; the remainder is not a direct measure of teaching quality.

Read the full outcomes brief

03 / Duke University briefing

Duke University acceptance rate & admissions[1][10][11]

Duke University admitted 5.7% of applicants in the most recent cycle, a figure that sits well below the median of 71.2% for comparable institutions (same type and size). In its 2024-25 Common Data Set, the university reported 51,795 applicants and 2,957 admitted students.

SAT: approximate enrolled-student range
Admission rate
5.7%
Approximate lower endpoint
1500
Reported average
1548
Approximate upper endpoint
1570

Enrolled students who submitted scores. This range is not an admission cutoff. The endpoints add section percentiles; they are not verified composite-score percentiles. A separate SAT-equivalent average is not plotted as a median. Source: College Scorecard; sum of section 25th/75th percentiles; enrolled score-submitters.

Read the full admissions brief

04 / Duke University briefing

What are the largest majors at Duke University?[12]

Duke University's highest-earning bachelor's program is Mathematics, where completers earn a median of $297,029 four years after completion, alongside 53 degrees awarded. Computer Science, the largest program by degrees awarded, follows at $195,809 with 370 degrees awarded and an Azimuth national rank of #9 in its field.

Among the other large programs, Economics reports a median of $161,149 on 209 degrees awarded. Biology reaches $83,192 with 160 degrees awarded and holds an Azimuth national rank of #6, illustrating the contrast between the university's highest- and moderate-earning fields.

Azimuth ranks 15 programs at Duke University, and earnings data is available for 19 bachelor's programs. The largest program, Computer Science, awarded 370 degrees and holds a national rank of #9 with median earnings of $195,809 four years after completion.

Economics follows with 209 degrees awarded and median earnings of $161,149. Biology ranks #6 nationally and #1 in North Carolina, with 160 degrees awarded and median earnings of $83,192.

Nursing rounds out the largest programs with 155 degrees awarded and median earnings of $87,763.

Duke University awards degrees across 15 ranked programs, with four-year earnings data available for 19. Computer & Information Sciences accounts for 16.2% of bachelor's degrees awarded, followed by Social Sciences at 15.6% and Engineering at 12.8%.

The largest single programs are Computer Science with 370 degrees awarded, Economics with 209, and Public Policy Analysis with 181. The highest-ranked program is Mathematics, with 53 degrees awarded and median earnings of $297,029 four years after completion.

Azimuth ranks it #1 in North Carolina within its field. Public Health also ranks #1 nationally within its field, with 41 degrees awarded and earnings of $101,771.

Computer Science, the largest program, earns a median of $195,809 and ranks #9 nationally within its field. Economics graduates earn $161,149 and the program ranks #3 nationally within its field.

Mathematics stands out for its return: a benchmark ratio of 4.27x against the national median for its field. Strength is concentrated in quantitative and analytical fields, with the largest and high-earning programs overlapping heavily.

Four-year earnings for fields where graduates commonly pursue graduate study may understate later trajectories. 43.1% of degrees awarded are in STEM.

Four-year earnings · six largest reported fields
Computer Science 370 degrees awarded
$195,809
Economics 209 degrees awarded
$161,149
Public Policy Analysis 181 degrees awarded
$103,071
Biology, General 160 degrees awarded
$83,192
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing 155 degrees awarded
$87,763
Research and Experimental Psychology 151 degrees awarded
Too few graduates to report

Fields selected by reported completions. Counts describe credentials awarded, not unique students or the earnings sample. Bars show median four-year earnings.

Read the full majors brief

05 / Duke University briefing

How does Duke University serve students from different backgrounds?

The mobility pillar at Duke University sits in the 84th percentile nationally. The six-year graduation rate for the first-time full-time cohort is 96.8%, while Pell recipients complete at 91.4%, a figure that sits below the overall rate by 5.4 percentage points.

Graduates earn about $10,215 more than the model expects for similar students, a result that lands in the 84th percentile.

Azimuth places the access pillar of Duke University in the 77th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. The university admits 5.7% of applicants, far below the peer median of 71.2%.

Pell Grant recipients make up 14.0% of the 6,442 undergraduates, and an estimated 2.9% arrive as transfers or part-time students.

06 / Duke University briefing

What colleges are similar to Duke University?[15]

Azimuth groups alternatives by admissions, location, cost and earnings, then orders candidates within each group. Peer earnings use the matched four-year cohort. How matching works.

A shortlist for different decisions

Choose a row to compare the figures with Duke University.

Admissions peerCornell University8.8% admitted
Comparison with Duke University
MeasureDuke UniversityCornell University
Peer earnings · 4 years$115,722$113,372-$2,350 vs Duke University
Average annual net price$29,612$28,690-$922 vs Duke University · lower cost
Admission rate5.7%8.8%
Explore Cornell University →
Higher-admission alternativeCapitol Technology University74.4% admitted
Comparison with Duke University
MeasureDuke UniversityCapitol Technology University
Peer earnings · 4 years$115,722$104,028-$11,694 vs Duke University
Average annual net price$29,612$22,102-$7,510 vs Duke University · lower cost
Admission rate5.7%74.4%
Explore Capitol Technology University →
Nearby alternativeWake Forest UniversityNearby option · NC
Comparison with Duke University
MeasureDuke UniversityWake Forest University
Peer earnings · 4 years$115,722$92,943-$22,779 vs Duke University
Average annual net price$29,612$28,719-$893 vs Duke University · lower cost
Admission rate5.7%21.7%
Explore Wake Forest University →
Higher-earnings alternativeCarnegie Mellon University$132,971 earnings
Comparison with Duke University
MeasureDuke UniversityCarnegie Mellon University
Peer earnings · 4 years$115,722$132,971+$17,249 vs Duke University
Average annual net price$29,612$31,944+$2,332 vs Duke University · higher cost
Admission rate5.7%11.7%
Explore Carnegie Mellon University →
Lower-cost alternativePrinceton University$6,128 average net price
Comparison with Duke University
MeasureDuke UniversityPrinceton University
Peer earnings · 4 years$115,722$108,590-$7,132 vs Duke University
Average annual net price$29,612$6,128-$23,484 vs Duke University · lower cost
Admission rate5.7%4.6%
Explore Princeton University →
Similar profileJohns Hopkins UniversityMatched across several measures
Comparison with Duke University
MeasureDuke UniversityJohns Hopkins University
Peer earnings · 4 years$115,722$117,419+$1,697 vs Duke University
Average annual net price$29,612$18,809-$10,803 vs Duke University · lower cost
Admission rate5.7%6.4%
Explore Johns Hopkins University →

Each school is the first-ranked match in its category, not a recommendation across every measure. The same college may lead more than one category. Figures use the matching snapshot; earnings reflect the matched four-year cohort. — means unavailable.

Read the full similar schools brief

Data scope & methodology

Structured payloads generated Governed hub narrative Governed spoke corpus

Four-year earnings describe cohorts of completers. Figures for other horizons describe different cohorts and are not joined into a career-growth projection.

Azimuth's overall rank and pillar percentiles come from the school profile. Absolute pillar ranks, city, enrollment and official-site links are shown only when structured data supplies them.

Detailed earnings, cost, admissions and program values come from the endpoint responsible for each measure. Missing values are not replaced with zero. Value-added estimates are model associations, not causal effects.

Figures are refreshed with each data release, at most a quarter apart. The underlying source dates can be earlier than the release.

Explanatory text is AI-assisted drafting checked against those figures; it is not an additional data source.

Analysis and methodology by Daniel Rogers, founder of College Azimuth.

Read the ranking methodology, data definitions and limitations · About College Azimuth

Read the analysis behind value-added earnings and the change to four-year graduate earnings. These articles are published on collegeazimuth.com.

Data notes & source fields

Scorecard field codes identify the underlying measure; Azimuth-derived values are labeled separately. Snapshot dates are not measurement years. Source populations and reporting periods differ across measures. Field definitions are in the U.S. Department of Education · College Scorecard documentation; notes with a different source link it below.

  1. Admission rate. Reported applicants admitted; not a transfer-specific or individual admission probability.

    Source fields: ADM_RATE

  2. Six-year completion. First-time, full-time students completing at the institution within 150% of normal time, typically six years for a bachelor’s degree.

    Source fields: C150_4

  3. Four-year institutional earnings. Median earnings of graduates in the reported cohort who are working and not enrolled, four years after completion.

    Source fields: MD_EARN_WNE_4YR

  4. Median federal student debt. Federal student-loan debt among completers in the reported borrowing cohort. Excludes Parent PLUS and is not total debt across all students.

    Source fields: GRAD_DEBT_MDN

  5. National, regional and state ranks; pillar percentiles; major ranks. Derived scores within the stated eligible comparison set, not raw Scorecard fields. Major ranks compare institutions within a field; their denominators differ.

    Source fields: Azimuth rankings

    College Azimuth · Ranking methodology

  6. Annual net price by family income. Average annual cost after grants and scholarships for the eligible first-time, full-time aid-recipient cohort. Public-school figures reflect in-state tuition. Includes living costs; these are averages, not medians or individual offers.

    Source fields: NPT4_PUB/PRIV; NPT41_PUB/PRIV through NPT45_PUB/PRIV

  7. Parent PLUS debt, payments and GPS illustration. Stored payments use Financial GPS loan and repayment assumptions. The adjustable spectrum applies the published framework to annual student payments divided by earnings minus an expense allowance; its initial allowance uses the frozen 2024 framework baseline. It is an illustration rather than a school rating. Parent PLUS uses the completer median where available, otherwise the all-borrower median; these describe different borrowing populations.

    Source fields: PLUS_DEBT_ALL_COMP_MD; fallback PLUS_DEBT_ALL_MD; Azimuth Financial GPS calculations

    College Azimuth · Financial GPS methodology

  8. Downside and upside earnings; yellow band. The band spans the modeled lower and higher scenarios. It is not the P25–P75 interval for individual graduates. The median marker is the separately reported institutional median.

    Source fields: Azimuth modeled program-mix scenarios

    College Azimuth · Earnings scenario methodology

  9. Value added and its components. Observed-factor attribution plus the unexplained remainder equals total modeled value added. These are associations, not proven causal effects; the remainder is not a direct measure of teaching quality.

    Source fields: Azimuth statistical model

    College Azimuth · Value-added methodology

  10. SAT score range and reported midpoint. Reported scores of enrolled score-submitters, not admission cutoffs. The midpoint field is not necessarily the middle of the displayed range.

    Source fields: SATVR25 + SATMT25; SATVR75 + SATMT75; SAT_AVG

  11. First-year retention. Retention of the reported full-time cohort at four-year institutions.

    Source fields: RET_FT4

  12. Program earnings, completion counts and major-mix dots. Included bachelor’s programs have at least five reported completions. Counts are aggregated credentials, not unique people or an earnings sample. Major-mix dots group those counts by field of study; excluded programs are not zero activity.

    Source fields: EARN_MDN_4YR; IPEDSCOUNT1; CIPCODE

    College Scorecard · Field-of-study technical documentation

  13. Pell recipients. Share of undergraduates receiving a Pell Grant in the reported academic year.

    Source fields: PCTPELL

  14. Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group. This is not an observed transfer-in rate. It includes part-time entrants and other entering-student attendance patterns.

    Source fields: 1 − PFTFTUG1_EF

  15. Peer earnings and signed differences. Differences are peer minus this school, from the same matching snapshot. A positive earnings difference does not mean the peer is better on every measure.

    Source fields: Azimuth peer model using MD_EARN_WNE_4YR

    College Azimuth · Comparison methodology

How to interpret program rankings